Belated Thanks

Well here I am once again a wee bit late in thanking a few blogs that chose to honor me with an award.

I love getting awards because I know that people are actually reading and liking what I’m writing about.  It makes me feel like I’m on the right track. 🙂

Today I’m acknowledging two awards, the first was presented to us by Misty Shores Chesapeakes and is called Blog On Fire Award.

Thank you Misty Shores Chesapeakes

The rules that go with this award are easy, link back to the person who awarded you, share five things about yourself, and pass it on.

1) I’m often times my own worse enemy, meaning I always doubt and second guess myself.

2) I’m never satisfied with something I’ve written.  I can always go back and think of something I should have added or a different way to phrase something.

3) Number two is why I decided to start using Follow-up Friday on my blog. 🙂

4) I’m a big Lord Of The Rings fan, I could watch those movies back to back to back.

5) In fact when I’m having a blah day, I’ll throw one of the LOTR movies on, or if it happens to be on tv, no matter if I’ve just seen it or not, I will turn the channel and watch it again.

Misty passed the award on to five blogs, so I will do the same.

Donna and the Dogs – Donna’s ON FIRE! LOL this woman has it all going on.  She recently won the AKC fiction writing contest for 2012 and if that wasn’t enough, she actually has sent her recently completed novel out to a couple of agents.  Watch out for this one, some day we’ll say, I knew her when. 🙂

For The Love of My Dogs – I started following this blog a few months back, Deanna is one of those amazing people who inspire me with their dedication to animals.  She currently has three dogs of her own and she still fosters!  She is on fire for animal rescue.

Hound Girl – I love Kari’s blog, she says it the way she sees it and in my opinion it doesn’t get better than that!  Kari is on fire, she has sponsors and give-aways and is a mover and a shaker.

Mazzie Takes Manhattan – This is one of the news blogs I follow.  Miss Mazzie is a lab mix (I think) and lives the glamorous life in Manhattan.  Join her on her many adventures, that little city girl gets around. 🙂

Thecvillean – I love this blog, Al is sarcastic, funny and just downright entertaining.  If you haven’t checked this blog out yet, I certainly encourage you to try it!

Thanks again to Misty Shores for the Blog on Fire Award.

As if that wasn’t enough, we were also presented with the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award, not just by one blog but by two!

Thank you to Collies of the Meadow and Donna and the Dogs

On July 17th, Chuck and the Collies from Collies of the Meadow presented us with this award and yesterday Donna from Donna and the Dogs gave us the second one.

This award requires I tell you SEVEN things about myself.  You’d think this would be easy since I put so much of myself out here, but that’s what makes it so hard.  I basically tell you everything about myself already.  But I’ll give it my best shot.

1) I had set Friday night aside to work on my book but didn’t do it.

2) I’m actually thinking of going back to the beginning of the book and see if I can add some more description to it.

3) After reading Donna’s AKC fiction story, I can see that much of my writing lacks description. :0

4) I walk the dogs as much for myself as I do for them, even though sometimes I complain about it.

5) I have a license to carry a concealed weapon in the state of CT.

6) I drive a Hyundai Tucson, I hate it.

7) I’m a big military supporter and think we should have better benefits for our veterans.

According to Donna’s post I need to pass this on to seven blogs.  I’ll give this my best shot. 🙂

Kol’s Notes – I get so many nutritional tips from this blog, besides look at that cute puggle face and tell me you can resist it.

My Brown Newfies – Really her escapades with Leroy are about as legendary as mine with Delilah and besides she was cool enough to give me her cell phone number. 🙂  Brave or crazy, I’m not sure which. 🙂

Long Life Cats and Dogs – I just started following this blog, she works in animal rescue though, so what’s not to love.

Rescued Insanity – Have you ever seen a tornado on a leash?  LOL yes that is Kristine’s motto regarding her rescued dog Shiva.  When I read about Kristine and how far she has come with Shiva, it gives me hope for Delilah and me. 🙂

Something Wagging This Way Comes – I love reading about Pamela and all the lessons she is learning from her Golden Retriever, Honey.

Thank you again, Collies of the Meadow and Donna and the Dogs.  I really appreciate the recognition.

Be The Dog

Back in April, Pamela over at Something Wagging had a post titled, You Can’t Do That! Oh yeah? Watch Me.

In the post Pamela made the observation that there are so many people who tell us what we cannot do.  Pamela stated “Well I like surprises—people and animals that do awesome things because they don’t know they’re not expected to do them well.”

Then she posted a video of a St. Bernard doing agility.

I know.  Not normally a dog you would associate with that sport.

But here’s the kicker, the St. Bernard has no idea that the agility ring isn’t designed for large dogs, he just knows that it’s something he enjoys doing.  And he does it quite well I might add.

In the comments I noted in response to another blogger’s comment, “it’s much harder trying to do something others tell you, you can’t, then doing something when you just don’t know better.”

I ended the post with, “Be the St. Bernard.”

Pamela said it was a lovely mantra.

A couple of weeks ago Pamela had another post, Don’t Worry About Messing Up Your Hair, in which she noted dog’s aren’t self-conscious like humans are.

A dog doesn’t care what it looks like after rolling in that mud puddle, the dog just knows that the mud puddle looks fun.  After this post I noted perhaps the mantra should change from Be The St. Bernard to Be The Dog.

Dogs have a way of living in the moment, it doesn’t matter how their day went, if you come home and say want to go for a walk, the dog seizes the opportunity.

The dog has no idea of what it can’t do.  Can’t isn’t a word dogs understand.

After listening to today’s keynote speaker, Lena West via the live stream from BlogPaws 2012 Conference I’ve decided I need to take can’t out of my vocabulary.

There are a number of things I need to do if I want to take this blog to the next level.

If I want this blog to live up to its full potential, I need to seize opportunities.

I need to be the dog.

Follow-Up Friday

For those new to the blog, my follow-up Friday provides me with an opportunity to update or revise a post from the previous week.

You know sometimes you post about something and you need an update but it doesn’t warrant a whole blog.  Or sometimes someone made a comment that really resonated with you.  Yup, Follow-Up Friday baby!

Happy Gotcha Day Delilah! – Author’s Note:

Like just about everything else I write, somehow that post didn’t quite come out the way it ran in my head.

She has come a very long way and I sometimes forget to focus on that. Instead I look at where I would like her to be.

Truthfully if she had a reliable off-leash recall the rest would be fluff. 🙂  She really is an amazing dog.

Ouch THAT Bit Me! – Update:

Last year I wrote a post about how the bugs love me and how as soon as I step foot in the park they send out the call, “Dinner is here, come and get her.”

Well let me tell you, since I started bringing that racket the call now goes, “Oh my God, she’s hear.  Stay clear, she’s got the stick of death again.  Please take a moment to remember our fallen comrades.”

I’ve walked with that racket every day since I wrote that post, keeping a mental note is my head of all my kills. 🙂 Currently the house points bug kills stand as follows:

Monday – 5 (Although I do think one of those zaps might have been a dandelion fluff.) No points for indiscriminately swinging. 🙂

Tuesday – 1 (What a disappointing day.  This has got to be the day they sent out the warning call.)

Wednesday – 7 (My best day yet, but I’ve still not gotten a deer fly.)

Thursday – 4 (Not my best day, but definitely more satisfying than Tuesday.)

Friday – 6 (I was so close to getting 7 and tying the record, but alas it was not to be.)

Even though I’m walking and swinging the death stick, it is still somewhat startling when you hear that SNAP!  Oh and guess what?  Bugs smell when they’ve been fried. 😦

I’m disappointed that I did not smote more bugs and have to say the death stick is certainly not even close to being in the same league as the Elder Wand, but it has afforded me some satisfaction against those bugs AND it is another weapon I have at my disposal to aid in my protection from ne’er do wells and the Zombie Apocalypse.

Exercising Challenges – Update

The weather broke!  YAY!  While we all still get hot as we are walking, it is not as humid so the exercise is way more enjoyable. 🙂

WTF/Whoo Hoo Wednesday – Author’s Thought

This week’s post while sad, was not nearly as horrific as last weeks.  I think what I learned from this post is my next Blog the Change post will be directed at education for law enforcement as to how to handle canine interactions.  Siriusly, this shit has got to stop.

The Post Where I Whine And Cry And Basically Feel Sorry For Myself – Update

I have the absolute best readers in the entire world and yes, I’m talking to you.   You all had such really nice things to say about me and my writing and I really, really appreciate it.  I intend to respond to every single comment, I promise!

I said I felt like shutting the computer off and never writing another word, I didn’t say I would actually do it.  Sheesh, you should know me well enough by now that when I have a captive audience (yes you are, go ahead and deny it all you want) I’m going to keep sharing my opinion.

Siriusly, I was/am disappointed but there is a reason and some time when the time is right, I’ll figure out what that reason was.  Rejection is part of a writer’s life and I need to toughen my skin.  I was so taken off guard by the e-mails and I took it personally.  As many of you pointed out, they were not saying I am not a good writer they are just choosing another, easier path for them.

I think I also need to have a bit of confidence in my writing, it’s just that so many of you are SO good and I read your posts and think, why can’t I write a post like that?  Sometimes I think my writing it too simple.

What I want to be clear on is I volunteered for about 8 different things and have only been contacted on three.  One I had to decline because of personal stuff going on with me.  One I actually did work and the others are administrative opportunities that take place during the day when I am working.  Oh and I was asked to put up flyers.

I haven’t decided if I will blog about their organization (I am very spiteful it seems) or if I will just say thank you, I hope it all works out for you and look for something else.

I think sometimes I just feel like all I am doing is treading water and making no progress.  I’ve been posting every day for a year and a half and I think somehow I thought I’d be a little further along than I am.

Please don’t get me wrong, I am truly grateful for your friendship and support, and the fact that people other than my family and friends actually read this blog.  I guess I just hoped I would have attracted a sponsor by now, or be at least doing product reviews.

As they say, “All in good time, my little pretty – all in good time.”

Oh wait, that was a witch wasn’t it? Well….if the Ruby shoes fit. 🙂

The Post Where I Whine And Cry And Basically Feel Sorry For Myself

This is a post where I whine and cry and  basically feel sorry for myself.  I am apologizing in advance for those of you who care to read it and am perfectly fine about those of you who don’t.

A while back I went to a volunteer orientation for an animal rescue.  I was super excited to be joining the group because they are in the process of doing really amazing things.  I was so impressed with all of the programs they had in place and so many ways they were helping animals and helping people keep their animals.

We were asked to check off areas of interest to us and turn the papers in, we also went around the room introducing ourselves and giving a brief synopsis of who/what we were.

Somewhere in my introduction I mentioned I write a blog about my dogs.  The person in charge said she was interested in me because they were redesigning their website and the new website had a blog and they had no idea how to write a blog.

If I say I was excited for the opportunity to get my name out there a bit more and blog in a professional fashion, that would be an understatement.  I was literally over the moon.

The CEO of the organization occasionally sends out e-mails and a couple of months ago during one of our correspondences I mentioned how excited I was for the new website to be completed so I could help them with their blog.  The response was, “I am too.”

Imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail from the Office Manager on Tuesday saying “I’d like to suggest that everyone have a look at our Sanctuary construction news blog on the website: you won’t believe it.”

This is an uncomfortable situation for me.  I’m not very big on confrontation but there are so many times when I feel hurt and upset and I don’t say anything.  It is hard (for me) to be assertive about a situation without coming across as bitchy.

Naturally I was shocked and unsure what to do,  I sent an e-mail to the CEO congratulating them on the progress and then I asked, “I did have a question, I notice that you have a blog on the new website and I kind of thought I was going to be helping with that, did you change your mind?”

I knew I was uncomfortable so I was pretty sure she was as well, and I thought I bet I never get a response.  But I got one this morning.

I have no problem posting the entire e-mail but it is quite long.  Basically she said that there are two blogs on the website one is for adoptions and the other is for the sanctuary.  It is easier for the woman directly involved in the adoptions to handle the adoptions blog because it involves less work than forwarding everything to me.

The same goes for the sanctuary blog as there is a woman right in the same town who is taking video etc.  Once the project is complete she’s not sure if it won’t still be easier for the people who are on site to just continue to maintain their blogs.

She ended with “Would it be okay to wait and see how it all turns out? This is all new for us and  I apologize if we dropped the ball with you. We’ve got so much activity going on that if blogging doesn’t seem to work out there are LOTS of other ways for you to get involved.”

Then she thanked me for following up.

I haven’t stopped crying since I got the e-mail.

I know it’s petty and stupid, I know there are people who have far worse problems than this, I know everything happens for a reason.

It doesn’t make it hurt any less.

I only live about 20 minutes from the project, I was expecting I would be up there every weekend checking on the progress and blogging about it; adding their website to my blog and helping promote their cause as well as raising money to help them save more animals.

I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face.

I know many of you have your own blogs and have your own reasons for blogging.  Some of you do it for fun, just to have the experience of meeting other people through words.

Some of you do it for education, to have a place for people to learn and share the incredible experience and joy one gets from loving a fur baby.

Some of you are like me and want something more for your blog.

On days like today, I want nothing more than to shut the computer off and never write another word again.

Maybe I’m just not a writer.

Follow-Up Friday

For those new to the blog, my follow-up Friday provides me with an opportunity to update or revise a post from the previous week.

You know sometimes you post about something and you need an update but it doesn’t warrant a whole blog.  Or sometimes someone made a comment that really resonated with you.  Yup, Follow-Up Friday baby!

To Boldly Go Where No Dog Has Gone Before – Update

Apparently M & M always leave their garage door open….when I took the dogs up on Monday evening for their walk, the garage door was open again.

Of course without Delilah being in the garage, I had the chance to whip out my camera and take a picture.

Really ladies, you live in an area where coyotes and fishers live, maybe you want to keep your garage door shut?  It will definitely help keep predators out…..

And wandering chocolate labs.

Which Would Scare You? – Author’s Note

Many of you said the geeky guy would scare you.  Yes, you should be wary of all strangers, although with two dogs I think I’m decently safe, but stranger things have happened.

As Kari from Hound Girl stated, “LOL the nerdy creepy guys are the quiet ones that take people and cut them up and put them in the freezer hahah.”

Yup, you got that right.

It’s Not All About Delilah – Author’s Note

We have a lot of lovely hiking trails in my area.  Sadly we don’t frequent them as much since Delilah joined our pack.  I am going to start nagging gently suggesting to Hubby that we try at least once every couple of weeks to experience some of the other trails.

Sampson really did love them and I don’t think it’s fair that he can’t enjoy the things he loves because a certain someone can’t behave.  I will be content to walk our trails with Delilah on leash.

Or course, this will be after we get our investment house ready for tenants.

W.T.F. Wednesday – Author’s Note

I got the idea for WTF Wednesday from Kari at Hound Girl.  I saw her make a WTF Wednesday post and didn’t realize it was an ongoing feature already being done by Mango and Dexter.

Of course I need to give props where props are due, so Mango and Dexter, hats off to you!  If you are not the originators of WTF Wednesday somebody please let me know just who the f*ck is.

I have no updates on any of the stories highlighted in WTF Wednesday but I did forget another story.

This W.T.F. was from fellow blogger.

Sherri at Woman’s Best Friend posted that she and her GS (Samson) were entering their apartment building as a woman with her children were exiting the elevator.

As they approached each other the older child pointed at Samson and said, “Nasty. Nasty Dog” and the mom just smiled.

W.T.F. lady, I really don’t feel like being the one to educate your stupid ass, but let me remind you that some people PREFER their dogs over people and yes, believe it or not some people actually think….children are nasty.

You should take the opportunity to educate your child the proper way to approach and respect, yes, yes I said RESPECT dogs.

How would you feel if someone pointed at your child and said, “Nasty child?”

Don’t. Try. Me.

This is not part of Follow-up Friday but I wanted to share.

Tomorrow I will be participating in a Labs 4 Rescue Adoption event at the Mellow Mutt.  If you (or someone you know) are looking for a forever friend, there will be 15 labs up for adoption tomorrow.

I have a personal goal to place 15 labs.  Naturally there will be pictures. 🙂

Catch you later!

Along Came Sampson

A couple of you asked about the children’s book I wrote, the title is “Along Came Sampson.”

It is a basic children’s book, narrated by Sampson with actual pictures of him taken throughout the first year of his life.

Sampson…….not even a week old.

I came up with the idea when I was asked to bring a book to a baby shower and the book I had in mind was no longer in print.  I was between jobs and thought, what the heck, I’ll write my own.

I’ve had two different reviews made on the book, with the last one basically re-writing the entire book for me.  Once she was done hacking it I felt like it wasn’t mine any more.  Still I tried to find a literary agent to represent me and schlep my work off to publishing companies, but I was turned down by three different ones.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m not really good with being rejected and so I kind of stopped trying.  The whole intent of this blog was to promote my Along Came Sampson website and get people interested in Sampson and hearing more stories about him and Delilah.

The other thing you should know about me is technology does not come easy.  While I had someone help me design the website I’m not that great at updating and changing things so I basically pay for a website I neither update or promote.  Every month or so I go in and clean all the spam from the blog but that’s about it.

If you’d like to read the book it is up on the Along Came Sampson website under the tab “Sampson Says.”

After the second review I made her revisions and in order to make the book a little more appealing to an agent, I made it into a scrapbook.

The original book was targeted more for children and helping them learn the proper way to raise, train and treat a dog.

I was told, “There’s already training books out there, what makes yours so special?”

Sampson makes it special!

He is a beautiful dog, with a beautiful soul.

Who knows, maybe someday I’ll have the money to self-publish my book, or I’ll be such a famous blogger that I could write anything and people will buy it. 🙂

 

Contact Me

In this great technological age in which we live, there are so many different ways to network yourself.

We Facebook, Tweet, Pinterest, Link in, Triberr , GooglePlus, YouTube and whatever the next big thing is.

With the focus on learning what the latest and greatest is, we sometimes overlook the easiest and simplest things.

Do you list your e-mail address on your blog?   I know when I want to contact someone the easiest thing for me is to drop a quick e-mail.

I ask you this because I have been having trouble commenting on a few different blogs, (mostly WordPress accounts.)  When it first started happening I assumed it was a problem that WordPress was having and that they were aware of it and were working on a fix.  Well you know what they say about assuming.

In some instances I’ve been able to contact the author and straighten the issue out.  (Seems some comments are going into spam.)  There is nothing more frustrating than taking the time to write a comment and hit publish and see nothing. 😦

Depending upon what your goals are for your blog you may want to make a contact page.  Some people also call this the “work with me” page.  Either way it lays out what your blog is available for. Or what your willing to do for a buck. 😉

My contact  page says,

I love hearing from you.

Please feel free to contact me at auntiejodi@hotmail.com

With comments and suggestions

For product reviews

To hire this writer for freelance jobs

It can be as simple or as detailed as you like, but it’s something I feel is very important.

Do you have contact information on your page?  Have you had anyone contact you other than leaving you a comment.  Have you ever found a reader’s comment in your spam folder?  How frequently do you check your spam folder?

 

You Can’t Make This Up….or The Trouble With Bobby – Part Two

You may remember I was in Florida last weekend.

I arrived late Thursday night.

Friday I went and visited with the gal’s from the corporate office of the company I work for, then got in my rental car and headed over to the Clearwater area where I would spend Friday and Saturday night.

Friday evening after crashing attending the rehearsal dinner, I called Hubby then settled in to write Saturday’s blog post and watch the new episode of In Plain Sight.

About 10:30 (give or take) Hubby called and said, “There’s been some trouble at the other house.”

(One side of the duplex is vacant.  Our tenants left at the end of February and we’ve been working over there, trying to get it ready for new tenants.  Well ok, mostly it’s been Hubby that’s been working over there, but I paint!)

I said, “What happened?”

“Apparently Bobby got inside and barricaded himself in the attic.”

WHAT?

For real.  WHAT?

Me trying not to lose my cool, “How does that happen?”

Ok, for the sake of getting you the entire story, I’m not going to share our back and forth conversation.  I contacted my tenant to ensure she was ok and asked her what happened.

Between Hubby and my tenant the gist of it was, apparently Bobby was wanted on some charges and the cops showed up so he ran.  Next door.

He ran next door to my tenant’s house and knocked on the door.  My tenant’s son opened the door where upon Bobby pushed his way thru, ran down their basement steps, up the other basement steps, and up the stairs to the second floor, where he pulled down the attic stairs and locked himself in.

The police tasered him and escorted him out.

That was the story I had Saturday morning.

Sunday morning as I was traveling across the state to visit family and friends, I called my sister and we were discussing the events at the other house.

“He’ll go away for a long time” she said, “he assaulted a police officer.”

“He did?”  Why doesn’t Hubby tell me these things?

“Oh yes, a police dog is an officer.”

I about ran off the Beeline.

I’m pretty sure I was shaking my head in disbelief.  “He hurt a dog?”  “In my house?”

Yup, now you know why Hubby didn’t tell me.

That was the story I had Sunday morning.

Monday I flew home and immediately took my puppies for a walk, deciding to deal with this incident in the morning.

Tuesday I placed a call to the police department asking to speak with the arresting office.  As of today’s post, still no call.   I stopped by the police station yesterday to pick up a copy of the report, but I missed the Records Department by 18 minutes.

Last night I got a hold of a copy of the police blotter (thanks to my tenant) and think I can give you a fairly clear story.

Bobby and his girlfriend had broken up.  On March 31st he broke into her house and sexually assaulted her (according to the police report.)

Here is the information I have from the Judicial website.

On March 27th there was a 6th degree larceny offense, a reckless endangerment offense and a 3rd degree criminal mischief offense; all misdemeanors.

On April 3rd there was a false incident report charge and a misuse of emergency 911 charge.  The false incident report is a felony.

I have also read the press release and am surmising the story in this fashion.

Friday Bobby went over to his ex-girlfriend’s house and said he’d been attacked and beaten on April 3rd.  He was high on PCP and they fought and he threatened her so she called the police and he ran.

That brings you up to speed on what I’ve already told you.

From what I’ve read he went up into our unfinished attic and using a live electrical cord, tied the attic stairs up.  (It’s a pull down ladder/stairs.)

(Process that for a minute and think about what happens when you take a 2oo (give or take) pound man high on PCP and put him in an unfinished attic.)

The police cut the electrical wire and sent the dog up.  Bobby threw a box that might have had a computer in it (previous tenants left it) at the dog, knocking the dog down the stairs where he was caught by the police officer.  The police officer then sent the dog back up the stairs and the dog attached himself to Bobby’s arm, wherein both dog and Bobby tumbled out of the attic.

Bobby was then whacked a couple of times with a flashlight (supposedly) on the leg and eventually tasered and removed from the premises.  The dog was taken to the emergency vet hospital where he was treated for injuries to his right hip and nose.  He was given anti-inflammatory medication.

After removing Bobby from the house, the police went back inside and took pictures.  They then left the house, without benefit of locking the doors and never notified either Hubby or myself.

On April 6th, Bobby was arrested for 2 counts of 1st degree burglary, 2nd degree sexual assault, interfering with an officer, assaulting a public official, 2nd degree reckless endangerment, cruelty to animals, 2nd degree criminal trespass, 2 counts of 3rd degree criminal mischief, breach of peace and threatening.  Five of those charges are felonies.

Unfortunately in CT the cruelty to animals is a misdemeanor U, whatever the hell that means.  Basically on the website I found, there was no recommended sentence for a misdemeanor U.

Hey CT, I don’t like that, do you hear me?  This blogger doesn’t like the misdemeanor U!  And U will be hearing from Me!

According to my calculations if he gets convicted on all charges his minimum sentence will be just shy of six years.  If he gets the max, well he just may never see daylight again without the benefit of fencing.

On April 6th, we were left with cut electrical wires and holes in our ceilings.

I’m not whining, I know this could have been a whole lot worse.  If Hubby and I had still been living there, it’s a very real possibility that Bobby would have been shot.

My one regret is that I wasn't responsible for at least one of his black eyes. (Photo courtesy of Manchester Police Department)

You can’t make this shit up.

Author’s Note: I was so busy trying to process and deal with this issue, that I forgot to mention I did a guest post.  If you have a minute, go on over and check out The Writing World.

The Trouble With Bobby

Hubby and I own two houses.  We live in one and rent the other (a duplex) out.

This is definitely not the path we would have chosen for ourselves, but it is what it is and so we do the best we can.

The duplex was owned by my grandmother and her brother, then my mother and HER brother and then by Hubby and me.  I basically grew up there, I raised my three girls there, it is the place I think of when I say “Home.”

The neighborhood where the duplex is located is a really nice neighborhood.  The houses are old and many of the neighbors are too.  The trouble with this neighborhood is, it is slowly deteriorating and some trouble makers have been slowly creeping in.

I tell you all this to give you a simple background for the couple of stories I am about to share.  Both stories involve the tenant in the duplex next door to ours.

It was March 2009 when my tenant called me and told me the next door neighbor (Bobby) was dropping his puppies over the five foot fence into my yard so his puppies could run around.  Dropping puppies over a five foot fence.

I about lost my mind.

Of course I called the police.

This a-hole apparently was afraid of the police, so when they knocked at his door, he ran.  The police officer argued with Bobby’s girlfriend who steadfastly denied that he’d been there, insisting it was her son instead.

Eventually Bobby wandered back towards the house and had a conversation with the police officer.   Who told him way nicer than I would have that WE DON’T DROP PUPPIES.  PERIOD.

Nor should he be putting his puppies in our yard.

After asking me if I wanted to buy one of his puppies, it seemed like the conversation was over.

Just as Hubby and I were preparing to get back into our car, a mini-van pulled up and a very attractive black man strode across the street, sticking his finger in Bobby’s face and letting loose with a string of profanities and accusations.

The police officer tapped the transmitter on his shoulder and said, “Send back up.”

The duplex sits on the corner of a street that intersects with another, because of this there is street access from three different directions.  Police cars came in from all three directions.  There were at least seven cars with just as many officers.

Hubby and I looked at each other and each took a giant step backwards.

Apparently when the police had knocked on the door, Bobby had run out the basement and went to his ‘friends’ house.  He busted in and scared this man’s wife.  His ‘friend’ didn’t take kindly to it.

Eventually all of the police officers on the scene settled the situation down and Hubby and I went home.

Shortly after that my tenant reported that Bobby was high on something and creating a ruckus.  She called the police and he was taken out of the house stark naked.

After the naked incident, I heard Bobby went to rehab. We didn’t have anymore trouble with Bobby until last Friday.

Yes, I told you I had two stories about dogs while I was on vacation, but it’s rather lengthy so you’ll have to check back tomorrow…..

The Nose Knew

Sampson is a dog that knows when he’s tired.  Once he’s reached his limit and had enough, he puts himself to bed.   Most nights this time is between 8:00 and 9:00.   He just gets up from wherever he is and goes into the bedroom.

As I’m sure most of you do, just before we head off to bed we let the dogs out for (hopefully) the last opportunity of the night.  When they come back inside Sampson goes right back to bed.

Delilah may or may not go to bed, she may do a last check of the house to make sure no-one has left any food out that might tempt a mouse.  She’s good like that.

I grab a handful of carrots and head into the bedroom.  Delilah will jump up and lay against my pillows effectively blocking me from getting into bed.  I carefully lift her up and slide my body underneath hers so I can hold her and love her.

Then Hubby comes to bed and Delilah jumps off and sits beside me.  I use the carrots to lure Sampson up the bed to take his place between us.  Once I have given out all the carrots, Delilah jumps up and settles herself at the bottom of the bed.  Then some more cuddling and loving usually takes place.  The light goes out and if all goes according to plan, we all go to sleep.

Last night for whatever reason Bob was creating a ruckus outside our bedroom door and the dogs jumped off no less than three times.  When they finally settled, Delilah was about half-way up the bed and Sampson was sitting next to the bed looking at me.

I scooched over and said, “Come on big boy.”

He jumped up on the bed and took my spot, leaving me curled in the fetal position on about 6 inches of mattress, which is how I spent most of the night.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I’m just setting the story up for this morning.

Having spent the night either stretched out across my pillows or curled in the fetal position, it was understandable why I wanted to lie in this morning and hit the snooze button a couple of times.

Unfortunately for me as soon as Hubby finished in the kitchen and there was no more chance of getting any food, Delilah came back to bed and promptly started licking the sheet.

“Knock it off,” I told her.

She buried her head under the blanket and licked the sheet.

I got up, covered the sheet and stomped into the closet.

When I came out with my work clothes she was licking the sheet again.

WTF?

I turned on the light and whipped the blanket off.

“Ewww, GROSS!”

It’s not what it looks like.

At first I thought she’d brought some poop into the house to enjoy it on the bed, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be chocolate.

The only thing I can think of is I had a handful of chocolate chips last night and maybe I dropped one and body heat from sleeping melted it to the sheets.

I didn’t notice it, but the “Nose” did.