I locked up the new dog, zipped my jacket and went out the front door, careful to lock the front door before heading to the store with husband.
After wandering through the supermarket, stopping in the organic food section for soup we decided to go. After a long ordeal with the self checkout, and a attendent who we kept buzzing but was distracted with flirting with some greasy looking kid, we headed towards the door.
We pulled through the open gate, parked the car and headed inside to our very excited dogs. After setting the bags down on the counter, we realized that the back door was left open the whole time we were gone! At first I thought "No big deal, the dogs wouldn't let anyone get in!" But then I realized the front gate was open and the dogs could have gotten out!
My babies could have gotten out, and headed to the busy street where the large trucks, the large trucks that can't stop if a small dog ran in front of them. It was an honest mistake, but an honest mistake that could have cost us our little furry family.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
What a great way to finish out the work week!
After working a very hard week, I was looking forward to coming home, throwing on some shorts, and relaxing for the rest of the evening. When I got home though, it was a totally different story.
First let me explain something; when you have multiple dogs it’s like a chain reaction. One dog decides to do something, and the other dogs join in because their instincts are to follow the leader. This is why when one dog starts to bark in the pound, or vets office, all of the dogs start to bark.
Now back to my dreaded Friday evening. I opened to door while flipping through the evening mail, and was greeted by a horrible smell. At first I thought Vlad, our new dog must have had an accident in his kennel, as he is still crate trained during the day. No problem, I thought to myself, I’ll just take it out and hose it off. As I ventured to the back of the house though, I found that it was not the kennel, but instead the entire back room was covered in vomit and poop. It seemed the older “trained” dogs had a reaction to the new food and took it out on our house! Keep in min that our house is about 80% hardwood and linoleum, but they decided to do all of their messes in the small area of our house that is carpeted. Needless to say I was not happy, and spent the past hour on my hands and knees with the little green clean machine, while I repeated over and over again. “I love my dogs, they just had a little trouble with adjusting to their new food, and it’s not their fault. I love my dogs, it’s the food, and it’s not their fault. I love my dogs, it’s the food, and it’s not their fault.”
And because I am trying to look on the bight side, I have to say I am impressed with the cleaning power of my little Bissell machine. Also I have been asking myself for the past month if my carpet in that room was dirty, or if it was just the bad lighting. I did confirm that my carpet is not only dirty, but filthy and now added to my every growing list of tasks to do instead of enjoy a beautiful sunny weekend is to clean the carpet on my hands and knees, or find a decent carpet cleaning company in Vancouver
First let me explain something; when you have multiple dogs it’s like a chain reaction. One dog decides to do something, and the other dogs join in because their instincts are to follow the leader. This is why when one dog starts to bark in the pound, or vets office, all of the dogs start to bark.
Now back to my dreaded Friday evening. I opened to door while flipping through the evening mail, and was greeted by a horrible smell. At first I thought Vlad, our new dog must have had an accident in his kennel, as he is still crate trained during the day. No problem, I thought to myself, I’ll just take it out and hose it off. As I ventured to the back of the house though, I found that it was not the kennel, but instead the entire back room was covered in vomit and poop. It seemed the older “trained” dogs had a reaction to the new food and took it out on our house! Keep in min that our house is about 80% hardwood and linoleum, but they decided to do all of their messes in the small area of our house that is carpeted. Needless to say I was not happy, and spent the past hour on my hands and knees with the little green clean machine, while I repeated over and over again. “I love my dogs, they just had a little trouble with adjusting to their new food, and it’s not their fault. I love my dogs, it’s the food, and it’s not their fault. I love my dogs, it’s the food, and it’s not their fault.”
And because I am trying to look on the bight side, I have to say I am impressed with the cleaning power of my little Bissell machine. Also I have been asking myself for the past month if my carpet in that room was dirty, or if it was just the bad lighting. I did confirm that my carpet is not only dirty, but filthy and now added to my every growing list of tasks to do instead of enjoy a beautiful sunny weekend is to clean the carpet on my hands and knees, or find a decent carpet cleaning company in Vancouver
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Costco, an American Consumption story
After the new addition to our dog family, we were buying dog food for 42.99, and the monsters were eating it in 10 days. That is a lot of money to shell out on dogs, even if we do love them. It was either we change our dog food, or start eating nothing but rice to afford the dogs. It was time for a change! And so we signed up for Costco where we could get a decent quality food for a fair price in massive quantities!
It seems to me, that Costco is really a symbol of what is a matter with America. Right in the door you are looking at all of the new flat screen TVs, walk past the jewelry, into the gadgets, clothing, books, and other worthless junk America has been known to covet. After that is a brief fruit section, where baked goods waft from the corner, reminding us all that our fat cells love the taste of fresh baked refined sugar. After that, and it’s to the meat! And what good blue blooded American doesn’t love massive amounts of meat? After that it’s the cold case, where massive amounts of processed foods sit just waiting for the American microwave. Open up one of the twelve cans of overly salted green beans, and there you have, a typical American dinner. Finally before you check out, you can purchase enough soap for a year, and then it’s onto the drugs. Everything you would needs for heartburn, headaches, weight loss, joint pain, and lack of nutrition so that you can supplement your processed diet.
In other news totally unrelated to Costco and the American consumer, we found a really great park in Vancouver last night. It had beautiful sandy beaches that overlooked the Columbia River where ships passed by. The dogs went swimming, and I laughed harder then I have in a long time. Next time maybe it will be warm enough that I can wade into the water a little bit too.
It seems to me, that Costco is really a symbol of what is a matter with America. Right in the door you are looking at all of the new flat screen TVs, walk past the jewelry, into the gadgets, clothing, books, and other worthless junk America has been known to covet. After that is a brief fruit section, where baked goods waft from the corner, reminding us all that our fat cells love the taste of fresh baked refined sugar. After that, and it’s to the meat! And what good blue blooded American doesn’t love massive amounts of meat? After that it’s the cold case, where massive amounts of processed foods sit just waiting for the American microwave. Open up one of the twelve cans of overly salted green beans, and there you have, a typical American dinner. Finally before you check out, you can purchase enough soap for a year, and then it’s onto the drugs. Everything you would needs for heartburn, headaches, weight loss, joint pain, and lack of nutrition so that you can supplement your processed diet.
In other news totally unrelated to Costco and the American consumer, we found a really great park in Vancouver last night. It had beautiful sandy beaches that overlooked the Columbia River where ships passed by. The dogs went swimming, and I laughed harder then I have in a long time. Next time maybe it will be warm enough that I can wade into the water a little bit too.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Who was that guy?
Today I was driving home from work, and all of a sudden this guy lined his car right up with mine and just kept looking at me. I have no idea who he is, and had never seen him before in my life. The whole thing freaked me out so bad, that I missed my exit, and that made it even worse due to the strange man still driving next to me starring at me.
I sped up and got off at the next exit a little more uncomfortable then I think I should have been made to feel.
I sped up and got off at the next exit a little more uncomfortable then I think I should have been made to feel.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Environmentally Critical
Over all the green movement is a good one. It has caused enough buzz to really make people more mindful of the amount of waste they produce in their daily lives. We have seen an onslaught of new green products on the markets, and major retail stores are carrying them. Green has not only become easy, it’s has become convenient for American consumers. In the meantime, this new movement is producing very ugly byproducts. Not unlike the toxic sludge that is created when refining petroleum.
The first real problem is that people are going green over night. People are replacing their less green products with green products before using them up. Keep in mind companies are using the green idea to get you to do the same thing you’ve always done. Consume, consume, consume! It’s okay to buy the green products slowly. It’s okay to use non green items until they are gone, and then find a better alternative. And in some cases, it’s okay to buy the less green product if you are going to use less of it or reuse it more. The damage has already been done with the items we buy. They have been made, and they will go to a landfill. So there is no sense in throwing it out now and buying something green that has already been made, and will also go into a landfill until you are done with the first product.
The other major problem of the green movement is the green elite. For them the green movement is like a religion and they profess their greenness with evangelical vigor, while trying to show everyone else around them the way to green enlightenment. They are the type of people who are happier judging you for what you are doing wrong, and then looking for the things you are doing right. Being green isn’t about shoving it down other people’s throats; it isn’t about showing the world how smart you can be. If you are making green choices, make it because they are better choices for you, not because they are trendy and make you look cool. It’s also okay to realize not everyone is going to be a conservationist, some times because they don’t value it, and some times because they haven’t been exposed to it. Growing up in Oregon, being a conservationist wasn’t so much an option as it was just the way things were. Everyone has a bottle and can bag, because bottles have a deposit. It’s the kind of place where it is rude to throw a soda can in the garbage. It is must more polite to leave the empty can on the kitchen counter so your host can place it in the bottle deposit bag. I guess when I moved to Washington, I didn’t realize that law has started to define a culture (and am sorry if I ever left an empty bottle on your countertop.) Slowly the culture is changing, and people are starting to be better conservationists, but rest assured people being giant douches about their green choices around them isn’t going to help.
With anything, there are very good things and bad things about it. Getting to use my $5 off coupon at bed bath and beyond for green cleaners, instead of having to find hippie markets across state lines is a good thing. Having to explain my non-green choices to people who can’t help but make other non-green choices is a bad thing. I hope as this movement goes forward, people cool off a little bit, and we end up with some really positive environmental impact from it. If not, I guess its back to the hippie market for me
The first real problem is that people are going green over night. People are replacing their less green products with green products before using them up. Keep in mind companies are using the green idea to get you to do the same thing you’ve always done. Consume, consume, consume! It’s okay to buy the green products slowly. It’s okay to use non green items until they are gone, and then find a better alternative. And in some cases, it’s okay to buy the less green product if you are going to use less of it or reuse it more. The damage has already been done with the items we buy. They have been made, and they will go to a landfill. So there is no sense in throwing it out now and buying something green that has already been made, and will also go into a landfill until you are done with the first product.
The other major problem of the green movement is the green elite. For them the green movement is like a religion and they profess their greenness with evangelical vigor, while trying to show everyone else around them the way to green enlightenment. They are the type of people who are happier judging you for what you are doing wrong, and then looking for the things you are doing right. Being green isn’t about shoving it down other people’s throats; it isn’t about showing the world how smart you can be. If you are making green choices, make it because they are better choices for you, not because they are trendy and make you look cool. It’s also okay to realize not everyone is going to be a conservationist, some times because they don’t value it, and some times because they haven’t been exposed to it. Growing up in Oregon, being a conservationist wasn’t so much an option as it was just the way things were. Everyone has a bottle and can bag, because bottles have a deposit. It’s the kind of place where it is rude to throw a soda can in the garbage. It is must more polite to leave the empty can on the kitchen counter so your host can place it in the bottle deposit bag. I guess when I moved to Washington, I didn’t realize that law has started to define a culture (and am sorry if I ever left an empty bottle on your countertop.) Slowly the culture is changing, and people are starting to be better conservationists, but rest assured people being giant douches about their green choices around them isn’t going to help.
With anything, there are very good things and bad things about it. Getting to use my $5 off coupon at bed bath and beyond for green cleaners, instead of having to find hippie markets across state lines is a good thing. Having to explain my non-green choices to people who can’t help but make other non-green choices is a bad thing. I hope as this movement goes forward, people cool off a little bit, and we end up with some really positive environmental impact from it. If not, I guess its back to the hippie market for me
Sunday, April 5, 2009
The first blog is the hardest
Although within a short period of time the first blog will be a forgotten memory, shoved at the very last page among many pages of my thoughts and ramblings, today the first blog is the hardest. Staring at the white blog page with nothing really important to say, thinking I should talk about the economy, or something a little more light hearted, like my hate for bumper stickers. But I’ve got nothing! At least I learned I can have my blog translated to sandscript automaticly.
Okay- well first blog down! On to bigger and better things!
Okay- well first blog down! On to bigger and better things!
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