Well the new neighbors in the rental house moved in. On a Monday night around 10:30 pm. A lovely taste of what is to come in the next year I am sure. After being in this house close to 6 years now I have seen a turn on the residents about every 13 months. Enough for a years lease and then they are out of here, which in almost all cases was a welcome occasion each and every time. I'm sensing already this will be a long year before I see what the next roll of the dice brings.
I've had a single Mom with a teenage son who smoked on the font porch, and threw parties when Mom would go away for the weekend. I've had a military gal and her boyfriend who when they first moved in I would have sworn she was a lesbian bartender and he was a gay college student. Give me long enough and I'll make a great story out of anybodies lives I have no about. I'm good at snap judgments like that.
The neighbors that just left had 3 dogs themselves so in the summer we walked around with squirt bottles to threaten the dogs with when they would start talking too loud. Now the new neighbors have arrived and in only 8 days they have made quite an impression. None so far has been the least bit charming.
I live on a Cul de sac so the houses at the top of the curve of the circle end up being close on the corners, but we win with bigger back yards. The master bedroom of my house is maybe 30 feet from the rental houses front door and deck. Thus the dogs and I can hear the door slam at each entry and exit if we happen to be sleeping (which at 6:30 in the morning this pack certainly still is)! The diesel engine starting up and idling for a couple minutes this last week has been a treat of so much reward I want to just wrap up little bits of it and share it for the holidays.
As the household gets used to the new sounds, voices and timetables of the new neighbors it becomes a battle to talk the dogs out of a full scale emergency bark 911 vocalization. More a screaming match with me telling them to shut the hell up and them trying to get one last word in. I wonder if the neighbors find us as annoying as we find them? Who cares - it's my bog and I've lived here longer so I win!
Tuesday is garbage day for the neighborhood. No matter how many times I promise myself that I will take it all out to the street Monday night. It is always Tuesday morning running late for work I am dragging those things out to the curb. The last 2 nights it has been stormy with hard rain and gusts of wind. The wind blows my direction so I get most of the leaves and everyones spill over garbage. A HUGE rant and pet peeve I have about my slovenly neighbors (except the nice lady across the street). This morning in the pouring down rain I drag the garbage can out and see 3 Budweiser cans in my gutter from the Sunday football game gathering. My initial instinct is to toss them as far back into their yard as I can, but notice there are 4 more cans in their driveway and the way they are headed is my way. Inevitably they'd just end up back in my yard with me picking them up yet again. With a mental fist shake to the offenders and a good strong verbal curse I tossed the cans into my recycler and vowed not to let it ruin my day.
After all if anything should be able to ruin my day it would be the weather and rain I will have to endure on the trek to work.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Starting Lineup
The Papillon Pack: 4 dogs which merits pack title if you ask me. Go ahead, ask me. I'll wait.....
All are what I fondly refer to as "hand me down dogs". Which is a better way to say dogs that someone else had but then couldn't fucking take the time to think beyond what happens after they loose the cute puppy look. In this case 2 (Misty & Scooter) are the result of a friend who decided they were too much work. 2 (Pepper & Cutter) are a rescue dogs from PapHaven.org who have been here since February 2009. Long story on each side since we really don't know each other well enough yet. Do we!
My thinking was that I couldn't really give someone a job or a place to live when the economy went tits up, but I could help a dog out. A dog, (1). Well they brought 2 out and those 2 could not have been separated any more than Misty and Scooter, so now I have a pack of Papillons. While I know who pays the bills around here, I'm not sure I actually run the house or just make it more comfortable for the dogs. Either way we are slowly settling in. Now that the long cold winter months are settling in cabin fever will hit us all. Which should to lead to some amusing stories.
Introducing: The Papillon Pack.
Starting with Misty. Aliases; Mistikins, BRAT, MissAlish. She is the Queen of all she Surveys. Most of it is while she has her eyes closed, but we humor the little bitch since she tries her hardest to carry it off. She's the first to tattle on anyone doing something she does not approve of. Including me for not keeping dog food bowls or water dishes at proper volume. Misty is litter mate brother to Scooter.
Next up is Scooter. Aliases: Scoots, ScooterPie, Pie, ScooterDooter, Dooter, PEST. Scooter is the Prince of Charming Scratches. Scooter did not actually get his name from the typical young dog 2 legged dog race across the carpet. Since he was 8 weeks old he would just kind of scoot closer to your hand, human training at it's young ages. He has since perfected "aren't you the cute one" and has never let go of his ability to scoot to a near hand. Beware, a challenge to the visitor who cannot say No. Scooter is full litter mate to Misty.
Cutter follows. Aliases; Mr. Man, CutterButter, Bug, NoodleLegs. Cutter is the adoption boy. He is a puppy mill rescue dog who at the ripe ol age of 4 lost his ability to help along the puppy mill population. He has lost none of his charm to the lady dogs. Cutter is known as a Phaelene version of the Papillon. Papillon meaning "butterfly" in French as you can see from the other ears. Phaelene meaning "moth" in French which Cutter is. He's a bit of a challenge on house training now that it has started raining. I'm not sure how much rain he has had to endure being from a puppy mill and one east of the Rockies as well.
Finally Pepper. Aliases; PepperPower, Crazy Girl, Peps, NosyNellie. Pepper was the car pup pal to Cutter on the drive over from Northern Idaho. She'd arrived at the foster center 2 weeks prior to that day and she and Cutter were inseparable. Who can split that kind of friendship up? Pepper did come to us as Princess - but seeing she's the biggest of the lot, and my aversion to prissy names - it changed. Yes that is paint in her ear because she can't keep her BIG FAT NOSE out of anything. Where nose goes those ears follow.
Now here we are 2 + 2 = The Pack of Papillons, and 1 humble human servant. Is it that I have a job, that I have opposable thumbs, can drive a car, or provide the daily WALKS and SNACKS that they allow me to leave 5 days a week to provide for their comfort? Or is it the respect, affection, absolute trust and love that has me loving these different personalities? I believe it is the latter. And as I hear a Squeakie Toy, These are the Dogs of My Life.
The Papillon Pack.
All are what I fondly refer to as "hand me down dogs". Which is a better way to say dogs that someone else had but then couldn't fucking take the time to think beyond what happens after they loose the cute puppy look. In this case 2 (Misty & Scooter) are the result of a friend who decided they were too much work. 2 (Pepper & Cutter) are a rescue dogs from PapHaven.org who have been here since February 2009. Long story on each side since we really don't know each other well enough yet. Do we!
My thinking was that I couldn't really give someone a job or a place to live when the economy went tits up, but I could help a dog out. A dog, (1). Well they brought 2 out and those 2 could not have been separated any more than Misty and Scooter, so now I have a pack of Papillons. While I know who pays the bills around here, I'm not sure I actually run the house or just make it more comfortable for the dogs. Either way we are slowly settling in. Now that the long cold winter months are settling in cabin fever will hit us all. Which should to lead to some amusing stories.
Introducing: The Papillon Pack.
Starting with Misty. Aliases; Mistikins, BRAT, MissAlish. She is the Queen of all she Surveys. Most of it is while she has her eyes closed, but we humor the little bitch since she tries her hardest to carry it off. She's the first to tattle on anyone doing something she does not approve of. Including me for not keeping dog food bowls or water dishes at proper volume. Misty is litter mate brother to Scooter.
Next up is Scooter. Aliases: Scoots, ScooterPie, Pie, ScooterDooter, Dooter, PEST. Scooter is the Prince of Charming Scratches. Scooter did not actually get his name from the typical young dog 2 legged dog race across the carpet. Since he was 8 weeks old he would just kind of scoot closer to your hand, human training at it's young ages. He has since perfected "aren't you the cute one" and has never let go of his ability to scoot to a near hand. Beware, a challenge to the visitor who cannot say No. Scooter is full litter mate to Misty.
Cutter follows. Aliases; Mr. Man, CutterButter, Bug, NoodleLegs. Cutter is the adoption boy. He is a puppy mill rescue dog who at the ripe ol age of 4 lost his ability to help along the puppy mill population. He has lost none of his charm to the lady dogs. Cutter is known as a Phaelene version of the Papillon. Papillon meaning "butterfly" in French as you can see from the other ears. Phaelene meaning "moth" in French which Cutter is. He's a bit of a challenge on house training now that it has started raining. I'm not sure how much rain he has had to endure being from a puppy mill and one east of the Rockies as well.
Finally Pepper. Aliases; PepperPower, Crazy Girl, Peps, NosyNellie. Pepper was the car pup pal to Cutter on the drive over from Northern Idaho. She'd arrived at the foster center 2 weeks prior to that day and she and Cutter were inseparable. Who can split that kind of friendship up? Pepper did come to us as Princess - but seeing she's the biggest of the lot, and my aversion to prissy names - it changed. Yes that is paint in her ear because she can't keep her BIG FAT NOSE out of anything. Where nose goes those ears follow.
Now here we are 2 + 2 = The Pack of Papillons, and 1 humble human servant. Is it that I have a job, that I have opposable thumbs, can drive a car, or provide the daily WALKS and SNACKS that they allow me to leave 5 days a week to provide for their comfort? Or is it the respect, affection, absolute trust and love that has me loving these different personalities? I believe it is the latter. And as I hear a Squeakie Toy, These are the Dogs of My Life.
The Papillon Pack.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
What is it with Daylight Savings Time?
What is it with Daylight Savings Time that drags you down for so long? It seems to be more of a hassle to go through the exercise of changing all those clocks that aren't hooked into a satellite than it is worth. You get might 2 weeks of seeing a little bit of more "daylight" but typically the shades of grey around here can be close to black. Typically it coincides with a good rainfall which helps to dampen the mood.
On the way to work I pass a school in the morning. 6 blocks away an elementary school where the kids are running around playing chase, swinging and playing on monkey bars. Even in the rain, well most rain. I pass by the crossing guards who change every week. It is one of the true pleasures to watch my little corner of crossing guards of all personalities. Honest you can tell the future police officers, cheerleaders, fashionistas, artists, beauty queens, et al. Just by the way the act, direct the traffic, talk to each other, imaginary fight demons on the sidewalk, and I saw one write down a car plate on a guy who didn't pay attention. I'd imagine his family gets annoyed with all the tattling, but once he hones that down he has potential. Narc, reporter, spy, the world is open if he doesn't get the snot beat out of him.
When you leave the house typically at the same time you see the same people out for whatever reason they have. I have a neighbor you only see for the first month of school when she walks her son to school. Well she walks half way up the hill and watches him go the rest of the way. The rest of the time she loads their over fat asses into the car for the 1/4 mile drive. Driving by the same faces all year long you start to wave at the regulars. Some wave back, some think you are crazy even though drive by every day.
Still I like to wave and name them even if I have never talked to them. There is "stick guy" because he has a sturdy long walking stick. I have a hunch it was a branch from a tree that probably snapped off during a wind storm. It still seems to fit him. I pass a hospice before I head down the hill and there are a couple nurses that spend their break walking the hill. It's less than 1/2 mile each way, but the vertical climb gives all a work out. "Stick thin" lady goes up 1 side of the hill and down the other to turn around and repeat. A very good 2 mile hike. The man who sees his son off on the bus and walks the hill to wherever he works - "yellow REI guy". That's only within the first 5 miles. I still have 12 to go. I'm not totally crazy - I don't wave the entire drive into work.
However Daylight Savings has taken it's toll this last week. The regulars aren't out yet when I drive by. I can't seem to leave on time to see the crossing guards, The school kids aren't in the best of humor and are taking it out on their parents.
It's like moving the clock back one hour throws everyone off kilter. I certainly hope it puts itself in balance soon. I seem to be dragging my ass into work later and later every day.
On the way to work I pass a school in the morning. 6 blocks away an elementary school where the kids are running around playing chase, swinging and playing on monkey bars. Even in the rain, well most rain. I pass by the crossing guards who change every week. It is one of the true pleasures to watch my little corner of crossing guards of all personalities. Honest you can tell the future police officers, cheerleaders, fashionistas, artists, beauty queens, et al. Just by the way the act, direct the traffic, talk to each other, imaginary fight demons on the sidewalk, and I saw one write down a car plate on a guy who didn't pay attention. I'd imagine his family gets annoyed with all the tattling, but once he hones that down he has potential. Narc, reporter, spy, the world is open if he doesn't get the snot beat out of him.
When you leave the house typically at the same time you see the same people out for whatever reason they have. I have a neighbor you only see for the first month of school when she walks her son to school. Well she walks half way up the hill and watches him go the rest of the way. The rest of the time she loads their over fat asses into the car for the 1/4 mile drive. Driving by the same faces all year long you start to wave at the regulars. Some wave back, some think you are crazy even though drive by every day.
Still I like to wave and name them even if I have never talked to them. There is "stick guy" because he has a sturdy long walking stick. I have a hunch it was a branch from a tree that probably snapped off during a wind storm. It still seems to fit him. I pass a hospice before I head down the hill and there are a couple nurses that spend their break walking the hill. It's less than 1/2 mile each way, but the vertical climb gives all a work out. "Stick thin" lady goes up 1 side of the hill and down the other to turn around and repeat. A very good 2 mile hike. The man who sees his son off on the bus and walks the hill to wherever he works - "yellow REI guy". That's only within the first 5 miles. I still have 12 to go. I'm not totally crazy - I don't wave the entire drive into work.
However Daylight Savings has taken it's toll this last week. The regulars aren't out yet when I drive by. I can't seem to leave on time to see the crossing guards, The school kids aren't in the best of humor and are taking it out on their parents.
It's like moving the clock back one hour throws everyone off kilter. I certainly hope it puts itself in balance soon. I seem to be dragging my ass into work later and later every day.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sometimes it's best just to roll up your sleeves and start it.
Here I am finally doing it. After talking about it and attempted a few times, it appears that this is it. It. Can you hardly stand the excitement of all of it?
Why thank you for asking. It would be my first blog post. Believe me, I have enough little thoughts and ideas jotted down to help me through this venture. I just needed to take that first little tip tap across the keyboards to start my journey. Who knows what topics we will discuss and discover together. If you want to go ahead and put that trusting little hand into mine we can explore any little thing we desire. Well maybe not all things, but perhaps most.
Today I sit at my trusty kitchen table with the fire in the living room flickering warmly and watch the water fall from the sky. It is another fall day for the Pacific Northwest and the first month or so of rain is the hardest to get used to. Throw in the daylight savings that occurred last weekend and the hours of lighter shades of grey are very limited. The wind moving the cedar trees, slanting the rain and evicting leaves from the Magnolia trees adds to the visual effect of being cold. Even wrapped around a cup of tea my hands refuse to warm up.
The dogs have allowed me some free time which much indicate the level of greyness in the air. I suspect however that it is more of them usually sleeping all day storing up energy to hurl at me the moment I walk in the house. Each one needing to be the first to have a scratch, to bounce off the back of my legs on the trip to turn off the alarm, just the first for attention will do, anyhow they get it.
It's the time of the year to settle in with all the shows you want to catch up on, those holiday projects you'll start but somehow run out of time to complete, and wait for the rain to let up. Could be an hour or it could be a month. It will all depend on what you are worried about your house. Leaky roof - count on a month. Reseeding your lawn - count on a good frost and no rain for a month.
Friday this last week I headed out of Seattleopolis on the drive north and ran into rain that made even the Seattleites slow down and flick the wipers up to extra fast. I'm in a convertible so the drum beat of rain pounding above my head was enough to invoke it's own Paul Simon drumbeat solo. The hail started and proceeded to pile up on the windshield. Ahead in the distance you could see the edge of the storm and the haven of rain we are used to and intermittent windshield wiper action.
As Mother Nature is wont to do we never reached that light at the end of the storm. We were being swallowed up as the storm overtook us on it's way north. The carpool lanes could only be used by the buses and bigger trucks as there was a river commuting itself in the carpool lane. Water was flying over the jersey barriers, up from the buses and over from trucks.
The lightening and thunder started as I pulled into the garage. The wind shook the cedars and evergreens and finished off the last of the dead needles and branches. A week ago the backyard was green, this week it is brown from leaves and cedar branches. The rain continued pounding down most of the night and through most of the weekend. Welcome to Washington winters.
All that rain and wetness produced this monster in my front yard. He's got 3 friends hanging out with him and is literally so big I almost wish I had a tacky yard gnome. I also have an insane urge to demolish it with a golf club. Fore!
I leave you with that image while I try and figure out how to attach a picture to our page.
The Papillon Pack
Why thank you for asking. It would be my first blog post. Believe me, I have enough little thoughts and ideas jotted down to help me through this venture. I just needed to take that first little tip tap across the keyboards to start my journey. Who knows what topics we will discuss and discover together. If you want to go ahead and put that trusting little hand into mine we can explore any little thing we desire. Well maybe not all things, but perhaps most.
Today I sit at my trusty kitchen table with the fire in the living room flickering warmly and watch the water fall from the sky. It is another fall day for the Pacific Northwest and the first month or so of rain is the hardest to get used to. Throw in the daylight savings that occurred last weekend and the hours of lighter shades of grey are very limited. The wind moving the cedar trees, slanting the rain and evicting leaves from the Magnolia trees adds to the visual effect of being cold. Even wrapped around a cup of tea my hands refuse to warm up.
The dogs have allowed me some free time which much indicate the level of greyness in the air. I suspect however that it is more of them usually sleeping all day storing up energy to hurl at me the moment I walk in the house. Each one needing to be the first to have a scratch, to bounce off the back of my legs on the trip to turn off the alarm, just the first for attention will do, anyhow they get it.
It's the time of the year to settle in with all the shows you want to catch up on, those holiday projects you'll start but somehow run out of time to complete, and wait for the rain to let up. Could be an hour or it could be a month. It will all depend on what you are worried about your house. Leaky roof - count on a month. Reseeding your lawn - count on a good frost and no rain for a month.
Friday this last week I headed out of Seattleopolis on the drive north and ran into rain that made even the Seattleites slow down and flick the wipers up to extra fast. I'm in a convertible so the drum beat of rain pounding above my head was enough to invoke it's own Paul Simon drumbeat solo. The hail started and proceeded to pile up on the windshield. Ahead in the distance you could see the edge of the storm and the haven of rain we are used to and intermittent windshield wiper action.
As Mother Nature is wont to do we never reached that light at the end of the storm. We were being swallowed up as the storm overtook us on it's way north. The carpool lanes could only be used by the buses and bigger trucks as there was a river commuting itself in the carpool lane. Water was flying over the jersey barriers, up from the buses and over from trucks.
The lightening and thunder started as I pulled into the garage. The wind shook the cedars and evergreens and finished off the last of the dead needles and branches. A week ago the backyard was green, this week it is brown from leaves and cedar branches. The rain continued pounding down most of the night and through most of the weekend. Welcome to Washington winters.
All that rain and wetness produced this monster in my front yard. He's got 3 friends hanging out with him and is literally so big I almost wish I had a tacky yard gnome. I also have an insane urge to demolish it with a golf club. Fore!
The Papillon Pack
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