Tag: dog

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Nobody Asked You Patrice!

I caught the dogs in the act of digging under the fence this morning, and in spite of being in trouble, they were super excited to see me. I gave them some pets and treats with the hopes that they would stick around, and tried to cover up their start of a new hole, but they got out again while I was in the shower. As I was walking out the door, a new neighbor stopped to let us know. Summer woke up and got the front door just as I was discovering they weren’t in the back yard. Luckily we were able to get them back inside without too much trouble, but they were pretty high-energy.

There was no time for breakfast, and traffic was stupid. I got to work a little over 10 minutes late, but again, the place was mostly a ghost town. I submitted my vacation request form, though technically my contract will be over by then, and they don’t have to hire me again. I’m playing this one by ear. I ended up in Blake’s office and chatted with him for a while, and then a guy came in with three big bags of sweet corn for the school. I eventually got some for the office, and then took some home at the end of the day.

Other than that, my big human interaction was when Troy stopped by and actually sat down and chatted with me a little bit. I thought that was kind of neat, but I’m sure he mostly just needed a break from the heat. I eventually headed home and fed the fish.

I got to the house just as Summer was finishing up dinner. She thought it would be a good idea to cut up the leftover dried chicken and form patties with egg and bread crumbs. They were even dryer than the chicken was by itself, and it made no sense at all. I rolled the grill out and cooked some corn while I played with the dogs for a while. It sprinkled with a little thunder in the distance, and the dogs stuck around on the porch. It was really nice that we didn’t have to hunt for them at all today.

I wish they were trained well enough to take to work.

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Raining Sunshine

The dogs chewed their way out again through a new hole, and I only finally saw Stilgar as I was leaving for work. He was up the hill in the neighbor’s backyard, chomping on a dead frog. Luckily he followed the car back to the house, and I put him in the fence again. Dad sent a screenshot of the Nextdoor app where someone had posted some pictures of both of our dogs with a third, which I’ve seen around the neighborhood multiple times. Eaddie and I did some sleuthing and found the house in the background on Google Maps, and she drove around to try and find Muad’dib while I was at work. She never did see him, but Summer came home in the afternoon and found him with the neighbor. I guess he just found his own way back, and she kept him for a playdate until later in the evening.

I did a bit of research into home solar since I had a meeting with Sean from Nivo Solar later in the evening. He didn’t seem super enthusiastic last time, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew we didn’t have prime property for panels, but it’s something I’ve always wanted, and some of the incentives appear to be going away soon.

It was a long day, but I eventually got back to the old house to feed the fish, and then went to Optimum to drop off their modem. I didn’t think to ask for a receipt the first time, so I went back and got one from someone else. The girl that took the modem earlier asked about cellular, but didn’t put up much of a fight. When I got back for the receipt, I made a comment to the guy about how they were always nice there, but I couldn’t bear to do business with Optimum the company any longer. I’ve never seen an employee completely turn on their company so quickly before, and it seems toxic the entire way through.

With that done, I finally made it home to find both dogs. It started sprinkling, without a single cloud above me, and the sun shining bright. Summer got home much earlier than I expected, and then I had my solar meeting to discuss some options ranging from about $14k to $30k. Those numbers matched mine pretty closely, so they seemed okay to me. I also asked about putting solar on the shed out back, which would be possible, but also covered by trees. I’d like to get some additional quotes, but so far they seemed pretty straightforward.

I spent a little more time with the dogs, but the evening flew by and before I knew it, I was late to bed. I reviewed the pet grooming kit I got from Amazon and got an invite to their Vine program, so I’ll have to look into that more tomorrow.

TAXABLE INCOME

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Ngày Giỗ

I got up super early this morning so I could get the ribs smoking. I checked on the dogs first though, and couldn’t find them within a block of the house. Summer didn’t feel well, and had me run to the store for some medicine, along with the smoked sausages I needed for the gathering.

I eventually just had to give up on the dogs so I could get the fire started, but fortunately the coals lit up perfectly. I used some rubs that I’d had for a while, and then made my own Asian-inspired glaze since Mom wouldn’t give me the char siu seasoning last night. I was pretty liberal with the rub, but light on the glaze.

The neighbor from a couple houses down knocked on the door and said the dogs were on her front porch, but that Stilgar wouldn’t move for her. I was worried he had gotten sick like Chani, but when I rode over there, he hopped right up. He was a little bit slow, but it was also super hot outside.

We were the first ones to arrive at Lelan’s house, and she was ahead with her own cooking, so we just had to wait for everyone else to show up. Mom and Dad were last, and still had to go back for the rice that they forgot. It was a good time, and afterward we ran home briefly to drop Summer off, and then met everyone at the cemetery.

After playing with the trees there, Lelan and Stephen came over to see our house. They seemed to like it, and had some advice on who to contact for some of the issues we’ve had. Once everyone left, I cleaned up the smoker stuff, and then went to my parents’ house for a dip in the pool. I was exhausted, and the water was the perfect temperature to cool down after a long day.

I rode home with my towel oh my back like a cape, and played with the dogs for a bit while Suzanne was poking her head over the fence to look at them. Hopefully the bricks Summer placed by the fence will discourage them from digging so much, but I’m sure the battle isn’t won yet.

With summer school out of the way, doldrum season is here. But vacation soon.

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Fencing Duel

The dogs were out again, but just in the front yard a couple doors down. They came home quickly and easily, but I lost sight of Muad’dib and thought he got right back out. This time they had moved some pretty large concrete blocks, so we’re just going to have to find a way to repair the fence properly. I went back out to try and find him, and Summer had to go to work for a bit. I went in to make some coffee and have a little bit of food, and when she got back home, she decided she wanted to do some yard work in the middle of the afternoon. I had to ride to my parents’ house for some string trimmer line, but then the cap on her trimmer shattered and the reel wouldn’t stay in. Muad’dib ended up coming out from under the porch later, so he must have just been hiding from the sun for a while.

Eaddie’s afternoon plans were cancelled, so we all got cleaned up and decided to go do some shopping for swimsuits and dog stuff. We shared some food at Zaxby’s first for a late lunch, and then went to Walmart, JCPenney, T.J.Maxx, and Ross. I just happened to see a 100-foot bundle of rope for like eight bucks and decided to buy that to make a couple leashes myself. I may start the Salty Dogs Pet Company after all.

By that time, we were ready to get home, so we stopped by the old house to feed the fish and then picked up some Domino’s for dinner. We had the bright idea to try and walk the dogs to my parents’ house where we would eat, but of course they weren’t in the yard when we got back. Fortunately they were just at the other end of the road talking to those neighbors, but Stilgar was the only one that would willingly run home. He was soaked from head to tail. Muad’dib had no interest in following me home, but eventually ran to the girls.

We loaded the food into the Pathfinder and the girls started to walk the dogs over, but just barely made it to the end of the street before we decided to put them in the truck. The dogs did super well for that really being their first group walk. Only Stilgar had walked with me in the past, and he does spectacularly.

Dad was home by the time we got there, and we ended up eating outside in the mosquitoey dark. The dogs sat quietly watching us eat, which made me really suspect that I’d stolen somebody’s dogs. There’s no way we’re that lucky to have found dogs that are just naturally that well behaved. We eventually went back home so we could patch the fence again, and then I brushed the dogs with the new grooming kit I got from Amazon. Both the rake and the brush I tried worked perfectly, which was also a surprise since I got the cheapest set I could find.

The girls went to bed pretty quickly. I stayed up with the dogs for a bit, and went back out again when they started barking along with the neighbors’ dogs, but then it was off to bed so I could get up early and smoke some ribs.

Salty dog and frog clip strip!

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Puppy Wrangler

I woke up pretty early, and the dogs were out in the front yard, so I brought them back in and found where they had dug a big hole and broken a part of the fence to get through. There wasn’t a whole lot I could do, but I put some stuff in front of it and went back inside and finished up some leftovers and laid down for a little longer. Eaddie eventually got up and went to meet some friends that would eventually be coming over to the house.

I eventually had to get cleaned up so I could meet with a guy from Nivo Solar. Summer came home early and was making a cheesecake when he showed up in the afternoon. I went outside to talk with him for a bit, and as I suspected, our roofline would be sub-optimal for a solar installation. I really didn’t want panels on the roof though, just because of the structure issues we’ve already had, plus the possibility of having to move panels around if the roof ever needed repairs. He scheduled another meeting for Monday since he was going to have to rework the design of the array.

I went to my parents’ house later in the evening for dinner since Eaddie and her friends had gone out to eat and Summer wasn’t hungry. The dogs spent most of the afternoon next door with our neighbor Suzanne, since she was out working in the yard. They came back when I called once, though Stilgar needed some help squeezing his belly under the fence. They got out another time or two, and at one point got stuck in the void between us and our back-yard neighbors. I rode the Onewheel around to Ridgewood to bring them back home, but they got distracted by Nick and Jessica’s dogs as they were walking the neighborhood. Summer came out with a leash to help me, but by that time Jessica had already turned around to help me walk them back a little ways toward the house.

The night seemed to drag on a bit, and I was exhausted. I should have gone to sleep early, but instead I ended up trying to clean up our clogged printer some more. I’d love to sleep, but there’s just too much to do.

Maybe some day I’ll get to take a morning walk with these dummies.

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Pupperunny with Extra Flees

The dogs were out again this morning, but came back in without much fuss. They just moved the boards around in the giant tree-shaped gap in the fence. I tried to fix it up, but I didn’t have a whole lot of time to really make a difference and I figured they would get out again. I took a shower, got my bagel, and made it to work.

I bounced around a lot today, and didn’t really accomplish anything of importance. It was all tangents today. The only frequent thought I had was to find a supplier for custom rope clamps so I could start a dog leash business and sell them for 80 bucks a piece.

Dad came to see the school after spending some time with Uncle Rick on Petit Jean. I was pretty proud of the facility, but mismanagement had seen an embarrassing number of things fall to ruin.

Eaddie had her band camp concert in the evening, so I ran home after stopping at Casey’s for a freebie and the old house to feed the fish.

Eaddie found Muad’dib outside, but he was gone again by the time we needed to leave for her concert. I rode down a couple houses looking for him, and got stopped by a kid selling solar. I accidentally gave him the electric bill for the wrong house, and I’m not sure I’m interested in what they’re selling anyway, but I guess someone else will come see me about it tomorrow. By then, we were in a rush to catch up to Eaddie, who drove herself. Summer and I picked up Dad at his house and then made it to Witherspoon.

Autumn and JoAnn were there, but both unpleasant, and it upset Summer. I had to suppress all of my thoughts into inside-thoughts, or else cause a scene. The concert was good, but loud from the front seat in that auditorium. It’s tough to find a good place to sit, because I like being able to pick Eaddie’s part out of the rest of the band, but being so close makes everything too loud to enjoy properly.

We dropped Dad off at his house, and saw the dogs in the neighbor’s yard on our way home, so they followed us back. I tried to have Summer put Muad’dib on the leash, but he ran across the street for a while. We chased him around until he finally decided to come home, and then I ripped a picket off of the fence so I could reattach it in a less-broken way. Summer went to bed and I had a sloppy joe for a late dinner. Then I sat with Stilgar outside for a while before coming in for the night. Eaddie was out late with friends, and snuck in while I was still outside.

Maybe a neuter will help.

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Walk the Dog

I got out early this morning and rode through the neighborhood again just to see if I could find any sign of the dogs. No luck, so I showered and headed in to work. A $3 steak bagel is a pretty hearty breakfast, and I enjoyed my coffee when I got there. I spent the morning trying to make sense of some more of the Ubiquiti stuff, and finally had a bit of a breakthrough in the afternoon. Now I just need to learn Linux.

Summer went by the animal shelter around lunch time to look for the dogs, and assumed people would be back afterward. It wasn’t until she spotted a volunteer coming by that she learned they were actually closed for Juneteenth. Luckily they did recognize our dogs, and said they were picked up at Sequoyah Park, soliciting pets from children.

Summer loaded them up into her car and just took them to the wash with her since she didn’t have time to run home. I went home after work to change, and then took the leash so I could bring them home. I had treats, but Muad’dib was still super averse to the collar. Stilgar took to it alright, and I walked him around the property a bit. I went back in and tried to take Muad’dib out again, and he just cowered down on the ground every chance he got. There was one brief moment that I thought he’d do alright, and he seemed to do better when Summer was nearby, but I nearly had to pick him up and carry him. It wasn’t until we got to the car that he jumped right in.

I went ahead and took him to the house and covered up the holes under the fence. He ran under the deck and refused to look at me, so I went back for Stilgar. He didn’t seem to mind the leash at all, so when we got back to the house, I took him for a walk around the block. He did super well, but I guess now I need to get poop bags for that. I met some folks just around the corner that chatted with me for a bit, and said they had seen the dogs wandering the neighborhood before. When we got back near the house, Muad’dib started howling and crying from the fence in a way I had never heard him act before. When we got inside, he acted like he had hurt himself somehow, and he had a couple bumps above his right ear. It took him a while, but he warmed back up to me over the course of the evening.

Eaddie got home as I was cleaning the dog dust out of the car, and we went to pet the dogs for a bit longer. Then I came in to eat a sloppy joe before bed.

It’s not just a yo-yo trick any more!

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Digdog

I checked on the dogs as soon as I got out of bed, and they had already dug their way out. I figured they were hanging out with a neighbor, but I never saw them when I eventually left for work, and neither of the girls looked for them in the morning. It was a long day at work without knowing anything.

I had another bagel and kept fairly busy with some more trivial stuff that may have actually been clues as to what keeps breaking parts of my network. Then at the very end of the day, I walked in on Harry watching a Strong Bad video in his office. I had to laugh, because I had just texted Gary a GIF of Salad Fingers earlier in the day. I told Harry that we hadn’t had much time to build rapport with one another, but that we were going to be good friends.

After work, I fed the fish and then headed home to try and find the dogs. I probably rode over 10 miles on the Onewheel, but forgot to start logging my ride at first, so I think I captured way less than half of my total ride. I stopped by my parents’ house once just for a quick break, and then again later to eat since Summer wasn’t hungry when she got home.

I lingered around outside for a while, but never saw or heard anything. I did find a couple other dogs loose in the neighborhood, so maybe they’ll still turn up, but I’m not particularly hopeful. If they don’t come back, I hope they find a better home.

Good boys.

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What’s the Deal with Negotiations?

Eaddie left for band camp and said the dogs were out again. I was ready to walk out, and Muad’dib came running back, but Stilgar was nowhere to be found. I had to leave, but Summer eventually found him. Everyone made it back, but I don’t think it took them long to get out again.

McDonald’s has had their bagel deal the past few days, so I had another one for the drive in. I had plenty of time to make some coffee and settle in, but then I saw an email from Harry that he was finally ready to meet with me after I had been trying to pin him down for basically the entire year. I had to update a few numbers before I could see him, but then Kim walked in with the boys and talked to me for a little bit before she had to go turn in some paperwork.

The meeting went more or less how I predicted. He appreciated my Seinfeld references in my agenda, and I held strong with my side of the negotiations. He wanted a signed contract, and I wasn’t willing to sign the contract they offered. He fidgeted as I made my “presentation,” and then we had more of a discussion once I was done. By the end of it all, he thought to suggest a $50,000 salary plus a $10,000 merit-based bonus to get me to sign for one more year. That sounded alright, but I also asked for the autonomy to work from home at my own discretion. He seemed agreeable. Now we’ll just have to wait and see what I’m offered, because he seemed anxious to get something in writing before the first of July.

I missed lunch because my meeting carried on so long. Harry has trouble getting to the brass tacks, and talks in circles quite a bit. Luckily the lunch lady had some pizza and broccoli bagged up, which I assumed she was taking home. Summer was having a rough day, so I talked on the phone with her for a while. Then I wrapped up the day tinkering with the Ubiquiti equipment that Todd had returned. I don’t know how long that rat had that stuff, but they had dirt from his chicken houses all over them. I wasn’t pleased.

I eventually made it back to town and fed the fish before getting home to eat some leftovers and then patch holes in the fence. I screwed some wood into a couple places the dogs had been getting out, and I think we have a fair chance of keeping them inside now. They’re resilient, but hopefully not diggers. If this holds, we’ll have a better chance of starting some real training. Then all we’ll lack is time. While I was out there, I picked up some branches that a couple country bumpkins had cut out of the neighbor’s tree, and Stilgar helped me carry them to the brush pile. At first he was tugging back, but then he actually helped drag them the same direction, and then even went to get one of his own, but only made it about halfway to the pile before giving up.

The tree trimmers stopped to ask if we wanted any limbs removed that were leaning over our house. At $40, I knew they weren’t insured, but they seemed to have been doing an alright job so far. As I watched them work, Nick came home and I formally met the neighbor. Evidently he worked at Two Rivers for a few years before I got there, but had since moved to Lamar. We chatted for quite a while, and then exchanged numbers before going in to find refuge from the mosquitos.

I wrapped up, and Eaddie came to chat with me for a while when she got home. With any luck, we’ll still have two dogs in the back yard in the morning.

Doggy Jail.

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Tank of Least Resistance

I had a massive headache all morning, but Summer saw a post on the Ring app that our dogs were out wandering the neighborhood, so I had to ride around to try and find them. I took several laps around the neighborhood and never caught a glimpse. My feet started hurting really badly, so I came back home and walked to the back yard just to make sure they hadn’t come home. They weren’t back there, but they were in front of the garage when I came back around the house. They must have seen me somewhere and followed me back.

I fried some eggs for French bread sandwiches, and then Summer really wanted to mow. I tried to find how water was getting from the cold to the hot lines, and with Summer’s help, we eventually tracked it down to the master shower mixer. I tried to take a cold shower since we didn’t have a water heater, and it was much colder than I remembered from the other night. I tried a couple times, but just barely managed to get myself wet. Of course Summer had to outdo me and take one herself.

My parents had eggrolls and noodles, so we went over there for a late lunch. When we got back home, I decided that it would probably be best to just stick with a water tank for now. I’ve always wanted to switch to tankless, but the lack of a regulator, need for a larger fuel line for either gas or electric, need for a more substantial vent if we went with gas, and the likelihood of the work being pushed back a week for the actual work to be done convinced me that I just needed to get something done today.

I poked around in the vent to see if I could get it reattached. Dad came over when we couldn’t find where the vent actually left the house, and we found it in the secondary attic. Summer and I went to Lowe’s to try and pick up a replacement water heater, but Dad had to meet us there because there wasn’t a soul in the store that knew a thing about plumbing. We eventually just settled for a couple parts, and headed home.

The girls were able to help me lift the tank high enough that I could wrap straps around it and lift it the rest of the way. It was a super tight fit, but having a 50 gallon tank instead of a 40 gallon tank should let us keep the set temperature a bit lower, or at least keep us from running out so quickly in the winter. Dad came back over to help hook everything up after I got it in place, and I was finally able to take a hot shower before bed.

Sometimes we trade dreams for convenience.