Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Sneaking up on normalcy

The hell of the last couple weeks is now in the rearview mirror (but the little writing on the mirror keeps reminding me that all that hassle is still Closer Than It Appears.)

What am I talking about?  Some of y'all have heard some of this, so I'll keep it fairly brief...

Had to pull up the tent pegs and make a fairly hasty move to a new casa.  I wasn't financially or mentally prepared, but it had to be done.  See, a few months ago, one of my pooches got out while I was at church.  The neighbor lady tried to be helpful and shepherd him back home.  Pooch didn't like the way the neighbor lady was approaching the front door so he gave her a little nip on the arm.

Neighbor lady is quite elderly.  I've been taught never to guess a lady's age or weight, but she lives with her retired daughter, so I gotta be thinking she's in her mid 80s.  That little nip would have done almost nothing to me, but her skin didn't cope with it as well and she had to get stitches.

Which makes my dog Potentially Dangerous.  Oooh, that sounds scary!  The City of Corvallis said I had to post a $100k bond to keep him in the city.  I couldn't find any insurance company who would write a policy for a dog that already has a bite history.  So it was either get rid of the dog or move.  We chose "move."

So the last few weeks have been a mad scramble of scraping up cash, finding a place, and moving into it.  The move-in is mostly done.  Still have some stuff at the old place and a TON of cleaning to do.  But things are starting to feel closer to normal.  Now we're a couple miles outside of Corvallis and the City statutes don't apply out there.  Ha.  My next-door neighbor has horses and chickens and is already pushing his yummy farm-fresh eggs on me.  We can hear the coyotes howl at night and the stars are a lot brighter.  The drive to work only takes 3 more minutes than it used to.  There are apple and plum trees in the backyard (which is VASTLY larger than what I had before) and also some grapes.  More like "jam" grapes than "eating" grapes, but they're still pretty good.  And, of course, an abundance of blackberries for those who can stand them. (I cannot).  There's even a swing hanging off a tree limb which the granddaughter thinks is the best thing ever. 

I gave up a few square feet of interior, and the well water tastes slightly sulfurous, but all-in-all it has been a worthy upgrade.  I feel like I can start thinking about blogging more frequently now. 

There are a few things that are bugging me, though.  For one, my Giants are on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs by the freekin' Cincy Reds.  Ugh.  And the starting QB for my undefeated #10-ranked Beavs is hurt and out indefinitely.  Needs surgery on his knee.  Double-Ugh.  The backup competed for the starting spot back in fall camp, so hopefully there won't be too much drop-off at that position. 

Anyway...  That's the news!

27 comments:

  1. You really had to move to keep your dog? REALLY?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was either:
      A. Post $100k as a bond (which I in no way have)
      B. Get an insurance policy that would pay up to $100k (nobody would write)
      C. Get rid of the dog
      D. Move the blankety-blank out of Corvallis city limits.

      Went with option D. Keeping the dog in the City would have been a separate Class A Violation every single day the dog was kept in town without the bond.

      If the neighbor lady had minded her own business, or if she'd have backed off when the dog began to growl (instead of pushing the issue and trying to go around him to get to my front door), or if she hadn't need stitches, none of this would have been necessary. But once she had to go the the ER for stitches, the City Attorney jumped all over me with charges and fines. My lawyer said fighting it would be a losing battle.

      My dog weighs 110 lbs. I've seen him bite clean through an empty tin can - by the time he was done, the can looked like it had been shot up with a 9mm. He once pulled an entire crab off the kitchen counter when we were distracted, and munched it down, shell and all, in a matter of seconds. Had he a mind to, he could have shredded the neighbor lady just as quickly. Thankfully that's not his style. I have *zero* concerns about him when he plays with our 2yr old granddaughter. But trying to convince the Judge and the City Attorney of that got me nowhere. Except out of the City of Corvallis.

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  2. Man, I am sorry to gear about that Inno. Still, you made a good choice and it sounds like the new place will work out fine.

    Speaking about our G-Men. I am in dire danger of losing a bet with Alemaster who, for some unfathomable reason, is a Reds fan. Gonna cost me a nice bottle of adult drinkables.

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    Replies
    1. Avoided the sweep! Don't buy any booze just yet!

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  3. I'm sorry you had to move, but it sounds like the Lord blessed you with something better. Which is a good thing because I didn't know you were one of the hated Giants fans so I now have a Innominatus voodoo doll which I'm sticking needles in. (Oregon State is still ok, especially if they beat the Wildcats or the Ducks)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, we've beaten the Wildcats for you but the Ducks will have to wait another couple months. As for the D-Backs, I still think of them as an expansion team.

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  4. Welcome back! Sounds like the move was a good thing.

    As for the Giants. I feel your pain. The Yankees are about to be ass-whipped by Showalter and the Orioles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cling bitterly to your remaining hope. A Giants/Yankees WS is still mathematically possible.

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    2. I just got back from the yankee game. So we're going to the ALCS. One step away from a Giants-Yankees world series.

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks. I am. Except for tripping on things that haven't been unpacked yet. That gets old.

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  6. Sounds like you made the right choice, the elderly lady should have known better. That's some big dog!

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  7. What the others said about making the right choice. But moving ain't NO fun, especially on short notice. It's good that the ordeal is behind ya.

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  8. So glad you chose your dog-
    Our animals are truly our most trusted friends--

    What do you do that you use CorelIDRAW? (you do not have to answer if it is too private a question) BTW- thank you for that 'tip'..

    I've added your site to my roll--
    Carol-CS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm the engraver at a signs-n-engraving shop. I use Corel products for layout, logo creation, cleaning up customers' art files, etc. So what I do is more graphic art than fine art. We also have Adobe stuff (Illustrator, Photoshop) but I prefer Corel - probably just because I'm so used to it. CorelDRAW is versatile and interfaces well with all our weird equipment. I even use it as a wannabe CAD program when making "industrial" stuff like gauge dials.

      I have more of an engineer's brain than an artist's brain. There may be software packages better suited for artists but the Corel stuff works great for me.

      Delete
  9. I get that you would move rather than get rid of the dog. I get that. I have cats, and know what decision I would make.

    Mannion is the key to the Beevs success. Sorry to hear he's out. I suspect they will fall in the next few games. But seriously, even with Mannion in, you can't think that the visiting Ducks wouldn't hand the Beevs a pasting like usual. Oh, to live in Inno's World, where fairy tales come true.

    Then again, I still hold an Oregon State sheepskin, I have it on my wall, I look at it all them time and wonder: I'm torn.

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  10. I hate moving. And cleaning (after moving). But I hope you get lots of opportunity to put up a hammock and do some serious backside-of-eyelid reading.

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  11. Congratulations to the Giants. Now may the yankees do their part and win tonight. We need a yankees/giants world series.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Moving is seldom a totally pleasant experience. It helps if you can go into it with a positive attitude.
    Our Giants have done us proud today and I am looking forward to seeing what the Niners do Sunday.

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  13. I did offer you a hand (and not a round of applause). That said, however, congratulations on your almost-completed move. Have you considered making wine with some of the grapes?

    It is unfortunate that your well-intentioned lady was clueless; canids always give warning.

    If you don't know how to read animals, leave them alone.

    Had it been me, your mutt and I would have come to a mutual understanding PDQ. And you wouldn't have had to deal with any hassle.

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  14. Kudos to you for loving your dog enough to move!

    I'm one of those people who believes that pets are members of the family.

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  15. BTW, Inno - put a smile on your face and listen to why deer-crossing signs should be relocated.

    http://maxredline.typepad.com/maxredline/2012/10/the-hard-core-obama-voter-speaks.html

    Man, she reminds me of Emily Litella - enjoy!

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  16. Aw, man! I feel your pain about the moving thing, but it sounds like life will be ever so much more pleasant when you get settled. We're following a few houses back in Arkansas, but can't buy until we sell Moogie's Mansion. The hurrying-up-and-waiting is getting to us.

    Hang in there!

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  17. And yay for you choosing your pup over hassle!

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    Replies
    1. It looks like one of my comments went to spam. What did I ever do to Blogger?!?!

      Delete
  18. The Giants Win The Pennant! The Giants Win The Pennant!

    ReplyDelete

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