So another post about the dogs. As i may have mentioned before we had a visit from Animal control about our dogs barking. The thing i bought to deter barking, not only deters barking, but they no longer want to be outside.
Here's an example of how it used to be BTB (before the barking): the dogs would run outside excited. bark at the squirrels that dared enter our yard. they trotted to the fence. popped up on the fence and looked to make sure no squirrels were there. trotted to the other fence, looked to see if any golfers were around and barked at them to come over and pet them. trotted over to the other fence to see if the neighbors dog was out, if so barked at him to come over and play. chasing each other around, if one didn't want to play they would bark at each other to start fighting and frolicking in the yard. when tired of being outside they'd come to the door and scratch to be let in.
Here's how it us ATB: the dogs slowly amble out the door. sit in front of the door until someone lets them in.
how sad is that?? stupid neighbors.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Terrorism close to home
I just read in the newspaper that the egyptian student from florida received 15 years in prison for the video he created showing how to turn a remote control car into a detonator. he was arrested in august 2007 less than 10 miles from my house.
it doesn't matter where you live, can anyone really feel safe?
it doesn't matter where you live, can anyone really feel safe?
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
And the hits just keep on coming
Yesterday we had a visit from Animal Control. Apparently a complaint was made to the Homeowners Office over the weekend about our dogs. They bark. {Gasp!!} Big Shocker - they're dogs.
After calling the Homeowners office to find out exactly what the complaint was about,i was basically told that if they get another complaint, we would be fined by the city.
First of all - they're dogs, barking is what they do. I don't complain about the neighbors talking too loud in the yard when they're doing yardwork.
Second of all - they're not out at all hours of the day and night, and never past 8pm.
Third of all - when the police officer came to the house i was upstairs and didn't come to the door cause i figured it was UPS. he called the homeowners office while in my driveway and said that he could hear my dog barking. my dogs were inside at the time and did not bark. so officer animal control lied.
Fourth - they're dogs. get over it stupid neighbors. if you have a problem come talk to us.
So i did a little research on line about controlling dog barking and found a gadget that emits a super-sonic noise (only dogs can hear) when a dog barks within a certain distance. wow!! my poor dog barked and almost peed her pants (had she been wearing any). the gadget worked like it's meant to and they don't bark outside, unfortunately they no longer want to be outside either.
After calling the Homeowners office to find out exactly what the complaint was about,i was basically told that if they get another complaint, we would be fined by the city.
First of all - they're dogs, barking is what they do. I don't complain about the neighbors talking too loud in the yard when they're doing yardwork.
Second of all - they're not out at all hours of the day and night, and never past 8pm.
Third of all - when the police officer came to the house i was upstairs and didn't come to the door cause i figured it was UPS. he called the homeowners office while in my driveway and said that he could hear my dog barking. my dogs were inside at the time and did not bark. so officer animal control lied.
Fourth - they're dogs. get over it stupid neighbors. if you have a problem come talk to us.
So i did a little research on line about controlling dog barking and found a gadget that emits a super-sonic noise (only dogs can hear) when a dog barks within a certain distance. wow!! my poor dog barked and almost peed her pants (had she been wearing any). the gadget worked like it's meant to and they don't bark outside, unfortunately they no longer want to be outside either.
The butter knife and the tangerine
During the week i give my friends daughter (who happens to be in my sons class this year) a ride home from school. The school has no buses, and my friend works so her daughter goes to the babysitters house next door to her house. Today my son got into the car solo, i asked where his classmate was, and he said she went home early. I figure OK and go.
About an hour later my friend calls me and asks if i hear about her daughter the criminal. I say "no" and ask what happened. Apparently her daughter took a butter knife to school in her lunchbox so she could open her tangerine at lunch. The teacher saw the knife, took it out of her hand and sent her to the principals office.
My friend had to go pick up her daughter from school and take her to the district office to talk to some superintendent of something or other before she is allowed to go back to school. Now here is my problems with this:
1. the girl took the knife to open a tangerine at lunch
2. the girl felt she needed the knife because in the past her teacher has refused to help her peel her tangerine.
3. the girl had no intention to cause anybody bodily harm, she just needed help opening her tangerine.
Now i understand in this day and age that a knife is considered a weapon, but the teacher could have handled it much differently. She could have taken the knife away and called the mother to let her know that her daughter had brought a knife, that it was against the rules, and to make sure that it didn't happen again. Unfortunately this teacher has had it in for the student all year, and it's a terrible situation for a child to be treated this way.
About an hour later my friend calls me and asks if i hear about her daughter the criminal. I say "no" and ask what happened. Apparently her daughter took a butter knife to school in her lunchbox so she could open her tangerine at lunch. The teacher saw the knife, took it out of her hand and sent her to the principals office.
My friend had to go pick up her daughter from school and take her to the district office to talk to some superintendent of something or other before she is allowed to go back to school. Now here is my problems with this:
1. the girl took the knife to open a tangerine at lunch
2. the girl felt she needed the knife because in the past her teacher has refused to help her peel her tangerine.
3. the girl had no intention to cause anybody bodily harm, she just needed help opening her tangerine.
Now i understand in this day and age that a knife is considered a weapon, but the teacher could have handled it much differently. She could have taken the knife away and called the mother to let her know that her daughter had brought a knife, that it was against the rules, and to make sure that it didn't happen again. Unfortunately this teacher has had it in for the student all year, and it's a terrible situation for a child to be treated this way.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
You’d think i was Horatio Caine
File this under the it can happen to anyone....
Yesterday, Monday, my hubby went out to the mailbox around 2:10 to check the mail. He found a stack of mail all belonging to our neighbor. So he took the stack and walked it nextdoor to put it in their mailbox and check to see if maybe our mail was there. The mailbox was empty.
At around the same time the girl 2 doors over is checking her mail and finds a big stack (12-15 envelopes) in her mailbox that belong to another neighbor about 3 doors down, so she walks over to put his stuff in the mailbox.
Meanwhile my husband is going over to our other neighbor on the opposite side to see if maybe our mail is there, it's empty.
I get home around 2:30 and he's telling me this. So i call the Post Office, which by the way was not listed anywhere on the phonebook, and i had to call the 1-800 number to find out the number. I tell the lady who answers the phone that apparently whoever they have delivering mail is making mistakes and did not deliver any of our mail today. She asks me where i live, i tell her the name of our street, and she says that another woman just called complaining about the same thing, and she's called the delivery person to figure out what's going on.
Get this. The mail person has not come on our street yet.
As i'm hanging up the phone the neighbor who is going through the same thing comes over and rings the bell. According to her, she and her husband came home saturday night from the football game around midnight. She figures she better let the dog out and steps out to her front porch. Her house faces the street head on, and she sees someone getting mail around this time. In her mind she says, "oh they must be getting home now and checking their mail". instead of turning and walking into their house they walk over to the next mailbox and open it. **Neighborhood regulations have all our mailboxes on the same side of the street, so in most cases there are 2 or 3 mailboxes right next to each other** So she thinks maybe they opened the wrong one by mistake. But then they open the 3rd mailbox and she's starting to freak out. At the same time the dog barks and the person turns around to look towards her house. She quick calls the dog in and goes inside. The person crosses the street towards the front house. She goes to spy from the window and sees the person hide behind some trees and after a few minutes goes back to the side of the street and looks in the following mailboxes.
She picks up the phone and calls the police. Nobody picks up and she goes to get her husband. He tells her to just go to sleep.
On monday morning she calls the police again. They come over she tells them the story, they write it down, tells her that they'll pass on the information and they'll patrol at night.
Apparently, what she and I have concluded, is that the person got scared and decided to return mail sometime late sunday night. We picked up our mail on Saturday and there was no mail on Sunday, so how we ended up with mail that wasn't ours on Monday before the mail had passed is beyond our understanding.
P.S. You know those envelopes that come with the 3 edges that need to be torn off? I found a small piece of one next to my mailbox on Monday. Trash pick up is on Tuesday, and i can't imagine it had been sitting around all this time, plus we don't generally open mail out by the mailbox.
HMMMMMMM
Yesterday, Monday, my hubby went out to the mailbox around 2:10 to check the mail. He found a stack of mail all belonging to our neighbor. So he took the stack and walked it nextdoor to put it in their mailbox and check to see if maybe our mail was there. The mailbox was empty.
At around the same time the girl 2 doors over is checking her mail and finds a big stack (12-15 envelopes) in her mailbox that belong to another neighbor about 3 doors down, so she walks over to put his stuff in the mailbox.
Meanwhile my husband is going over to our other neighbor on the opposite side to see if maybe our mail is there, it's empty.
I get home around 2:30 and he's telling me this. So i call the Post Office, which by the way was not listed anywhere on the phonebook, and i had to call the 1-800 number to find out the number. I tell the lady who answers the phone that apparently whoever they have delivering mail is making mistakes and did not deliver any of our mail today. She asks me where i live, i tell her the name of our street, and she says that another woman just called complaining about the same thing, and she's called the delivery person to figure out what's going on.
Get this. The mail person has not come on our street yet.
As i'm hanging up the phone the neighbor who is going through the same thing comes over and rings the bell. According to her, she and her husband came home saturday night from the football game around midnight. She figures she better let the dog out and steps out to her front porch. Her house faces the street head on, and she sees someone getting mail around this time. In her mind she says, "oh they must be getting home now and checking their mail". instead of turning and walking into their house they walk over to the next mailbox and open it. **Neighborhood regulations have all our mailboxes on the same side of the street, so in most cases there are 2 or 3 mailboxes right next to each other** So she thinks maybe they opened the wrong one by mistake. But then they open the 3rd mailbox and she's starting to freak out. At the same time the dog barks and the person turns around to look towards her house. She quick calls the dog in and goes inside. The person crosses the street towards the front house. She goes to spy from the window and sees the person hide behind some trees and after a few minutes goes back to the side of the street and looks in the following mailboxes.
She picks up the phone and calls the police. Nobody picks up and she goes to get her husband. He tells her to just go to sleep.
On monday morning she calls the police again. They come over she tells them the story, they write it down, tells her that they'll pass on the information and they'll patrol at night.
Apparently, what she and I have concluded, is that the person got scared and decided to return mail sometime late sunday night. We picked up our mail on Saturday and there was no mail on Sunday, so how we ended up with mail that wasn't ours on Monday before the mail had passed is beyond our understanding.
P.S. You know those envelopes that come with the 3 edges that need to be torn off? I found a small piece of one next to my mailbox on Monday. Trash pick up is on Tuesday, and i can't imagine it had been sitting around all this time, plus we don't generally open mail out by the mailbox.
HMMMMMMM
Thursday, October 18, 2007
really cute story about kids
i've been working in a 4K classroom on and off this year. today while the kids were in center time, i go over by two boys who are playing with one of those Magna Doodles. these are 4 year old kids. the one (who is pretty bright and can write his name) is teaching the other one how to write his name. it was just so cute to hear him say, don't worry i can teach you.
More on Soccer
Like i have mentioned my boy is playing soccer for the town's rec center. he is in the 6 & 7 year old league. at practice today there were 2 teams on the field that we usually practice in, dressed up in their uniform. our coach just moved over to the other field instead. after about 30 minutes the other team that practices on the other half of the field shows up and the coach is not happy. he is pacing on the grass by the parking lot calling the rec center to find out why these teams are there playing there when that's the field that they practice on and blah blah blah. about 5 minutes later someboy from the rec center comes over and tells the 2 teams that they have to leave because of this. i go over cause i know a couple of the kids on the field and ask them if they had been able to finish their game. no, they say, and they would have been more than happy to stop their scrimmage if the guy had come over to them and said "hey we practice here now, how much longer are you going to be?"
the worst part of this was that the team scrimmaging today, had boycotted their game on saturday because the coach of the team that they were supposed to play is a real a$$h*ole.
and this is a 6&7 year old league. can you imagine when these kids are older??
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