Comet Is In Doggy Heaven

This was much harder than I thought.
Although not my most favorite dog on earth, I started remembering some of the good times in camping with him and going roller blading with that little dog keeping up a very fast pace.

He didn't offer any resistance. He was ready to go. That made it a little easier, but the memories made it difficult. He just laid there. He hadn't eaten in over a week.

The staff was ever-so-good to us. I took Lynnette since she has been taking care of him. They didn't make us wait, they immediately took us into a room and instead of having to pay at the counter after it was over, they took the payment in the exam room. I was very good with that, by the time you start walking out of that place, there are probably going to be some tears and you probably aren't really going to want to have to deal with it and being in front of other people would be very uncomfortable in that kind of frame of mind.

The vet came in - it was the perfect person with the perfect personality for the job. Probably a bit pricier than other vets, but their staff is so good there it is worth a few extra dollars to have the best experience you can considering the circumstances.

Comet. He was 15 years old. I got him when he was 5. He was brought up from the streets of Guadalajara through an adoption agency that has an agreement with the Mexican government to take stray dogs off the street and bring them here. They pick up the kinds of breeds that are very popular here - saving the dog from certain death, probable starvation and giving a person or family the chance to get a breed of dog that is usually very pricey at a very low fee comparably. I am not in the mood to do anything, though a family just came over to pick up some pond plants that I was either giving away or going to have to chuck into the trash, it had grown too big. I didn't really feel like doing that, but I had forgotten the ad I had placed and they wanted to come get them.

Life goes on. Lynnette is heart broken, she grew to love that dog and they spent a lot of time together. I guess I can say fortunately, getting over the death of a dog is much easier than getting over the death of a loved one.

ben

Time To Put Him Down

I pretty much am not into seeing dogs suffer when they are near the end of life. My little Rat Terrier is at the end of his life. He hasn't eaten in a week and he is definitely going down. I haven't actually been taking care of him in recent times, the lady in the trailer fell in love with that dog and he has been staying with them. She just came in crying and that's enough for me. They have been talking about his health for 2 weeks now, but obviously we are beyond the point of no return.

I have to admit that this is the only small dog I have ever owned and I found out that I am really not a big fan of small dogs. They don't tend to want to listen too much and they are very difficult to train.

This will be probably the only time I have ever had to have a dog put down that it won't really affect me that much. It is definitely affecting them, in the trailer outside.

So, in a little over 2 hours, I am taking him to the vet to get this over with. The unpleasant side to owning dogs is when their life is obviously over and you have to deal with it. It isn't exactly cheap anymore, either. The shot is $110 and the cremation is $136. I wouldn't even do the cremation but I have no desire, whatsoever, to deal with the body after it is vacated of life and therefore, I will pay the extra money to get it done. I would have taken him to the pound if I had known sooner and it would have been much cheaper - same thing lower price - but it is Saturday and they aren't doing that stuff today. I can't just let the dog suffer until Monday, the only humane thing to do is get it over with.

ben

Saturday 6/18/2011

I was checking my Capital One card status - I paid the thing down to zero balance as soon as I got my income tax refund. They are offering me a new card, this one gives cash back for use at gas stations and grocery stores. Well I frequent both and the current card I have with them doesn't give me anything back. My Chevron card gives me some cash back, it's up to a whopping $14, lol.

I have gotten to the point where I can say I am pretty responsible user of credit. If my back's against the wall and I need to use it, I will, otherwise I pretty much don't use it at all. I figured I would elevate this to a new level and see if I can continue with the "responsible" aspect of it by getting the new card with the rewards and using it as often as possible at gas stations and grocery stores and paying the balance immediately. Sorta following in my mother's footsteps, who has several cards she uses every month for the rewards aspect and then pays them to zero balance when the bills show up.

The "better" card was approved earlier and my credit limit was raised by $200. I am not sure if they cancel the existing card to give me the new one or what happens with that, but it's at zero balance so I don't have to worry about it. I have another card that I would like to get rid of and am considering doing just that. It has an extremely low limit on it - for that card I had to make a deposit into their bank and that deposit is what the credit limit is. I have had the card for a while now, yes, but the low credit limit is probably hurting my credit score at least a bit.

My Fingerhut account is slowly going down - I am not going to pay that one off all at once, but I am making larger monthly payments on it. My Chevron card balance is less than $100 and I intend on paying that one down, too. Now that my house payment is current, I want to see about getting my credit score up - at least into the 700 range. I have never had it there, the highest I have ever gotten it was up to 660 I think it was. You REALLY pay for having a lower credit score in higher interest, especially when considering buying a car. My current auto loan is still 2-1/2 years I think it is before it is paid off. By the time it is time to buy another one, I want the score up there. I have found that I am totally missing having a pickup truck ever since the head on collision in 2005 (not my fault, a guy ran a red light while I was making a left hand turn on a green arrow) and I would like to get another one.

Something maybe 5 or 6 years old that has less than 75,000 miles on it. In owning a home and not having a way to transport things when buying them, well, it creates problems. Rent a truck or try to borrow one or the occasional use of the work truck if I happen to be coming by the house. The only solution I can come up with right now is to get a small utility trailer and install a hitch on the car, a thing I really do not want to do. Just for one example, one bedroom needs a new queen sized mattress. I have no way of getting it here unless I pay someone to deliver it or go rent a pickup from say, Home Depot.

Anyway, today is allegedly Caleb's day off, I am hoping to hear from him either phone or email. Actually, I would rather hear from him tomorrow since tomorrow is Father's Day : ) By now he has figured out the real schedule versus what he told everyone 2 weeks ago. He doesn't necessarily pay attention to detail on many things, a trait he certainly did not learn from his father. I would that he would pay a bit more attention to the things he is getting into and ask more detailed questions, but, that's me, not him, lol. Not everyone is geared to scrutinizing things and analyzing things to the nth degree, I am definitely one of those people and he is definitely not one of those people. The only thing I can say is that characteristic has certainly helped me avoid getting scammed and roped into situations that would have ended up costing me.

Tomorrow is, of course, Sunday and last week I went to church for the first time in a long time. I talked myself into going at least 4 consecutive Sundays. I'm still in that mode, but, when tomorrow comes and it's time to take a shower and get dressed to go? I make no guarantees.

As for a vacation, I am having a "heated" internal debate over it. I dearly want to go somewhere, preferably out of state. Preferably near a beach (and more specifically, a beach that doesn't have oil floating all over the place). Going alone is a bit unpalatable, but it isn't the end of the world. I am one of those people that can entertain myself - easily I might add - if there is no-one else around to share the moment with. I was certainly re-tuned to the idea of a cruise ship adventure after reading Fin's extensive recounting of one of his trips. I love white water river rafting, but that is an adventure best done with friends. A trip to the ocean/beach would be perfect. A trip to the east coast would also suffice, I have one invitation to Boston - an ex tenant is living in a house right on the beach and yes, he has sent me pics to prove it.

In reality? I would love to tour Italy, Scotland or London. My grandmother was from Londer, I am part Scottish and I have had an infatuation with Italy for a long period of time now after meeting numerous missionaries that were from there and telling in great detail some of the things to be seen in their land.

This weekend: Nothing on tap. The family that was going to rent an apartment keeps getting turned down because of bad credit. I am guessing they are going to have to look for a bit "lessor" place to live if they really want out of here. I would be going crazy if I were attempting to live with a girlfriend AND her daughter in the same room. I gave up on the ads to re-rent the room, I have no definitive date given by them now and they are talking about staying until the end of the month. Not a big fan of this kind of situation, no clue when they are leaving and no clue when I can think about re-renting the room, meaning wait until the last minute to try and get someone in there.

Amazingly, I ended up keeping most of the OT hours that I got from a very busy work week. That's because on Friday, when I should have left very early, there were 2 deliveries and then a return/pickup from a job site came over the wire and the contractor wanted it done that day. So, I ended up in REAL OT time, not just coming up to 40 hours worth. It will boost my next paycheck by about $140 minus taxes, which is quite fine by me.

Umm, this entry is getting long, time to end it. Gotta go outside and clean out the pond filters.

G'day.

ben