dobecountry

Cache in your chips!

2008-04-17T19:55:00.002-05:00

It's going to be a geocaching weekend for me and my sister, Karen (aka Ballentine Buddies). The local geocaching group (CSRA Geocachers) is hosting a geocaching event in Thomson, Georgia. As a member of the group, I did my small part by hiding 3 new geocaches and losing my darned sweater along the way. No...it's not a 'clothing optional group', it just got warm out on the trail and I wrapped the darned thing around my waist and it must have dropped along the way. Hopefully some fellow cacher will find & return it thru the weekend.

We even got a mention on the radio and in the local paper!

So we'll have a fun filled weekend of caching, eating good food, visiting with old & new friends, a poker run & night cache! Not to mention speakers and more food! We're squeezing in as much fun as we can into one weekend and I just had to take Friday off to hang with my sister...picking ticks off as we stomp thru the woods in search of hidden ammo cans!

Sound fun? You probably pass by geocaches every day...visit geocaching.com if you're interested in learning more and getting hooked on something that pulls you off the sofa, get you a bit of exercise and meeting new people.

I'm a Mutant

2008-04-05T20:22:00.002-05:00

I knew there was something wrong with me....I'm a mutant according to this article.

Ain't he cute?

2008-04-04T20:54:00.005-05:00

My niece, Crystal, and her one year old son, Skyler, are staying with me awhile. And I added my sister's two Shelties to the household while she's house hunting and trying to sell her house. So...I now have 4 dogs and a baby in the household. My stylist is happy...she has to cover my gray hair more often now!

Well, Crystal entered her handsome boy in an online photo contest for some fun and he won...here's the cute little dude. Don't let that face fool you, he'll be into the dog water bowl in a blink of an eye if you turn your back!

8 months...but it's not a baby!

2008-04-04T19:57:00.002-05:00

YES, finally! My house in North Carolina has sold! I've had a contract for the past couple of weeks but didn't want to post anything and possibly jinx myself! Eight months of paying rent in Georgia and mortgage in NC, plus two electric bills and the weekly cost having someone mow my lawn. Since my neighbor's house sold last July in 3 days, I thought it'd be a snap when I put mine on the market in August. But, as you can see frequently in the news, the housing market took a nosedive. Just my luck...but, luck wasn't all bad since I didn't lose my shirt on the sale. So....I have another 4 months on my lease, and I really am not in a rush to buy a house, so might rent for another year. Especially since I hate packing and moving, I don't wanna do that 'till l I know I'm ready to sit tight in one place for awhile.

Blog Neglect Intervention

2008-03-26T21:03:00.005-05:00

Yes....I've been in rehab for Blog Neglect. My friends and family think I should have plenty of time on my hands since I don't have kids to chase after. So they orchestrated an intervention! I now know the first step is to admit that I have a problem....and I do! My problem is my friends and family giving me a hard time and thinking that I laze around and do nothing, so should have time to update my blog hourly! (I think they should get a life, eh?)

But, to appease these folks and keep them from tossing me into blog rehab, I do have some updates.

Famous Couples Party....My "Hiking" group was straying far from the path of hiking with this get-together. We had to come as "Famous Couples". Since I have no other half of a couple (and my brother bowed out of being my partner for the party), I decided to be Miss Piggy and brought along Kermit! Well, first I had to have a costume. Being frugal, I visited the local thrift store for accessories. I couldn't come up with a stuffed pig from the thrift store, so hit up the pet department at Target...then I GUTTED that piggie! (odd that I enjoyed unstuffing a pig toy on my kitchen counter - more rehab later for that!)

Here's photo proof of this disasterous hobby of mine...Hiking that is!
Poor unsuspecting stuffed pig toy....

Becomes Miss Piggy!

So what does this have to do with Hiking? I don't have a clue! But stay tuned for photos from our next "Hiking" group party...it's called an "Anything But Clothes" party!! Ack....can I show those photos here on my blog? Or should I pack my bags for rehab now?

The good, the bad, the ugly

2008-02-07T18:56:00.000-05:00

Let's see, I'll start with the good...

Back in October 2006 I purchased an Roomba from an online store, Hammacher Schlemmer, that offered a lifetime satisfaction guarantee. These little robotic vacuum cleaners aren't cheap, so when mine died just past a year old I wasn't happy. You pay enough for something, you expect it to last awhile, eh? So I contacted the company and they sure did stand behind their promise! The refunded the entire purchase price with no hassle at all. Try that at Walmart!

And while I'm on 'the good', I managed to have my Federal and two State returns in the bank withing 8 days of my efile...amazing!

And on to the bad...

I went out for a dinner with friends from my hiking group. We'd planned to celebrate two birthdays at the local Miyabi's Japanese Steak House. We didn't make reservations weeks ahead of time, so we knew we'd have a bit of a wait. After 2 hours I was ready to go somewhere else, but we toughed it out for yet another hour and were finally seated after 3 hours and 15 minutes!! No, the food wasn't that good!

And finally the ugly...

Yup, I snagged mouse #7!! Are we done yet? I sure hope so!

My Record Tax Return!

2008-01-31T19:14:00.000-05:00

Was doing a little account balancing and notice my checking account was due for a deposit tomorrow. Well, tomororw is payday, so no suprise there...but the amount was all wrong. Cha-ching! It's my Georgia state tax return!! Holy cow, I just completed that Monday night and by Friday I'll have my return. Ain't it amazing what computers can do for ya now-a-days?

Pau!

2008-01-29T19:15:00.000-05:00

My taxes are PAU! That'd be Hawaiian for done, finished, kaput! I came home from work Monday and my W2 was in the mail. I had everything else I needed to get my taxes done, so I sat down and worked start to finish on Federal, and two partial state returns (lived half the year in NC and half in GA). Managed to finish around 10:30 last nite. I've used TaxAct software for several years and it speeds things up a bit since it has last year's info to save a bit of typing. The ugly part of tax software is the little $$ counter it has in the upper right. It tells you what you owe or what your return would be at that point. Well, when you start off, you enter your salaries...so that 'owe' amount is pretty high until you start entering your taxes paid and other deductions. I do get returns from all, but not huge amounts...which is exactly what I prefer. I'd rather have my money in my pocket thru the year than give the government a free loan by overpaying!

Nope, not spending any of it...gonna get my Roth IRA started rather than blow it.

Cheesy Chit-Chat

2008-01-22T20:40:00.000-05:00

Picked up another electronic toy for my Geocaching hobby...a PDA. Not one of the real expensive ones, but good enough for me to get going with 'paperless caching'. Snagged 5 caches on my shopping & paperless test-run on Monday! If you don't Geocache, you'd be suprised how many of these little treasure boxes you pass by every day. I'd been to the same shopping area many times and just wasn't aware what was lurking there.

Oh, and while I was out shopping, I walk into Target and the first things I see on this freezing day are racks and racks of bathing suits! Okay, in this cold weather I'm sure dreaming of the beach...but I'm not wearing a bikini in the dream, body just ain't bikini-ready yet.

My mouse problem is still a problem - I'm hearing him in the darned kitchen wall! Now I have no idea how to trap this sucker. He'll probably die in the wall and stink up the whole house! I probably need to search the Internet for mouse killin' mercenaries.

Cold Hard Cacher

2008-01-21T11:10:00.000-05:00

Geo-cacher that is....my sister, Karen (that's her in the photo), came to visit Saturday night and we enjoyed a dinner out at Sticky Fingers with over 50 fellow geocachers! Karen stayed over and we headed out in the morning in search of some local caches. My outdoor thermometer read 29 degrees when I got up...sheesh, I didn't think it got that cold in Georgia! So, we donned our long-johns, and piled on the warm layers to do some cold hard caching. Karen's been recovering from a nasty cold and had attempted to clear her ears 'scuba diver' style. You know, pinch your nose and blow, force air into your ear canal and 'poppin' your ears. Well, caused her some bit of pain, but that doesn't stop a serious cacher! We snagged 5 caches and I hid my first caches, three of them! Karen head home, but her ear was still hurting. Later that night she finally decided she couldn't take it anymore and headed to the urgent clinic. Sure enough, she'd busted her ear drum!! Now how many folks get out in freezing weather with a busted ear drum and still cache!?!? Only the crazy ones!

I buried the ghost of Christmas past!

2008-01-18T18:10:00.000-05:00

Okay, middle of January and I finally put away all my Christmas decorations. On New Year's weekend I'd removed and packed all the tree decorations, then last weekend I finally took down my tree. Now today I packed up all the other decorations...wreath, candles, that kinda stuff. I know there are folks that still have up Christmas decorations or leave lights up all year 'round, so I know I'm faster at getting this chore done than some of you out there!

Poodle Walk

2008-01-17T18:34:00.001-05:00

Almost forgot to update ya'll on my Poodle Walk. No, I didn't walk like a Poodle! I took 'The Girls", Bubbles and Trixie, with me on a walk with my hiking group on Sunday. It certainly was 'dog day' with the hiking group. We had five people and 5 dogs! Ended up keeping a pretty good pace, so I had to give little Trixie a rest every now 'n then - that means I had to carry her! Hey, she was taking 20 steps for every one of mine, so I had to help her a bit. Folks recommended I bring one of those doggie carriages next time, or get a doggie snugglie or purse! Utterly embarrassing! Ah well, the girls sure were beat and passed out once we made it back to the car! A tired dog is a good dog!

Can I get a break?

2008-01-17T18:20:00.001-05:00

So, I get home to find a notice from my homeowner's insurance to update my records. Thought I'd done all of my change of address notifications, but I've had them trickle in over the past few months from old credit cards and now my insurance. Chat with my insurance folks, State Farm, to give them my new address and I get the bad news. Seems they don't insure vacant homes (mine is vacant while I attempt to sell it in this sluggish market) and will promptly drop me in March when my policy ends!!! I'd sold my Virginia home while it was vacant for months and a Virginia State Farm agent had kept me insured. Not so with these folks in North Carolina. So I do a little googling and then give a call to another insurance company and get the really bad news! My annual insurance was around $700, but the first 3 months of insuring my vacant home was over the annual cost! My biggest hope is I'll get an offer and sell before my current insurance ends.

And now, another irritating situation. If you've been enjoying the saga of my Battle of the Mice, you'll be chuckling at the latest update. Yup, even though I sent six of those suckers to the Great Beyond (there had better not be a Heaven for mice!), there is fresh evidence of the flea-bitten varmints! And even worse, I spied this evidence in the guest bedroom and I'm expecting a guest this weekend! Even worse than that, my guest reads this blog! Ack! If anyone has advice on dispatching these mice, please post a comment. In the meantime, I'll be heading out for more sticky traps!

Hiking, brothers and chaos

2008-01-13T11:41:00.000-05:00

My brother came to visit this past week, and I had a really enjoyable visit. I didn't have vacation time to use, so had to go off to work while he and the dogs enjoyed hanging out and watching TV. We managed to get out 'n about a little in the evenings, saw the new National Treasure movie. The weather was awesome all week (in the 70's!), so I made a couple of afternoon trips to the park to walk the dogs and get a bit of exercise. My brother, David, joined me ... but his idea of enjoying the weather & exercising was a good book and a spot on a bench at the park.

This weekend I've been busy with my friends in the hiking group. Saturday morning, wearing my new lightweight long-johns under my hiking attire, I did the 3 1/2 hour Mistletoe Park hike. A bit hilly, but we kept the pace easy enough that I didn't need to be hauled out on a stretcher! It's a real social group, so afterwards some of us went out for dinner and hit the $2 movie theater to see Dan in Real Life. Good movie...I'd put it in the 'chick flick' category. We decided on another hike for today, not as long though, and at least the weather isn't too bad for January - 60 degrees. Maybe I'll even take "The Poodles" with me on this hike. That should be interesting.

After getting grief from my brother for still having my Christmas tree up, I forced myself to take it down today. I'd taken all the decorations off on New Year's weekend, but the tree was still lighting up every night. It's a new tree, and of course it doesn't fit back into the box!

David helped me rearrange my living room furniture. My niece, Crystal, and her 1 year old son Skylar will be coming to stay with me awhile at the end of the month. So I thought I'd work on baby-proofing a bit. Needed to get the TV backed up flush to a wall so the little bugger can't pull on the cables. Lots more to do to make this place baby-proof! Oh, and not only will these two be joining me, but since my sister Karen (Crystal's Mom) is moving to Alabama...I asked my landlord for permission to pet sit Karen's two Shelties (those little small Lassie looking dogs that bark a lot). Surprisingly the landlord said yes! So, two more dogs will join my household for awhile as well. How do you spell CHAOS?

Holiday Fun

2007-12-30T11:06:00.000-05:00

Wow...it's been a week of family gatherings, tons of food always goes with that. I enjoyed Christmas day with my sister, Debi, and her family and then the rest of the gang (sister Karen, brother David and their families) gathered yesterday for more Christmas spirit, drinking spirits and pigging out! Twenty-three of us...we had to each in shifts! Here's a few pics from our recent family Holiday get-togethers.

So then I had one last little Christmas gift....I think I finally manged to capture that darned smart little mouse who's been dodging my traps for weeks! Saw the little critter in the laundry room, so I set two traps in there and WHAM, got him within the hour! Now, I'm really hoping that was the last one....my kill count is 6 of the darned things! Hey, I love animals, but these guys would live much longer if they just stayed out of my house!

And finally...I get to ring in the New Year with an ugly cold...ugh! I probably caught it from one of the kids at our Christmas get-togethers. I rarely get sick, so when I do it hits me like a ton of bricks. I managed to drag my sniffly, sneezing, coughing, germy self into work all week and finally gave in on Friday to stay home sick. Hate using a vacation day to lay in bed sick. Resolutions? Nah...I actually set some goals way before January and am workin' on those.

The Ugliest Ornament

2007-12-23T20:28:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd tell the story of how our family tradition of having an ornament making party started. My Dad was career Army, and one year the family was transferred back to Virginia from Germany. It was Christmas time, our household goods shipment was late, and that shipment contained all of our holiday decorations! I remember the Army helped us out with some temporary furniture, Army style bunk beds and such. We always had a REAL tree, but now we had nothing to put on the tree. So, my Mom, being a crafty kinda person, had us making decorations. We used beads on straight pins and decorated those satin balls, and we made paper chains for garland. We even used the bottom of egg cartons to make ornaments. Many of these survived through the years, but I think there's only one egg carton ornament left. To most folks, it might be the ugliest ornament on my tree....but to me it holds lots of love and memories, and started a family tradition that is spanning generations.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Activities

2007-12-23T19:23:00.000-05:00

Just days before Christmas, and here are some of the family activities going on. We had our annual Family Ornament Making Party! Lots of glue, glitter, beads and craft stuff ... we made a huge mess, and quite a few interesting ornaments. From painted glass balls to reindeer bulbs.

Some of the kids came to my place for an overnight visit. I took them to the "Lights of the South" right here in my little town of Grovetown, GA. Millions of beautiful lights, and we enjoyed a hayride through the forrest of lights. Did I remember my camera for this photo op? Of course not! So, I made up for it the next day, on our way to see the Golden Compass we passed this metal aligator and just had to snap some festive holiday photos!

As you can see, my nephews are really brave!

Christmas Carolers

2007-12-12T20:18:00.001-05:00

Wow, it's been ages since I've had Christmas Carolers visit! You just don't see folks going door to door like that now-a-days. Maybe it's the high crime rate, or maybe it's the weather...but it's not commonplace.
A large group of folks, dozens of children, from a local Church were out caroling in my neighborhood tonight. Well, not much crime here, unless you count folks not picking up poop after their dogs as littering? And weather? Well, many of the kids were wearing shorts...it's in the 80's this week!
So, it was really sweet having all those kids singing at my door (as I attempted to keep my dogs from running off with them) and kinda makes it feel more like Christmas.

And Kaci makes Four!

2007-12-11T19:43:00.000-05:00

My niece, Nicole, gave birth to her first child today, a little 6 lb girl...Kaci Marie Aul!

My nieces were fruitful this year...four new baby great nieces and nephews.

Oh, and before little Kaci made her entrance to this world...Nikki had taken professional "Maternity" photos. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Well, they are kinda sweet, and the latest craze I suppose. They're bared-belly style photos of the Mommy. Hey, I'm all for family photos, as long as they don't start taking pics of the birth!

Night Soil

2007-12-10T21:10:00.000-05:00

When I look up 'poop' the Thesaurus gives me these alternatives: crap, droppings, dung, guano, manure, sewage, stool, waste, cowplop, meadow muffin, cowpies, and night soil. (among others)

So, the most descriptive of the problem is 'night soil'. Ya see, I left for the weekend and set out three of those darned mouse-catchin' sticky traps. I even bought the 'rat' sized ones! I set them in places I thought would snag the critters, but when I came home they were empty. So I left the one in the fireplace but gathered up the other two so my Poodles didn't get trapped (one isn't much bigger than a rat herself).

So I wake up this morning and find there's a bit of "night soil" in my darned flatware drawer! That's the second time I had to haul everything into the dishwasher! This time I put a sticky trap in the drawer instead of my eating utensils!

Suprises

2007-12-02T20:20:00.000-05:00

I met my friend, Jacque, when we both lived in Virginia and became friends thru DAR&E, a Doberman Rescue.

She moved to Florida and I landed in Georgia. We'd keep in touch off 'n on via email or phone. It'd been awhile since I'd been in touch with her and I sent her an email while I was off to a class recently in Atlanta, GA. Suprise! She was headed there that same day for a 1 day trip! Amazing that we'd both end up in the same town, at the same time and be in touch enough to know we were both there! So, we managed to meet up before she flew back off to Florida. We hadn't seen each other in over 3 years!

Cachetoberfest

2007-12-02T18:53:00.000-05:00

In October, my sister Karen (in the photo above) and I enjoyed a weekend of Geocaching at an event in South Carolina called 'Cachetoberfest'. I used one of those disposable waterproof cameras, so just now getting the photos back.

We even managed to jet ski out to the little islands at Lake Murray to find caches there. I tell ya, there are caches everywhere! You'd be suprised, I bet you pass some on your way to work...or there are some in your neighborhood or favorite park even! Have a GPS? You might wanna enjoy this fun pasttime!

This is me....yup, it was warm enough in late October to get out on the water!

Another one bites the dust...

2007-12-02T08:31:00.000-05:00

Yup, this would be mouse #5! I'm gonna keep setting up sticky traps 'till all I get is spiders. Sheesh, how can one little house get so many mice?

Bonus!

2007-11-27T06:59:00.001-05:00

Woke up this morning to the chore of double-baggin' the mouse in the fireplace. Ick, he was still moving a tad. Checked the sticky trap in the laundry room and there was the bonus mouse! I'd hoped the one in the fireplace was the same one I saw in the laundry room earlier, but I couldn't be that lucky. That makes the total count 4...but I'm stocking up on more sticky traps today. Somehow I don't think this is over just yet.

Not a creature was stirring...

2007-11-26T20:21:00.000-05:00

...not even a mouse? Well, that part of the old "Night Before Christmas" story ain't true at my house! Just before my Thanksgiving vacation my Poodles informed me there was a mouse in the gas fireplace. Ugh! Slapped down a sticky trap and got the sucker first night. Next night the Poodles still kept whining at the fireplace. I was pretty sure it wasn't a mouse ghost, so put down another trap and snagged that mouse too! Just to be on the safe side, I put down a sticky trap in the fireplace during the week I was on vacation to Kentucky to spend Thanksgiving with family. Came home and there were mouse droppings on my darned sticky trap! Grrrr! I went to the laundry room later and there was a darned mouse in my clean laundry basket...ack! (Will wash all those in ultra-hot water later on). Set a sticky trap in there too! A short while ago the Poodles ran over to the fireplace, sure enough...got me a Mickey on that trap. I'm a little squeemish about the mice on the sticky trap, and I have to wait 'till they're dead to scoop 'em into a trash bag. So, for tonite, I get to hear the squeeks of the trapped mouse. I'll just turn the volume up on the TV. Ewwwww! How many more?!

Blog Neglect

2007-11-26T19:58:00.000-05:00

Okay, so a few folks have called me out for my 'blog neglect'. It's been more than two months since I posted an update, so here's what I've been up to lately.

Been doing a bit of hiking with a local hiking group....fun group of folks I met through meetup.com. I know, that sounds more like a place to find a blind date, but they have groups with all kinds of interests. Check it out...bet you might find some meetup group in your area to join. Here's the folks that made the Congaree Park hike in South Carolina.

Lots of family birthdays, and going along with these is the typical family silliness. Silly string, fake 'Bubba' teeth and shoving the birthday person's mug into the yummy cake! Oh, and let's not forget my nephew Jonathan's skating party, where we all enjoyed the agony of those falling.

I missed the Hiking group's Halloween party, but my Poodles did dress up for handing out candy. I was smart this year, I bought candy that I did not like so I didn't gorge myself on the leftovers.

Flying 'round

2007-09-18T19:25:00.000-05:00

Off on a trip to Chicago for some training and I managed a 'free' flight. Well, kinda free. I had an early flight and they'd overbooked so United requested volunteers to take another flight. Yup...I stepped up and got me a free flight voucher, free domestic round-trip flight. I gave them my baggage info so they could pull my bag. Then caught my flight later that night. After a really long while watching the baggage carousel go around, I find my bag took a trip to DC! They did manage to delivery my bag to me at 4:30 in the morning, so I didn't have to wear the same clothes to class in the morning. So my free flight cost me some time and some sleep, but hey...it's free!

I'm staying at an Extendend Stay hotel, never stayed at one of these before. So I'm in the shower and just put the shampoo in when a thought hits me....I hadn't seen a blow dryer in the bathroom! Ack! I stopped flying with a blow dryer ages ago because all of the hotels have them in the bathrooms. Luckily, I called down to the front desk and found they had them available. Whew....going to class with soaking wet hair was not my idea of a good way to start my day!

Had a wee bit of good news today...my realtor called to say that she had an interested buyer, but needed some of the paperwork on the house. I'd given copies of all of this to my original realtor, but he obviously didn't pass it along when the listing agent changed to the new lady. Hopefully she'll obtain the paperwork from him....they work for the same company. But, at least I was smart enough to keep my copies. So, just crossing my fingers that I'll have an offer soon.

Beer vs Makeup

2007-09-10T17:29:00.000-05:00

Hikin' Augusta

2007-09-09T20:22:00.000-05:00

I just moved to Augusta, Georgia and have been looking for activities to get out 'n about and meet folks. I found a Hiking group on Meetup.com and went on my first hike this weekend. It's a bit less intimidating to head out with six people down a trail rather than try it alone and feel like a target for crackheads looking to roll a few buck out of ya. So, I ended up having a great time on the hike...beautiful views and will certainly head back on this local canal trail again. Afterwards the group invited me to a social get-together that evening...lotta fun people, had a great time!

A few weeks ago I had another get-together with the local Geocaching group...of course it involved a buffet at Ryans, so ya know I didn't pass that up! Lots of local cachers and the group is just getting organzied, they have monthly activities...so seems like another active group for me to dive into.

So, in less than two months I've joined two groups, met my neighbors and have met more new friends in this short time than I did in 1 1/2 years in Fayetteville. Just seems to be more things going on here in Augusta....so far, I'm likin' it, so lets hope the job 'n contract work out so I can stay.

Weekend with 'The Boys'

2007-09-09T20:11:00.000-05:00

A couple of weekends ago I invited my three nephews, ages 9 to 12, to stay with me for the weekend. Of course, this means no weekend chores for them and some fun activities, so they jumped at the chance.

I really had a fun time with the boys....we did a bit of Geocaching, them on skateboards and rollerblades, me on foot carrying all our stuff. My feet were killing me after about 5 miles and many hours of exploring the local park...they were busy practicing cool moves and planning their Skater Dude t-shirt logos. I did force them off the 'wheeled devices' long enough to hike out on the frisbee golf course to find a cache. We did find quite a few caches, and these guys are good at helping to solve those puzzle caches too.

Their reward was eating out...and they said it was just the best food ever at Tomy Roma's! I have to admit...the food and service there was awesome, so I'll be sure to go back. Can you belive it...we had a weekend with no Playstations or other game boxes! The boys did plenty of buttering up so I'd have 'em back again....so will have to plan another weekend. Gotta enjoy 'em while they still wanna spend time with ya!

More Giant Spiders!

2007-09-01T08:34:00.000-05:00

Laying in bed watching TV last night...only a little light across the floor from the TV, and I see some quick movement. I flip on the light and there's a huge spider...big long-legged brownish thing racing across my bedroom floor and headed for my bathroom! Ack! I look around for something to squish it with and quickly use a backpack. Slap! Slap! I give it a couple of good whacks and it stops moving....but...there's suddenly a mass of tiny moving objects. Eewwww! She'd had her babies (spiderlings I've found they're called) on her back and now they were running for cover. Just what I need, a hundred more of these buggers. I grabbed the DEET and put an end to that gene pool! Today I do a little digging around online and find it was most probably a Wolf Spider. First the Black Widow, now the Wolf Spider...what's next? Tarantula?!

Fun Birthday

2007-08-20T07:29:00.001-05:00

Sunday was my birthday. I had a load of things I needed to pick up from my house in NC, so that's what I spent the entire day Sunday doing.

Oh, someone above must have been looking out for me....I borrowed this storage rack from my brother-in-law, the kind that attaches to the receiving hitch, needed the extra space for all my junk. I tied down a big rubbermaid tub of cleaning supplies, aerosol cans and such, and beside that is the propane tank for my grill. What I didn't know was that my exhaust comes straight out the back and was busy heating up that tub of flammable & explosive items. When I got home and tried to get the tub off of the rack...I couldn't. The bottom was melted onto the rack!! I pulled the top off and started pulling stuff out...everything was HOT! Plastic bottles had started to warp, one had a hole and was dripping all onto the garage floor. I finally manged to empty the tub and pulled it loose. Now I'll need to scrape the melted plastic off of it before returning it, but at least I didn't create a fireball on the back of my truck!

My birthday wasn't all bad...my brother-in-law did cook me up a nice steak dinner to enjoy at the end of my rough day.

Redneck Pics!

2007-08-17T07:30:00.000-05:00

Well, I couldn't believe it, but it seems my sister, Debi, wasn't the first to come up with the Potty as a Flower Pot idea! I did a Google search on "Redneck Pics" and found enough to keep me laughing through morning coffee! Try it if you're in need of a little laughter!

Redneck Rodents & Gardening?

2007-08-16T19:34:00.000-05:00

Yup, Georgia has these funny lookin' critters! Saw one as roadkill on the road leading to my house. Just thought it odd.

Now this photo is even more odd! Remember my sister, Debi, with the redneck toilet-as-a-pot and the Pink Barbie House (check out my previous posts). Well, her hubby decided to put up some Redneck Garden Edging around the young fig tree. Yup, those are the strips of rubber tire left on the road when someone has a flat! I'll give my sister some credit though, she made the guys take it off!

More Real Estate Fun

2007-08-13T16:20:00.001-05:00

So I think I have things worked out...the new realtor called me. She works together with her daughter, so there are two people on a team working to sell my house. If one's busy or out of town, the other takes care of business. I think this'll work better...and they'll continue the remaining 60 days of the existing contract. And, she recommended something I'd been thinking of doing...having the house appraised. It'll cost me some bucks out of pocket, but it'll make sure I'm pricing it correctly for the market. Probably won't have any news 'till next week on the pricing, but at least I feel like I'm making progress and someone (besides me) is working to sell my house!

The Joys of Home Selling

2007-08-13T12:57:00.000-05:00

Can ya read the sarcasm in my title? I enjoyed a 4-hour weekend trip to North Carolina to pack up the rest of my 'stuff' and do some more home selling prep. In addition, I had a wonderful chat with my not-so-helpful realtor, and we have both agreed that I need a different agent. Awaiting a new contract on the fax right now, along with a new agent. Sheesh, I was doing all the work, follow-up and marketing of my home...and HE was going to get the commission? Don't think so.

I did manage to get everything packed up, and all that wouldn't fit in my SUV for the return home was stacked neatly in the garage. I patched the nail holes and did touch-up painting, and followed up with some general cleaning. It's looks 'move-in ready'...now, just need someone to buy it!

After all this work, and another 4-hour drive, I'm bruised and exhausted. I'm sure my efforts will pay off in the long run, I'm just hoping for a shorter long run.

New Roommate?

2007-08-11T07:20:00.000-05:00

My new rental home seemed overrun with spiders, little tiny brown things that I keep killing every day.

I'd seen a large web in the garage when I first moved in, but hadn't bothered to clean it up yet. Like I don't have enough things to do with packing and unpacking, eh?

Yesterday my garage roommate made an appearance and I snapped a photo of her. Quite large black widow spider! My brother-in-law put her out of my misery. I think I'll fog the garage...and the house...maybe the back yard even?

Barbie's House!

2007-08-09T07:49:00.001-05:00

My sister, Debi, has a beautiful old Victorian home she purchased a few years ago and has been fixing up a bit each year. This year she's putting in new windows & painting the exterior red. She's just completed the primer in time for the window installation. Those of you handy at painting know that the primer contains some of the final color...you mix a dark red with white primer and you get...PINK! Debi says you can hear the 18-wheelers downshifting to get a look when they pass by.

Recently she went to a farmer who was selling sweet corn by the bushel. You didn't have to pick it yourself, just place your order and come back later to pickup. So Debi gave the woman her order, and in trying to figure out how long to tell her to come back....the woman asked how far Debi lived. Debi gave her the name of the house (yup, the house has a name...though I don't recall it) and the woman said, "Yes, the Barbie House! My daughter loves your house!". And, looking at it...it does resemble something that would be sold for a Barbie doll. Debi then quickly explained that it really wasn't going to stay pink, it was just the primer color. (If you look real close, you can see the lower floor, under the porch, has already been painted the dark red color.)

This is the same sister with the redneck toilet-flowerpot on the back porch...see my post titled "Redneck Decor?" from June 3rd. Yes...this flowerpot is STILL on her back porch! I think she's trying to get her husband to notice it needs to be hauled off!

When ya gotta go....

2007-08-09T07:34:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I bid farewell to my buddies at the Ground Intelligence Support Center at Ft Bragg. I'd only been working there a year and a half, and I told 'em I'd enjoy a lunch out to say goodbye...but nothing fancy. Most of those folks work there for decades, not mere months....so I was a real short-termer in that group.

Those crazy folks know that I'm very involved with my dogs and dog rescue, so it was really heartwarming that my farewell card (check out their sense of humor below) included a dog....and a nice donation to my favorite rescue group (DAR&E) as well! DAR&E now includes GISA on their list of Sponsors!

A great group of folks to work with, I'll certainly miss the folks there! I'll also miss the gerbil bowl of chocolates....the excitement of getting a great parking spot....and the "calendar"!

Just want some sleep!

2007-07-28T19:47:00.001-05:00

Knowing I had a week to live at the new rental home until my household goods were delivered, I tried to fit a twin mattress in my SUV. It was a no-go, so sent tht on with my shipment and bought a twin sized inflatable mattress. I already had the Coleman rechargable inflator, so I figured I'd sleep just fine with the air mattress and a memory foam mattress topper. So I roll into my rental place on Friday night and discover that you actually have to charge the re-chargeable inflator for 10 hours prior to use. Hmmm, I must have forgotten that part since it's been ages since I've been camping. I slept on the memory foam pad and the dog's bed was thicker than mine! Got it all worked out come morning...but lesson learned!

Reward Yourself

2007-07-25T20:06:00.000-05:00

Yup, that's how I'm managing to pack up all my stuff for moving. I've been rewarding myself...if I come home and start working on my moving projects, I allow myself some Smirnoff as a reward. Tonite I've been working really hard, so I earned 3 Smirnoffs! Completed the entire garage, hauled junk to the dump and good stuff to the thrift store for donation. This past week I've worked through the better part of a 12-pack, so obviously I've gotten a lot accomplished! Moving day is Friday. If I keep moving this often, maybe I'll buy my own moving van, eh?

Progress

2007-07-23T19:34:00.000-05:00

I rented a utility trailer from the military base for $40 (all weekend) to save some $$'s on my move. Loaded up the mega-lawn tractor, a bunch of heavy garage junk and most of my sunroom plants then headed south to hunt for rental property. After ditching my junk at my sister's, I made it to Augusta and finally found a house to rent. Since my sister thought I'd kill myself trying to unload the trailer alone, she volunteered to help out. Because of that, we made quick work of filling up the garage at the new place.
So, after a bit of a difficult start, things seem to be coming together. Movers pick up on Friday and deliver the following Saturday. So I'll just have a week of sleeping on a twin mattress on the floor. Hey, at least I'll have internet and cable TV right away! ("It's the little things in life.")
Now, just hoping the North Carolina house will sell quickly so I'm not enjoying rent and mortgage for months on end.

I need a drink!

2007-07-18T20:32:00.000-05:00

[in my most sarcastic voice] Moving is so much fun!

After 6 days with the for sale sign out front, I finally have a lockbox on my front door...my realtor is not off to a hot start there. However, he did show my property tonight and two bonuses: (1) the wife is interested (that's 3/4 of the battle, eh?) and (2) they're approved to purchase without having to sell their current home. Keeping fingers crossed here!

On the other end, I've been waiting for days to hear from the rental property manager about a move-in date for this weekend (since the place is already empty). All this time, I thought they were trying to reach the owner to approve a move in date...and instead it's to approve my pets! Sheesh, if I knew there was a question on the pets, I'd have kept looking LAST weekend! I gave them 'till tomorrow to get approval and then the lease is off and I'll make yet another trip to house hunt for a rental. Like I can really afford to take time away from this packing up my junk to find a rental house.

Enough of my frustrations...at least my house showed very well. I learned well from my good realtors in Northern Virginia. Had the blinds open for light, multiple lights turned on, place is spotless and no clutter. Even left on some soft jazz music. Just wanted to share this photo with my sisters...dressed up my plain, boring headboard-less bed with two room dividers pulled out of the sunroom. Not bad for my shot at 'staging' a house for sale, eh? Ah well, it'll be empty soon enough.

Nomad Lifestyle

2007-07-17T17:03:00.000-05:00

Yup, I'm moving yet again! I just stumbled into a great opportunity to transfer (within my same company) to a job in Augusta, Georgia. Of course, this means I get the "pleasure" of the whole moving experience again....selling my house, packing all my junk (how did I aquire soooo much more?), figuring out the least expensive method to get it all hauled to the new place, finding a new place, and on...and on.

I did get smart and do a little research on moving and moving companies, on http://www.movingscam.com/. I think this may have just prevented a disaster since I'd been considering one of the scammer companies already. This is one of those things where 'ya get what ya pay for', so I'm not gonna hit the cheapest bid.

Ketchup

2007-07-07T12:45:00.001-05:00

Just catchin' up on my blog...got my Jimmy Buffet concert posted, and not a huge amount of stuff goin' on. But, here's my catch-up for my blog....

~ My front garden is no longer a 'weed garden', though it still needs work...it's a great improvement from when I moved in here.

~ Months ago the light fixture on my front porch shattered, and I finally managed to install a new (nicer) one today. Of course, since I'm not so handy, it took me about 40 minutes to do what a more talented person would complete in 15 minutes! I'm proud of myself just the same! Next...painting that front porch...ugh!

GeoCaching

~ Speaking of pups...I haven't seen either the Momma or Pappa dogs in over two weeks. But, I still leave food daily and it's getting eaten, so I suspect they're around, just staying cool in the woods and staying clear of the hectic construction going on right now in my neighborhood.

Buffet 2007!

2007-07-07T12:22:00.000-05:00

Had to purchase my Jimmy Buffet tickets on PayPal some months ago for twice the price and only got lawn tickets. But, it was well worth it for the 12 hours of party time! Went with my friend, Leclii, and we had a great time even when it started to pour rain come concert time. We're already planning next year's concert!

Here are some "Changes in Attitude" photos...and, like all Buffet concerts, we made some new friends along the way!

Puppers Repeat

2007-06-26T08:17:00.000-05:00

All I can figure is that this Momma dog once lived at the home where she had the last litter in December, and where her and the Pappa dog continue to hang out. And, although they were gone for months, when it was 'her time', she returned. Yup, saw her yesterday and she's had her puppies. I scoped out the collapsed building where she'd had the last litter, but didn't see any pups. It's possible she's gone off to the old farm where she'd moved her litter back at Christmas. Just putting out food for now.

They're Baaaack!

2007-06-16T18:24:00.001-05:00

Back in February or so, the construction company started some serious work in the area where I'd fed the stray dogs. Hadn't seen them since sometime around February. Yup, after no sightings of the Momma and Pappa dogs in four months, I'd figured they were long gone. But a week ago I spotted them back in the same old hangout areas. Sure enough, Momma dog is looking a bit 'round'. So, I'm printing out notices to let folks know I'll be trapping...and hopefully they'll not feed the dogs. Hungry dogs are more likely to take the bait in a trap. Let's hope I can capture at least the female before she has this litter out in the woods!

Dying for a cell phone?

2007-06-07T20:26:00.000-05:00

Some kind of madness has taken over, maybe it's some hidden mind-control method distributed by cell phone companies directly through the phones? I've read about two people risking their lives, and ultimately losing them, in an attempt to retrieve a dropped cell phone...and all this on the same day!

Cell Phone Drownings

Most of us pay less than $50 for our phones (cheaper when we extend our contracts), but even if I'd paid the full price...I wouldn't risk life 'n limb for a darned phone! I think they'll end up having a Cell Phone Darwin Award section at this rate.

Flying the Coop

2007-06-05T18:22:00.000-05:00

The baby birds were making a bit of a racket and were climbing the plant in their pot today. About an hour or so later, I head out to do some more gardening and find all four had flown the coop! They'd made it off the deck, across my lawn to a small garden by the fence. They were able to fly short distances, up the fence or into the flowers. After stashing the poodles inside again...I managed to snap a couple of photos before the baby birds found a way past the fence and into the woods.

Redneck decor?

2007-06-03T19:53:00.000-05:00

I visited my sister, Debi, in South Carolina back in April. She lives in an awesome old Victorian home. After some plumbing problems, they were doing some renovations and replaced a toilet. Being a busy family, they moved it to the back porch and hadn't had time to haul it off to the dump. So, shutter-bug that I am, I snapped a photo.

On a more recent trip for Memorial Day weekend, the toilet was still there! In an attempt to get her husband's attention, my sister added some beauty to the beast. Didn't work to get the darned thing hauled off, It's early June and it's still there....but it is more attractive. And, appropriate decor since her husband is a plumber! Maybe they should move it to the front porch, eh?

Carolina Wrens

2007-06-03T19:41:00.000-05:00

Finally got some rain this weekend and things cooled down, so I decided to get busy with some yardwork and gardening. I had some potted grassy plants that I wanted to transfer to one of my flower gardens.

When I brushed the leaves aside, I disloged part of a nest that a bird had made in the pot! Out jumped two wee baby birds and off the deck they fell. So I quickly stashed the Poodles inside before they decided the birds were tasty treats, then scooped up and replaced the birds in their nest. Twice more a baby bird jumped out and I could tell by the songbird's change in tune that something was wrong. Yup, there was the darned baby bird in the yard again. Finally I think I adjusted the nest back the way it was, and saw the momma and pappa birds continue to feed their four babies thru the day. So, I suppose that particular plant will need to wait 'till the babies fly away.

So I went online trying to find out what kind of bird this was, and found it was a Carolina Wren. My nephew, Stephen, recently did a school project on South Carolina (he got an A!) and it included lots of info, including the state bird....the Carolina Wren! (Click on Stephen's photo for a larger image, and you can see his drawing of the Carolina Wren in the upper left of his project)

Geocaching

2007-06-03T19:26:00.000-05:00

My sister, Karen, got me interested in a new hobby...Geocaching. (geocaching.com) It's a kind of high-tech hide-n-seek game using a hand-held GPS. Here's some photos of me and my family on a geocaching weekend and attending the GeoWoodstock 5 event held in Raleigh. Not just a stroll in the park. We managed to get waaaay too far out on a trail, and had a long hike out - think it was 4 miles by the time we finished. My nephew, Jonathan, won the 'tick' contest with a total of 20 found on him for the weekend, with my sister, Karen, runner up with 15. Ick!

The whole crew at GW5

On the trail to a cache

Tech-teasers

2007-06-02T17:14:00.000-05:00

Okay....just so you can exercise your brain or tie it in a knot.

Statement is: "Not case that server is down AND network is up"
Re-write this using OR instead of AND.

More Babies!

2007-05-20T18:00:00.000-05:00

Three new family members this year....Skyler was born in January, and now two more in April & May. My niece, Lisa, had her son Chance and my niece Amanda had her daughter Angel. I haven't seen either yet, but hope to see the little buggers on Memorial Day weekend. Babies are always so much fun when you can give 'em back to their Momma when they get fussy. In the midst of all these births, we found out my niece Nikki is expecting and due the end of this year...4 babies in one year?!

Here's Chance Alexander....

And this is little Angelique...

Cruisin'

2007-05-13T12:45:00.000-05:00

I know, I know...been a long time since I updated this blog. Well, had a 2 week vacation that included a week cruise on Carnival's Liberty with my friends Leclii, Amy and Ryan. Visited Freeport, Grand Cayman Island and Costa Maya Mexico. Grand Cayman was my favorite, will hafta plan a future vacation there...one afternoon is just not enough time.

Car Buyin' & stuff

2007-04-07T19:37:00.000-05:00

Been neglecting my blog lately, so gonna try to catch up...

I finally did force myself to get out an buy a new SUV. Traded in my trusty ole Durango (with about 150K miles on it) and brought home the 2007 Toyota 4Runner about a month ago. Still has the new car smell!

Lessee, what else has been going on...

My friend, Jenny, got the last of the puppies (Gretel) adopted! Yeah!
Been gone more weekends than I've been home lately, visiting friends and family. No snow in North Carolina all winter, but one weekend in Virginia and it dumps 4" of that white stuff...ugh!
Someone was looking out for me...my dryer was on the blink and it happened 1 week before the warranty ran out. My laptop disk drive bit the dust and I found out it was still under warranty ('cause I'd actually bought the darned extended warranty), what luck!
Just started doing a little 'Letterboxing' with my little sister, it gets me out of the house, out doing a little hiking & exercise and it's kinda like a treasure hunt.
I won the "Dead Guy" game over on The Trouble with Angels!
Started working on my 'weed garden' out front to make it into a 'flower garden'...still a work in progress, as you can see. And, of course, after I spend a pile of cash on flowers, we end up with some unusual freezing weather!

Hugo found a Home!

2007-03-04T18:51:00.000-05:00

Jenny, the friend I conned into foster two puppies, managed to find a wonderful home for the biggest pup of the bunch...Hugo (formerly known as Freckles). This big handsome dude will now have a fellow hound brother and 2 acres of yard to explore. Sometimes there are happy endings, eh? (Although for Jenny, she still has one more puppy to place in a forever home - Gretel...her homework for Spring Break!)

Puppy Update

2007-03-01T20:04:00.000-05:00

The last three puppies in my home were adopted about 2 weeks ago, so I've been enjoying the freedome of a puppy-less house! These are the three...Ducky (renamed Tracker), Elliot (renamed Moses) and Sara (not renamed).

My friend Jenny has the last two pups, Gretel and Freckles (who she renamed Hugo), they're getting 'snipped' today and will head to the adoption fest in Virginia this weekend. That only leaves me the darned Momma and Pappa dogs to capture and end the darned cycle of strays. At least until the next braindead person dumps a dog in the neighborhood.

6 Weird Things

2007-02-20T19:22:00.000-05:00

Ha...I just got tagged by Dragonlady! (I will be sure she gets a little payback.)
She must have noticed that I've been lax in getting any blog updates done lately. Hmmm, now I gotta think up six weird things about me and post it to the public!

So...here’s the game rules direct from Dragonlady: Each player starts with posting 6 weird things about themselves. Persons/blogs who get tagged should write something of their own and state the rules clearly on their respective blog. Then select an additional 6 bloggers to be tagged and list their names. Leave a comment that says you have been tagged in their comments section and hope they don’t hate you after tagging them.

1. I'm a grazer. I eat all the time...okay, maybe not all the time, but every couple of hours I need at least a snack. Folks joke about my constant munching, but I can't concentrate if I have an empty stomach.

2. I have bouts of claustraphobia. Why, I don't know...it's irrational, but as I get older it happens more often. Once I wouldn't get on a 3 story parking garage elevator and took the stairs while my coworker laughed at me. I won't get in an MRI machine without some Valium!

3. I still watch Survivor each season.

4. I don't like foil. I really hate the kind of foil they wrap around chewing gum. Don't want to touch it, don't want to chew the gum that came inside. The thought of my teeth touching aluminum foil gives me shivers.

5. I can't bite my nails! I was a big nail biter before I had braces recently. Two years of braces made my teeth straight, but now I just can't bite my nails. Even when I have a fingernail that gets a split, I can't manage to find a way to chew it off. Gross, huh? At least I do NOT bite my toes!

6. I don't think I know 6 bloggers who haven't already been tagged!

I'm doing my best, but only have 4 for now...

Ballentine Buddies Letterboxing
Super Jiggy E
The New L-quad Blog
All American Mom

It's a Boy!

2007-01-24T18:18:00.000-05:00

My niece, Crystal, gave birth to her first little one (and my sister Karen's first grandchild) yesterday. This handsome guy is named Skyler James, he and his Momma are doing just fine. Crystal, Skyler and Karen should all be coming home tomorrow. This is the first of three grand-nephews or nieces that my family is expecting for 2007.

Weight: 6 lbs 13 oz
Length: 19 inches
Born: January 23, 2007
Time: 4:55pm

Hansel

2007-01-15T14:57:00.000-05:00

Been a terribly busy weekend, with my friend Leclii visiting and taking puppies back with her. One that was due to head north for Jenny to foster...Hansel...got seriously sick just before Leclii's departure. So I sent Freckles on up with Gretel to Jenny's to foster. And off I went to see what could be done for Hansel. Sadly, I ended up taking him to the emergency vet and having to put him to sleep. Here's a photo taken this weekend of little Hansel. Worried that Hansel had something the whole litter had caught, I took Ducky into my own vet on Monday and they found nothing. Wasn't 100% comfy, so I had tests run for Elliot and Sara (these are the ones left at my house now) and they were negative as well. So, sigh of relief that the pups are okay and it was only Hansel who wasn't well.

Any other time I'd have thought having 3 little puppies to care for would be stressful and overwhelming. But....after having 8 of 'em for 2 weeks...caring for 3 is a piece of cake! Couple more weeks 'till they're ready for adoption. The local shelter said they typically go fast...though I'll probably be somewhat picky on adopters. Here's a few good shots taken over the warm weekend.

ELLIOT

SARA
FRECKLES

Round Two

2007-01-11T18:50:00.000-05:00

Took the other four pups to the vet today for their shots and deworming. Here's the weigh-in:

Ducky - 5.6 lbs
Elliot - 5.0 lbs
Sara - 5.0 lbs

and...drum roll please....

Freckles at a hefty 7.4 lbs!!

WORMS!!!!

2007-01-11T08:45:00.000-05:00

Ugh! I thought the puppies must have pulled some threads loose from their bedding, but nooooo. The wormer the vet gave those four puppies yesterday worked well, 'cause last night (and this morning) I had the joy of cleaning up poop with roundworms. In case you've never experienced this and would like a visual...here's the website for roundworm info:
http://www.thepetcenter.com/exa/worms.html

Guess I'll get another joyful night after the other four get treated today!

First Vet Appointment

2007-01-10T19:31:00.000-05:00

I could only make an appointment for 4 dogs at a time at the vet's office, so I took four today and will take four tomorrow. Was pretty easy...fed 'em all first and these buggers fell asleep, had to wake them up for shots. Here's the weigh in:

Samson - 5.6 lbs
Gretel - 5.4 lbs
Hansel - 5.0 lbs
Delilah - 4.8 lbs

The staff at the vet facility was really helpful. They have their own adoption center there, and the lady said someone had came in just that morning looking for a hound puppy. I gave her all my contact info and hope to hear back! Need to make up a flyer with cute puppy faces to post there as well.

Five Weeks Old

2007-01-07T19:10:00.000-05:00

The puppies are five weeks old now and I feel like I aged a decade or two this past week. It's a LOT of work to care for a litter of 8 puppies. If I ever do this again, haul me off to a shrink! Luckily, my friend Leclii will be here next weekend to haul off four of these cuties. So, here's the rollcall of puppies....see one you'd like to adopt!?

DUCKY

FRECKLES

ELLIOT

SAMSON & DELILAH
{These two have been adopted and go to their home next week!}

HANSEL

GRETEL

SARA

Ringing in the New Year

2007-01-01T19:48:00.000-05:00

While my family took in record amounts of alcohol, lighting off fireworks, dancing & singing the night away and making drunk phonecalls at midnight to wish me and other less fortunate family members a Happy New Year! (Check out my sister's blog for a good laugh)...I was busy being Puppy Momma.

(Above pic: Leclii's boy Sampson getting a bath)
(Photo to right: Freckles crashed in the crate)
Here's a few puppy photos from the weekend. They're much better smelling and I'm getting the feeding and cleaning routine down pretty well. My friend Jenny was only here for the weekend, so I'm facing the week of work and puppy care all by myself. In two weeks, my friend Leclii is planning on visiting and take two pups back for her family to adopt and two back for Jenny to find adoptive homes. Now...if any of you are looking for a cute puppy to live as an indoor dog, please reply to my blog...these pups are gonna need homes!

Took several group shots of the whole litter, but they weren't cooperating much.

Puppy Pics

2006-12-31T12:23:00.000-05:00

Puppies did great their first night, but I under estimated the amount of puppy formula I need, so back to Petsmart today. They sure are cute, but what a handful! I had a lovely 1:30am wake up...not fun!

Puppies first meal at my place

These are the two Leclii & her family will be adopting. I think they're planning on naming them Sampson and Delilah. Mr Sampson is one of the biggest in the bunch and afraid of nothing!

Eight?!

2006-12-30T19:36:00.000-05:00

I headed to the farm house after lunch, with my friend Leclii as my 'lifeline' on the other end of my cell phone. Two guys working on the SUV in front of the farm house and another person underneath. I explain again how the Momma dog had been seen hauling the puppies across the creek to their property and they said go ahead and look around. Armed with Leclii in my pocket on speaker-phone, a box and a flashlight...I find a few old buildings and abandoned cars by the creek. One building had fallen flat, one was ready to and the other was standing with the door wide open. As soon as I stepped in, I heard a bark and knew I had found 'em!

It looked like a tobacco or smoke house maybe with low rafters for hanging things, but was filled with stacks of pallets and farm junk. Momma must have slipped out one of the holes in the wall, but I managed to climb, crawl, and pull myself thru the cobwebs to the puppies. Stashed four of them in my box, climbed out, and headed back to my car. Suprisingly, the 3rd person working on their SUV was a girl...she came to see the puppies and helped me snag the others and put in a small crate I'd brought. I was pretty suprised when we went back for the rest of the pups...I'd thought she had 7 puppies when I counted heads and tails, but turns out it was EIGHT!!!! My gosh...what have I gotten myself into!?

Luckily for me, my friend Jenny shows up to help me out for the weekend. We gotta bathe these stinky pups and get them into a feeding routine. So, I have all 8 pups in a huge crate with tons of blankets (better than the red clay bed they've had), two poodles that live with me and two Dobermans that came with Jenny. Should make for an interesting (read that: hectic and hairpulling) weekend.

Check back for photos...maybe I'll manage to get them up tonite between feedings!

Permission to Trespass

2006-12-30T12:32:00.000-05:00

I posted a note Friday morning on the mailbox of the farmhouse where I think the Momma dog has moved her puppies. After work, I see the note is still there so I decide to drive down their long driveway & ask permission to search for the puppies. I call my sister on my cell phone, give her the address and put her on speaker phone...this is my safety net. If I hang up, she'll try calling back, if I don't answer and say I'm okay...then she'll call 911. Drive up and there's a car up on a jack in the front yard, an old school bus painted in flames, various old abandoned cars and a sign for selling pitt bull puppies. I know I shouldn't stereotype, but this place makes me a bit uncomfortable...crack house? pitt bull fighting ring? All this and nobody is home...though I hear a dog barking inside when I knock.

I try the house up the road...long driveway, beautiful huge home with pool in the back yard, horses in manicured pastures. Looks like a postcard. Nope, don't feel worried walking up to this house, but have sis on the phone just the same. Lady (looked like a typical soccer Mom) is nice enough to let me search her property, but found nothing. After wasting an hour of my sister's time making her hang out on the phone, I was losing daylight and stopped for the night.

Saturday morning...I managed to get brave enough to try the old farmhouse again. And again, I made my poor sister sit on the phone to keep me company. House looked the same, except several bags of trash joined the 'stuff' sitting on the front porch. I knock, dog barks, and sleepy looking man comes to the door. It was obvious I'd woke him up (10am!), he was rubbing his eyes, looking sleepy or stoned (both?), piercings thru various parts of his face, tattoos on arms, pitt bull by his side. After explaining a couple of times that I'd like to search his property for some puppies that the Momma dog hauled there...he said yes and I left. I know, I really shouldn't judge people by their looks or the way they keep house....but, after watching way too much evening news...rarely have I seen a Soccer Mom serial killer or rapist, they tend to look more like the dude in the farmhouse. (play theme from the movie Psycho now)

Check back to see if I live thru the weekend!

Trackin' Dawgs

2006-12-28T17:45:00.000-05:00

Sighting of Momma: Stopped to drop off the evening food for the strays, this time I carried a hammer to help peel up the tin roof on the rubble. I'm also dressed in hiking boots and jeans rather than my usual work clothes. My plan...see if there are puppies under there - dead or alive! But, I could see there was no way to peel up the tin even with a hammer, so went back to the truck for my flashlight so I could crawl under....and there she was!! Standing yards away from my truck, zipping by me and right to the dog food bowl. (laughing at me as she went, I know I heard that!) So I toss in some Alpo and head off to squeeze under the rubble. I finally found the spot where the puppies had been. So, at least I know she moved them and they didn't die under that pile of junk. But moved to where?

Trackin' Momma Dawg: After she eats, she just stands there looking at me. I see a path through the weeds to the east and decide to follow that. No luck, nothing that way. Head back west and she's gone. Brat! Didn't get a chance to follow her. So, I head west, around a drainage pond and see Dog Tracks! Lots of 'em in the mud! So, feeling a faint trace of Indian blood in me, I start trackin' dawgs. Made it to a cul-de-sac in the new construction area, only a single house on it and there were cars in the driveway. I tracked back to my car, drove up to this house and asked the owner if he'd seen a black and rust smallish dog who was obviously feeding a litter. What luck! He'd not only seen her, he'd seen her make 3 trips with puppies in her mouth (so she has at least three left), and showed me where she crossed behind his house. There was a creek back there and on the other side some old buildings behind an old farm house. He gave me permission to cross his property if I need to track her down.

Trespasser: Drove by the farm house and stopped at the next driveway where a house had recently been torn down. I trespassed onto that property to see if she'd stashed the pups in the still standing out-buildings. No such luck.

New Plan: That's it for tonight. So, at least I know she moved the puppies. Possibly because the heavy rains allowed water under the rubble. Don't know if all the puppies survived. My next plan is to write a note to leave on the mailbox at that farm house explaining the puppy situation and leaving my phone number. I know someone lives there, seen the cars...but don't wanna go waltzing in there alone. Hey, this is rural North Carolina....they might shoot me! I'm hoping they'll call and be more than happy to rid themselves of a pile of stray pups. I'll have my partner in crime, Jenny, visiting this weekend to help me.

Not looking good

2006-12-27T11:21:00.000-05:00

After work yesterday, I stopped by to see if I could find the puppies. I flashed the light under every pile of rubble around, banged on the old tin roofing, crawled around in my work clothes, climbed behind the rubble and never a peep. Messed up my nice work slacks and got myself a 3 inch scratch on my leg for all my efforts...but no puppies. I'm pretty certain she's either (1) moved the puppies to some new location or (2) the puppies have died and she's abandoned this location...except to stop by and eat the canned food I leave. Let's hope it's possibility #1.

Drove around trying to find any other possible places she might stash the pups...nadda. Drove around the new neighborhoods and construction sites where I've seen her scrounging for food...no sighting of her.

This morning I called for her and put more canned food out, but haven't seen her or the Huntin' dog since before the Christmas weekend. They devoured the bag of kibble I left for the weekend, but they aren't so interested in the other dry food I'm leaving now (different brand). Picky strays?!

After Christmas

2006-12-26T09:22:00.000-05:00

I'm back from a Christmas weekend out of town and no sign this morning of the Momma dog. Flashed the light back where I'd heard the puppies before, but no noises. I know it rained hard this weekend, so it's possible she moved them if water was getting into their den. It was kinda dark this morning and I was in my clothes for work, so didn't wanna stumble around there too much...will try again to see Momma or the puppies this afternoon.

Chuck Wagon

2006-12-22T12:11:00.000-05:00

Dropped off a whole bag of food for the strays to munch on while I'm away for Christmas weekend. I have a dog bowl near the Momma dog's den, and put canned food in it twice a day. This morning I poured in two cans full since I'll be out of town...she'll have to get by on the dry food the rest of the weekend. She was nowhere in site, so I took a flashlight and tried to peek way back under the rubble to see the puppies. Couldn't see them, but heard a few puppy grunts when I flashed the light...so sounds like all's well. Was a little concerned that I didn't see Momma dog at last night's feeding and same for this morning. When I was returning to my car after dropping the bag of kibble off, I looked up and saw her high-tailing it toward me. She must have been across the street at the construction site, shmoozing food, and saw the "Chuck Wagon" (my SUV) making a delivery. Was happy to see me, but went right for the food rather than let me pet her.

Tracking the Moves

2006-12-17T19:52:00.000-05:00

Shows how Momma dog moved the puppies farther back, trying to keep 'em away from me I suppose. But, if you can make it out in the photo...that last flap of roofing tin is loose and easy to pull up. So, unless she moves them under some other roofing junk, this is a great spot to snag them when the time comes.

12/17/06 Update: Went by before work to leave some food, and found she'd moved the darned pups again. The collapsed building left a load of debris, so no telling where they are under all that stuff...and no time to look. Stopped again after work to leave food and found her coming out of the dark hole waaaay in the back of this pile of junk. I took a peek....it goes way back and I couldn't see the puppies at all. I can only hope she'll move them again to a place easier to reach.

Trappin' Dawgs

2006-12-16T14:19:00.000-05:00

Saturday, first day of trapping (I can only hope it won't take more than one day)

11:30am - Took the humane trap out of the box and went about putting it together. Mild claustraphboia hits when I had to crawl inside the trap to complete setup.

12:30am - Darned trap weighs a bit by itself, wondering how I'll get dog & trap into my SUV by myself. Figure that out when the time comes. Setup the trap, chained and locked to a tree near the puppies. Put in some stinky cat food and bowl of chicken liver. Pups all sleeping, but saw Momma dog roaming the neighborhood streets.

2:00pm - Check trap...nadda. Momma dog was in nursing the pups, and seemed happy to see me. Dumped more canned dog food into the trap to make it even more stinky. As I drove off, she was sniffing around near the trap. Keeping my fingers crossed!

4:00pm - Nope, she must not be hungry enough. Figured my bait wasn't tempting enough: chicken liver, canned cat & dog food, maybe she prefers fast food, eh? She followed me out of the woods and just sat in the weeds while I drove off to KFC. Returning with popcorn chicken (minus the few I ate), I find she's nowhere in site. Wench probably has other people feeding her. Closed up the trap for the night, can't take a chance she gets trapped and leaves the pups cold for the night. Noticed earlier that she'd moved the pups even farther back under the roofing. Silly girl, she did me a favor...they're now just under a piece of tin that is easy to lift up and pluck the pups!

Day 2 - Sunday

9:00am - Heated up the KFC popcorn chicken and headed out to bait the trap. Something funny as I back out, and afraid I know what it is...yup, flat tire! Call GEICO for my roadside assistance and wait. Big ole shiny new screw in my tire...probably from driving around the construction site looking for the Momma dog.

10:30am - Beautiful sunny day here. Tire all patched, reheated chicken again and baited the trap. Momma dog nowhere in site, though did see Daddy off in the weeds. Pups all piled up and sleeping.

1:30pm - Checked trap, nuttin' in it. Snapped some pics of the pups, disturbed Momma dog and she sat off to the side while I peeked at her pups. Added some canned dog food to the trap, saw her sniff the trap as I pulled away. Then she sat in the field and watched me leave. Over 70 outside, took the poodles for a walk in the park while wearing my Doberman T-shirt...bet folks got a laugh outta that, eh?

3:30pm - Nothing in the trap, will have to give up 'till my next day off (can't trap while I work or Momma would be away from the pups for 8 hours or more, not safe). Went back to my truck to get the key to the lock (where I chained the trap to a tree), and there was Momma dog running up to say hi. The little wench even let me pet her and rolled over for belly rubs!! Then she dashed off like it's one big game. A day late and dollar short, I snagged my slip leash and then she wouldn't come within 5 feet. Ugh. Put the trap back in my truck, snapped more pics of the poopers and gave Momma all the food I had in the trap, and even tossed out a pile of kibble for Huntin' dawg.

5:00pm - Having a glass of "Fat Bastard" Shiraz while I ponder my failure at trapping.

Pupper Update - 2 weeks old!

2006-12-15T12:42:00.000-05:00

Foggy and dark this morning, so didn't get a good peek at the pups, but the Momma dog came right out to greet me...wagging her whole body. She even got close enough to sniff my finger and then back away waiting for the yummie canned food.

I'm going to estimate the puppy's birthday to be December 1st. I saw the Momma dog had whelped by Dec 3rd, so that's as close a guess as I'm gonna get. That'd make them 2 weeks old today.

UPS Tracking shows my humane trap arrived today, so with any luck I'll be able to snag her and the pups this weekend and get them settled into my back yard.

I have some great friends! One has been seriously thinking about getting a dog, and when she heard about these little goobers she decided she'd take two! That got me down to five. Then another friend said she'd be happy to help foster one or two (I'm voting for two!) and find them (indoor) homes up in Virginia. That'd take me down to only three to find homes for myself...plus Momma dog. I'll keep the puppy updates coming & include photos once I get them to my house!

Puppies!

2006-12-14T18:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, Puppies! From a previous post you can see I'd been attempting to capture and rehome the strays in my neighborhood. I've been having no luck with the last two, and sure enough...the girly came up pregnant. I tried feeding her some really yummie canned food and slipping a leash loop over her head, but she just backed out and left me in the dust. She was big 'n round when I saw her just before Thanksgiving. I left a huge bag of dog food and made a nice spot for her to have her puppies while I was out of town.

I saw her again on December 3rd, she'd had the puppies...which were nowhere in site. So I managed a week later to follow the trail of tramped down weeds that led to the woods...and there I found the pups. Could she have had them in the nice warm, dry, sheltered place I'd put the bedding? Noooo, she dug a hole under the remains of an old collapsed building and had her puppies in the trash littered dirt!

I did my best to count heads without bothering them, and it looks like there are SEVEN of them! Three or four are dark like her, and the others white with spots. From the number of white with spots on 'em pups, I'm pretty sure the Huntin' dog (see previous post) is the Daddy. She managed to keep them all healthy thru the recent cold snap...19 degree low a couple of nights! And moved the little buggers farther back under the roofing tin, so that'll make it hard for me to pull 'em out later. I'm waiting to get the puppies until I can trap the Mom...so I'm waiting delivery of a humane dog trap and hope it works! Watch for puppy updates! I'm already working on happy homes for these little goobers too!

Least favorite thing

2006-10-14T18:54:00.000-05:00

Car shopping...or in this case, SUV shopping. This is something I detest, and put off as long as possible. My Durango is pushing 140K miles, so I'm guessin' it's time to find something new or newer. It's been a great truck, was my retirement gift to myself at the end of 2000. So, I made two trips into town this weekend to test drive some mid-sized SUVs. The Nissan Xterra was great, but the driver's seat is not power and it's not an option at all, but something I don't wanna live without. The Nissan Pathfinder was a really sweet ride, only problem I had was getting the back seats flat for 'dog riding space'. The Toyota 4Runner is in the running, about the same class as the Pathfinder and same pricerange. And Dodge has the new Nitro that was on the lower price range, but a real nice SUV with all the bells and whistles I need. Decisions, decisions. I've spent some time doing research, and was prepared enough to fend off any high pressure sales since I was only there to test drive. Once I decide which I want, next will be step three....The Dreaded Negotiations Phase.

Guilty Pleasures Update

2006-10-09T16:20:00.000-05:00

YES! I really am happy I bought that Roomba! With my Mom sick and my dog sick, I'm busy, exhausted and stressed lately. So while I'm cleaning the downstairs, my little electronic maid doing the upstairs floors. Tile and carpet, both look great and all I had to do was push the 'Clean' button. It doesn't talk back, roll it's eyes or stomp off in a huff when I want it to clean. Hey, you can't get that from a teenaged kid or most spouses even!

Guilty Pleasures

2006-09-23T19:48:00.000-05:00

Roomba! I've been wanting one of these forever and finally rolled up my pennies and bought one. I have a lotta house to clean, and it sure would be nice to have the floors done while I sleep or work. I'm a bit lazy by nature, so if I can find an easier way to do something ... I will!

Stray Souls

2006-09-10T16:31:00.000-05:00

Stray dogs seems to be the norm in rural North Carolina where I recently moved. I've been living in city suburbs for years, where it's rare to see a stray dog...so this is a bit of a culture shock for me. There were 7 stray dogs when I moved to the area. One was a momma dog and two puppies, but I only saw the puppies a couple of times and never again (who knows that happened to those pups). One thing I do know, if you leave the strays as strays...they'll multiply, die on the roadside and/or starve to death. So, I made it my goal to capture the five that are left before they multiply or get hit by a car. I figured they'd have some chance at adoption at the Humane Society, and worst case they'd have a painless death by euthanasia.

I managed to catch two that were semi-friendly black Border Collie mixes, one even had a collar. They looked like siblings. My guess, someone didn't bother to spay their female and these were the puppies they didn't find a home for....their solution, dump 'em. I tried several local All-Breed No-Kill rescues in my area, but they're all full. It's no wonder, since I think only a minority of pet owners bother to spay & neuter down here in Podunk, NC. At least these two females won't add to the stray population. If lucky enough to be adopted, they'll be spayed first.

I did contact Animal Control, and they said they'd had no luck catching the dogs in my neighborhood because someone would trip the traps, or put food outside the traps to prevent capture. I suppose the folks think they're helping the dogs, but they have no idea how slow & painful it would be for the dogs to starve to death. The AC officer said he believes these three dogs were most likely owned by the person who sold off the land to the developers, and when they moved recently they just cut the dogs loose.

There are three left...little black 'n rust Momma dog who's about the size of a beagle, a large hunting hound type dog and a brown Chow-mix lookin' dog with an undershot jaw (seriously ugly dog). All three are very thin, ribs and spine showing, too afraid to get too close. The Ugly Dude and Momma dog will come within 3-4 feet of me if I've put down food, but the Huntin' hound stays far away until I drive off. Huntin' dog was limping, but seems better now.

They're living in the new construction area of my neighborhood, and probably scrounging food from construction worker's trash. I've been tossing down dry dog food each morning to keep them from starving, and hoping I can get close enough to lasso one. I usually either see all three together, or not at all (though I see they eat the food each day). This time I only saw the Momma dog and the Huntin' hound, don't know where the Ugly Dude went. Time will tell...if he's alive, he'll be back at the feeding grounds eventually.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sad News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wrote that post yesterday but hadn't published it just yet. This morning I went to feed the strays, and saw the same two...both jumped up with tails wagging when I pulled up to the feeding area. But, on my way to work, I found the third stray..Ugly Dude met the fate of most strays, I found him dead on the side of the road.

Lost the Battle

2006-09-10T12:57:00.000-05:00

My old weed-whacker was on it's last leg, so I bought a new one...a double-string model. My step-father broke it in while he was visiting, and this weekend I had my first whack at it. Well, I think you need a PhD to figure out how to put those spools on without them unwinding. I lost the first 2 battles and got it right by my third try, but for some reason it looks like those darned spools were eye-balling me, mocking me even! This is what happens when you attempt to do lawn work without a Smirnoff Ice!

Southern Sundays

2006-09-10T09:36:00.000-05:00

I'm out early this Sunday morning to my favorite store...no, not Walmart...not Macy's...Home Depot! I know, not very 'girly', but I'm a homeowner and could spend hours just browsing that store. I'm a 'list person', so there I am with my list of things to get, but I have a hard time keeping to my list in that store. Today I did well, and only had a couple of things extra: bag of birdseed & some handy-dandy velcro tie wraps to organize anything from computer cables to water hoses. Satisfied with meeting that goal, I'm off across the street to Petsmart for special dog food for old sick boy, Tucker. Ten minutes before opening, so I dash over to Food Lion next door for some milk, and since I plan to do some yardwork and mowing, a 6 pack of Smirnoff!

To my embarrassment, as I try to pay at 9:00am in the morning, the teller informs me that I can't buy alcohol before noon on Sundays!!! Yup, I'm in the Bible-belt!

On a happier note, I've been taking my dogs for a walk on trails in a nearby park. It's about 1 1/2 miles from my house, so I'd drive there with one dog, walk him, come home, swap dogs and repeat the walking process. I didn't want to try both dogs at once because I wasn't sure I could manage to keep control. Today, in an effort to save time, I tried them both and I managed without getting hauled around! It kinda looked like I was driving two mules, but we managed okay.

Trim Spa for the Baby?

2006-09-05T19:41:00.000-05:00

While vegging out in front of the TV, I actually watch the commercials and see a new Trim Spa ad featuring old overweight photos of Anna Nichole. As it shows these photos, the narrator says, "We know what you're thinking. Anna Nicole is pregnant and she's going to go back to looking just like before. But you are forgetting one thing..." A slight pause and a bikini clad slim Anna jumps up yelling "Trim Spa, Baby!". Below that image is the small print disclaimer. They showed this often enough tonite that I was able to read a portion. "Do not use TRIMSPA products if pregnant or nursing." Now, if they'd just make a C-chip for the TV's that works somewhat like the V-chip and I could avoid these stupid commercials!

Dober-doodle?

2006-09-04T17:28:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it's frustrating when ya walk your Doberman in the park and parents pick their children up and take the far side of the trail. Now, don't get me wrong, this media-fed interpretation of the breed can be handy for a gal walking in the park along with 80 lbs of Doberman at the end of the leash. Hey, the bad guys don't know he's a wuss, eh? But, here's another way to avoid the public's descrimination of this fine breed. (Select the Dober-doodle link above)

Squeaky Toys?

2006-08-25T19:22:00.000-05:00

Family visiting over the past weeks and things have been hectic. Parents bring their 'Poodle-fluffs' which look far too much like squeaky toys (and sound like 'em too).

With lots of babygates and xpens, I managed to keep my "Doberman Gang" from enjoying the new white fluffy 'squeaky toys' and they satisfied themselves with the store-bought kind.

Debugging

2006-08-03T20:01:00.000-05:00

Like I didn't have enough of this at work...I now have REAL debugging at home. I'm sitting here, getting ready to make a blog entry about my newly won crown (next post it'll hafta be) and this little flying bug that had been dive bombing my ceiling fan light jumped onto my keyboard. Before I could flick him off, he slipped under the keys. So, I'm watching him and hit the space bar twice trying to herd him out...but instead managed to run my updates for Firefox! After that, he peeked out for a moment and again, before I kicked him to the curb, he slid back into the safety of the laptop keys. He is probably a 'she' and she'll lay eggs and I'll have millions of bugs in my computer. Ugh! Do you think spraying some Raid would hurt the laptop? No? I'll just have to sit here watching for the little sucker to make his next move...or take my laptop apart and negate the warranty. Decisions, decisions.

Bite the hand that feeds you

2006-08-01T19:53:00.000-05:00

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between dog and man." ~Mark Twain

Well, Mr Twain never met the moppet poodle. There it was, on the edge of the road on my way to work and there it was still on my way home. So, sucker that I am, I picked up a humane trap and managed to snag the mop-of-dreadlocks and take it home. And, unlike Mr Twain's observations, I found it would attempt to bite me through the cage, when I tried to feed it, and even when I looped a leash on to take it out to potty. Ah, but I did determine that it was actually a she. How? Through 4 inch piles of matted hair? I didn't attempt to 'look' ... since that end was pretty darned filthy, not to mention the other end would bite my face off...nope, it was as simple as she squatted to pee.

Ignoring her thankless behavior, I did manage to haul her into the local vet for a serious shaving down and some vaccines. I dropped her off as 'no name' and asked that the poor gromer, who had a nasty clean-up job, please give the dog a name. I guess a haircut was just the change she needed in her life, 'cause her attitude did a 180...when I picked her up from the vet she acted like I was her long lost mother. She lost 10% of her weight with a single haircut. Maybe she was just trying to thank me, eh?

Oh, the name? The groomer named her Marley...as in Bob Marley ( of the infamous dreadlocks). Besides putting herself in the path of a sucker (me), Marley had another stroke of luck - I managed to find a Poodle Rescue willing to take her and find her a home! The Central Carolina Poodle Club Rescue took her in even though the little mite was blind in one eye, cataracts in the other, and was still a bit snippy with strangers. She should available for adoption on their site soon.

Dobe Country

2006-08-01T17:40:00.000-05:00

In case I don't spend enough time on a computer daily, I've now added a Blog to my time-consuming activities in a chair.