Seven Year Itch and House Arrest

Today Paul and I celebrate our 7th wedding anniversay. It's funny because in some ways it seems just like yesterday and in other ways it seems like we've spent a lifetime together. Tonight we enjoyed a nice dinner at home with Ms. G., who really enjoyed the desert!


Also of note, I have put Tooty under house arrest. I know now that the hoopla with the license application being left in my door has to do with our neighbor Sue Simon once again complaining about our cat. I won't say how I found out, but I did. Also, her caller ID showed up on our phone the day after we got back from vacation. The next day Tooty showed up at home limping. I don't know if it is connected but I decided she is under house arrest until things settle down. The law in our county states that cats must be licensed, she is, that they must spayed or neutered, she is, and that they cannot go onto private property without the owner's permission. GIVE ME A BREAK! Unfortunately this very unfriendly neighbor who has nothing better to do than worry about cats coming into her yard has decided to make a case out of it. It's ridiculous but unfortunatley a war we cannot win. Maybe she will get a life and leave us alone, fat chance huh? Anyway now you can see why the rant a few weeks back. In the meantime Tooty is really mad.

Time at the Beach

Our second vacation this year was at the beach. Ocean City to be exact. I've become a bit of a vacation snob over the past decade but it's interesting how Ocean City is changing. I have to admit that the strip of land sitting between the bay and the ocean is quite nice. I think it can stand up to to some of the other wonderful beaches we have been to. But what is it that has made me disregard it as the ticky tacky vacation? Is it that this was the main vacation spot of my childhood, so been there, done that? Is it the Maryland clientele or the ten billion t shirt shops? Not sure, but what I can tell you is that the face of O.C. MD is changing. Condos are going up Everywhere. We rode the boardwalk train behind a family that was obiviously new to coming to the OC destination. How come it has taken the wealthier side of the world so long to discover this great patch of land on the sea? I have to say in some ways I really welcome this change, but on the other hand how affordable will it be after it goes upscale? Anyway we had a great time, didn't buy any t-shirts though.

This year we spent a day with my folks at the beach. Gigi really enjoyed seeing them. Here she is helping find a place to eat dinner. Below she is dancing "Saturday night Fever" style with my mom.

She also had a lot of fun with my dad. Which is nice because she has been a bit standoffish with him every since he pulled out his false tooth and showed it to her.

Other than that we enjoyed the basics that OC has to offer the boardwalk, the beach and of course...the rides.

Our accommodations were a rented condo. This worked out very well for us. I love the new high end hotels going up and have spent quite a bit on rooms at OC Suites, but the condo that we rented was very comfortable and had great view. If you are interested in renting it you can contact the owners.

This the view from the master bedroom. It is really weird because I get this incredible sense of Deja Vou here. All the way down to the chase sitting next to the window. I looked when I got back to see if there was a picture that depicted this vision but haven't found one.

1. Open Mouth 2. Remove Foot

It's a funny thing about filling in the blanks, we rarely get the details right, although we are sure they are completely correct.

My neighbor stopped over today with her dog. She used to have two dogs but one of them got hit by a car last week and was killed. The day the dog was killed was the same day the mysterious water was left at my house. The real story goes like this. She let her dogs come over and play in my yard with Sadie. They didn't want to come out so she left some water for them in my fence and then came back later to get them. Later that day the dogs escaped from her yard and ended up the street on a very busy road and only one of them came back. My thoughts and condolences go out to their family and their departed doggie.

So why did I fly off the handle about the water? Well it wasn't the water by itself, it was the water combined with the pet license application left the day before. I assumed they were related. A lesson I learned at my very first real job - Never Assume. Yet still, we all do. Not sure what the license application deal is all about, but my guess is it's really about my cat. Who has a license.

We have a long history with two of my neighbors hating my cat. Not the one that left the water, if fact she can feel for me because a few years before we moved here, one of those same neighbors started a petition to have her cat removed from the neighborhood. Another neighbor saved the cat with his own petition to keep the cat.

Now my cat, I have to admit, is a predator when it comes to the little creatures in our neighborhood. She is a cat. We got her from the animal rescue, she grew up as a stray and knows how to survive. Of course we feed her abundantly, so now it's just sport to her. Just last week I had to save a small bunny from her, locking myself out of the house in the process. A long story, but I did get back in and the cat was locked in for the day while the bunny went on his way. We understand frustration with this aspect of her, we have the same frustration. We put a bell on her it doesn't help.

The other major complaint is that she hides in the bushes and then jumps out and scares people. This one actually makes me laugh. Anyway, at this point I am hyper sensitive to people calling animal control on my animals, since it has happened several times with her. But I was wrong to jump to conclusions. I apologize for for my rant it was completely out of line. Btw, I really like the majority of my neighbors, this is a very friendly place to live. I just a have a problem with the two that hate my cat.

Neighbors

Dear Intrusive Neighbor,

Mind your own business. I know you called animal control because they left an application for a pet license in my door. Do you know why they left it? Because they could leave nothing else, there was no legitimate complaint; they just wanted us to know they had been there.

Today I came home and found your plastic water container wedged in the fence, so that our poor thirsty dog could get a get a drink. Has it occurred to you that maybe she has water left out for her in the yard? And maybe not one water bowl, but two? Has it occurred to you that our large back yard, which is completely fenced in and has plenty of tree coverage for shade is an ideal place for a dog to hang out all day? Has it occurred to you that each day before we decide to leave her out we check the weather to make sure it won’t be too hot or cold and that it’s not going to rain? Probably not.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION, we feel that our beloved Sadie is much happier spending the day in the yard than she is spending the day locked up in the house. She can run around and burn off energy. She can go to the bathroom anytime she wants. She can watch the goings on in the neighborhood. She can lay in the shade and sleep. She can hang out in the yard with our 18 year old cat. Yes, eighteen, we must be do something right to have him survive all these years with us.

So I come back to - mind your own business. We take very good care or our pets, they are members of our family. I wonder if you, the giver of unneeded water, would spend the time or the money that we have to nurse our animals back to good health when they have been ill. We have always gone above and beyond to provide a good home. Those who actually know us, know that we are very compassionate people who dearly love and care for animals.

One final note, please don’t leave plastic containers of water in my yard. My cat is allergic to plastic and if she drinks out of it, I will need to take her to vet and put her on a ten day course of steroids to clear up the rash. How is that for irony, you think you are helping an animal who is actually perfectly fine and happy, but in the process trigger a problem for another…

Signed,

Finding it hard to be neighborly in this hood

Company Picnic

This weekend we went to my company picnic. It was held at Tarara Winery outside of Leesburg, VA. It was a great day weather-wise. Gigi really enjoyed all the activities for the kids, the moonbounce, the clown, the pinatta and the tractor/hayride.