There's been a lot of controversy in the last few weeks about comments made by a cast member of the reality show "Duck Dynasty" on the A&E network.

My take on that (podcast link): https://soundcloud.com/atlanta-owner/duckdynasty-mp3  

(click the orange arrow play button next to the name of the file to get it to play after the link)

It's Obama's Fault (Whatever It is).

Seriously, what IS it with a percentage of people out there who blame Obama for every single thing that's wrong? 

Today we had a customer who pretty much came in the door and blamed Obama for the heavy traffic they encountered to get to us, and then proceeded to talk about how he was stockpiling ammo because "Obama was going to outlaw it", and then went on to talk about how he can't sell his house, and of course, that was Obama's fault, too.  I looked up his house online later - dude, your house is a DUMP that's half a block from a trashy trailer park... THAT is why your house won't sell.   A local restaurant closed down recently and on the door the owner put up a sign that read, "Having to close due to Obamacare".  Oh geezus... for real?  No, you closed because you overcharged for your food (that wasn't good to begin with), had very bad service, and your bathrooms looked like they came from a very dirty gas station - THAT is why you closed.  Well, the list goes on.

We have a process where we vote in this country.  The people voted the first time and Obama won.  Everyone else blamed "the Blacks" for it (who for the record, only make up 12% of the population).  We voted again 4 years later, and Obama won again.  No vote rigging, Romney even conceded early into the results night and went to bed.  That's it, folks.  It's done, fair and square. 

Do I think Obama is the best President we've ever had?  No way.  Do I think he's the worst we've had?  No way.  He's "there", he got voted in, and you deal with it and move on.  But this percentage of folks who literally spend hours of each of their days dwelling on how much they dislike the guy and how everything is his fault?  Please seek your Yellow Pages, and look up, "psychiatric services".  It will help you move on.

OOPS

Well, storm "Sandy" didn't completely bypass the South.  For three days we had steady winds of about 25-40 mph here.  At the start of it, the neighbor's acorn tree decided to snap about halfway up and send half of the tree down into the back yard.  Barely missed the back garage, but it's in front of it and up against it - not through it.

Turns out that in Georgia, your neighbor's home owner's insurance is only obligated to pay for something like this if they had a bad tree that they neglected to do something about.  This tree was healthy and this was per their list, an "act of God", so whoever's hard it falls into is responsible for paying for the cleanup.  Yikes.

Still, for the most part that was it - we didn't even lose power in my particular part of the metro area, though some areas did lose it for less than a day.  Considering the total devastation in parts of the NYC/NJ and other areas, I'd say we were incredibly lucky here.  Had it turned inland around Savannah, Atlanta would have wound up getting it a lot worse.  

Take care, everyone.

RATS !!!

Seriously... a RAT???

Went into the kitchen late one night not long ago and heard a "thump", then saw it... a Rat... under the wall stove, that suddenly darted toward me, heading for it's "out" (in-between two appliances).  While I would love to say I handled it with machoness, when it ran toward me, yes, I think I made a girl noise.

Put a trap down, caught him.  Ohhhhh, but put the trap down again, caught ANOTHER one, and then, a third.  Holy shit.  There was a large hole under the dishwasher they were coming into the house from, with the crawl space underneath.  It has now been completely fixed (with some poison tossed under the house which yes, I know, isn't the best solution - it's all I could afford).

Found out there were "Roof Rats" that the expert I talked to from the Yellow Pages said A LOT of people will have "visit" their homes, and that 90% of people never even know they're coming in - so at least it made me feel better knowing these are a lot more common than most realize, and that you're not filthy if you have them.

Apparently, Roof Rats are the "better" of the Rats (yeah, right), and they tend to not use the bathroom where you live, avoid you at all costs, and avoid getting on counters.  They apparently just like to come up into your house, make a quick run for it, try to find things to steal for nests (they like Bounce dryer sheets, FYI), and then they go back into their holes.  Still, No... no more here for now at least.  Plugged holes and poison hopefully dealt with it.  We'll see.  

Ugh Ugh Ugh   

Onward and "Upward"?

So... time to get back in the blogging groove.  But not much to report, such is my boring life. 

A few life and misc observations of late....

1)  Losing pets take a greater toll on you psychologically than most people think.  A friend of mine who is a shrink, said that upwards of close to 80% of people who have pets that die wind up getting a new pet in less than 90 days.  Some of them get a new one before the old one even passes away.  Some continue this cycle for many years, if not decades or even their whole lives, and according to him, while it helps them deal with the loss of a pet, it's a "safety net" that they use to keep from having to deal with grief.  

It's now been 7 1/2 months since my last one passed - still haven't got another one yet.  I think people lost money bets on me due to that. LOL.  Time as I said before for a new (and different) chapter in my life's book.  I might talk about it to "vent" a good bit for therapy (thanks to those who put up with that), but change needs to happen.


2)  Diets:  How is it that we can gain a pound overnight if we eat some Oreos, but it takes a full week of heavy dieting to lose that same pound?  Who invented that  idea??   Started my weight loss bit last month.  Between the dogs and a variety of other "stuff" in my life I allowed myself to get depressed/stressed, and since I'm a stress eater, well, that's not good.  Eating less, eating a bit better, drinking mostly water now, etc.. nothing severe yet.  Have lost 8 pounds in the last 5 weeks.  Slowly but surely as they say.  


3)  What drives the mentality of people who seem to spend every waking moment of their lives posting slanderous stuff about Obama online?  I fully admit that I did not vote for the guy, and didn't think he was qualified for the job - that being said, I didn't vote for McCain either for a couple of valid reasons, too.  But the fact is, we had an election, the people voted, it was legal, and a guy won.  Let the guy TRY to do his job for his four years, ok?  I mean there are people who seem to spend HOURS in every day doing nothing but posting smart assy stuff about the guy, who will take any and every opportunity to do it.  Seriously?  Is your life truly that  sad?  There's an election coming up.  If you don't like the way things are, then get off your ass and go vote.  Until then please, shut up a little and live your life.  


4)  Last, the Olympics.  Did anyone actually get to SEE much of it in-between the automobile commercials on TV and NBC's poor handling of it all?   I gave up on day 3.  Thank god for inventing DVRs .... fast forwarding through the commercials makes it slightly more bearable.


I'm still getting back into the swing of blogging again, so put up with me a bit.  Thanks.

GH.

In Memory:
Mandy - 2011

Ok, this is the THIRD dog (and my last) that I've had pass away in the last two years, and this is the last time I'm going to post a blog about a dog passing - I really don't want this to be some type of memorial page instead of what it was intended to be, a way for friends and family to keep up with things (including GOOD things, which sometimes do happen) in my life.

Long story short - Mandy was a stray I found years ago when she was about 5. She had numerous health issues along the way and survived each one, ranging from advanced heart worm when I found her, to epileptic seizures, to having to have an operation to remove tumors at one point that only left her a 50/50 chance. She made it through all of it, but eventually, at the approximate age of 13-14, she succumbed to complications with a tumor that was against her heart, among other things. Mandy had to be put to sleep on New Years Eve 2011 when her symptoms took a sudden and irreversible turn for the worse earlier that day. She had reached that line where she was no longer an old sick dog that medication could at least partially help any longer - she crossed the line to where she was seriously ill, and could not even eat or drink due to the complications, and once there, a dog is suffering, and you simply cannot allow it to continue.

I try to look at the journey in my life as a book, and just as with any book, our life is filled with "chapters". For the last 15 years, this chapter in my life was my dog chapter - my world was centered around my dogs, as they were my children, basically. I was incredibly fortunate to have three wonderful dogs in this previous chapter of my life... each with their own completely unique personality, and each of them lived a healthy life until their old age of at least 13+ years. In their own way, they were each incredibly smart, and unlike many of the horror stories you hear from some pet owners, never, ever, caused trouble around the house or with others. I could adopt a hundred dogs from this point onward and don't think I would be lucky enough to find these qualities in any of them compared to Lucy, Roxy, and Mandy.

With the passing of each, a small part of who I am passed with them, and with the passing of this last dog, this particular chapter in my life, comes to an end. Many (if not most) people will adopt a new dog before their last passes, or, immediately after it. I've decided not to do this provided my will power and love of dogs doesn't override my common sense. I think if a book has several chapters that are too similar, that book becomes boring, and we tend to stop being interested in it. So I think the next chapter in my life then, needs to be different than the last. I'm not sure what that means yet so soon into it, but we'll see.

So while life is sometimes heavy with trials and sadness, I want to be able to remember my dogs with a smile and laughter, and not with tears. I hope to be able to fill this blog in the future with more happy notes from my life. Stay tuned for the next chapter...

( Clicking on any photo will allow you to see a larger version )

_____________________________________________________

Notation:

When Lucy died suddenly two years ago, there were no decision to be made. Unfortunately, with Roxy and Mandy, their conditions made it necessary for me to make "the" decision that every pet owner prays they won't have to make one day. When this time comes, the very last thing you want as a last memory is having to take your dog to a Vet's office (where most dogs don't want to be regardless), and to have to have them Euthanize your pet there, in a public office, and to have to have the pet and you have that as the final memory.

Larger cities have some Vets that will come to your home to do this when the time has come. Both times I've needed it, I have used a service in North metro Atlanta called "Sweetdreamsmypet home Euthanasia". Ok, so I'm not crazy about the name, but it's run and staffed by some incredibly nice, caring, people. They will discuss your options with you on the phone, and when needed, will come to your home where you and your pet will be at the most comfortable setting for this to take place. No, it's not cheap, but for me it was worth it - my pets gave me unconditional love for many years, so the very least I could do in their final moments was to make sure it was done in a setting that would not upset them. If you have need of such a service, ask around your local are for one that has a good reputation and references. If you are in the Atlanta area, I would highly recommend the service I used. Their web site is: http://sweetdreamsmypet.com/

In Memory of Roxy...
1998 through June 2010.

Exactly six months after Lucy passed away, her "sister" Roxy had to be put to sleep due to a long illness with Lymphoma Cancer. I didn't realize under weeks and even months after Lucy died how devastating losing that dog was. She was so incredibly intelligent that even people who did not really like dogs a lot would come over and say, "If I could have a dog like THAT, I'd have a dog!". It was like losing a child. Then, to have to put Roxy to sleep only 6 months later - well, it's the reason I haven't posted on this blog in nearly two years.

Roxy was the Yang to Lucy's Ying. While Lucy was a very smart, precise, "in your face" type of an interactive dog, Roxy was the happy-go-lucky, goofy, somewhat dingy blond, dog. All she cared about is having a yard to lay in, being fed, and for you to scratch her butt a couple of times per day. A very low maintenance, and seemingly always content and happy, dog. But shortly after Lucy's death, the symptoms of her Cancer came out, and she began to have problems breathing, and her legs would start to give out on her. She went on high doses of certain drugs that for a time, helped, but they eventually also took their toll on her in their own way. Her body simply gave out completely, oddly, on the exact day I had arranged to have an at-home Veterinary service come to the house to have her put to sleep.

She was incredibly calm that morning and only barely took notice of the two wonderful women who came to do it. I said my goodbyes, had more than one uncontrollable cry before the final moment, and then with an injection, Roxy was gone... ending an entire chapter in my life of having "Lucy and Roxy" together like Thelma and Louise or Laverne and Shirley. The duo was gone.

Not a single day goes by when I don't think of both dogs, and the final dog Mandy is now nearly 14 years old and showing the signs of her age as well. I suspect she's in her last year of life herself, and I can only hope that unlike Lucy's sudden passing and my having to make the decision for Roxy, that Mandy will give me some luck and simply pass in her sleep when her time is here. Either way, once she is gone, the "dog chapter" in my life will be over, and I'll have to re-invent myself as a dogless person for a while at least (not easy, according to other dog owners I know).

If you have a dog, don't take your time with them for granted. Sometimes you know when the end is coming, but sometimes you do not. Treat them every day as though it's their last. - GH