Gone off to hell in a handbasket June 4, 2008

Thats where my day went. I found out last night that our dogs may have been exposed to parvo the terrifyingly deadly to dogs virus and since my puppies are just 6 weeks old they hadn’t had shots yet. That changed this morning. I got up and did some refresher research on the virus first. (I lost a puppy to parvo over 2 years ago because I had never heard of it before then and found out about the symptoms too late even tho I imediately rushed her to my vet’s office) Then it was off to the vet about 40 miles away with four 10 pound puppies in my truck since the pet carrier got destroyed in one of our big blows a couple months ago. I have a wonderful inexpensive old-fashioned country vet who does walk-ins from 8 till 12:45 and I got there at 10 till 11 expecting a bit of a wait. I told them that I didn’t have a pet carrier and couldn’t bring the puppies in because of it so I would wait in the car. They said no problem they’d let me know when it was my turn. I went back to the car and watched other people come in after me thinking I was lucky to have gotten there when I did. Then I watched one of the people who got there after me leave all taken care of and thought well I’ve been moved ahead in line before as well so no biggy. It was, I might add, about 85 degrees and climbing but I was in a shady spot by this time and there was a good stiff breeze. After watching about 6 people who came in after me leave before me and waiting for about 2 hours I went in for the third time to check and see where I was in line and they said I was second. There had only been 5 people in line ahead of me when I got there so I was a little upset. That combined with low blood sugar because I hadn’t had breakfast was making me a little edgy but ok. I went back and after seeing 2 other people who were there leave one of the gals came out to get me and help me carry in the puppies. I had to take them out one at a time when they were done with their shots as today a short staffed day at the clinic and the vet told me to get them out of there. I was near tears now because I get bitchy and cry easily when my blood sugar gets low. I walked out with the first puppy and had some woman bitch at me for in her words going out the wrong door. I flipped her off as I got to the truck and then was repentant and offered to help her get her morbidly obese dog who obviously didn’t like vets inside the office since they were blocking the entrance. She decided to stay there in the way and I went back ferry the other pups out one at a time and then pay my bill. The total was only $29 for all of them which is why I put up with all the crap in the first place but I was sorely tried today. Then I came home to a horrible mess left by Jarell’s brothers from their lunch break and I kinda came unglued. One of them left his wallet on the floor and I told Jarell that he can’t have it back until they all come down here and clean the mess they left in the bathroom and kitchen. He wasn’t too happy to hear this but we pay for the food and he usually cleans up after them and its not happening this time. There are 4 of them who are QUITE capable of cleaning up after themselves and Jarell and I are not their maids.

Sorry about all that negativity– I needed to vent as I’m still regaining my equilibrium from this morning. I want to end on a positive note tho and when I came home I read a couple of my favorite people’s blogs and they really helped my mood. In the mood for a laugh? Check out KathiD, Mom O Matic, Diana, Dana, and Elasticwaistbandlady. This is only a sampling of the hilarity and there are more, but they’re the ones I just read when I got home. I decided to borrow Kathi’s story idea to end this post on a cheerful note and I wanted to tell you all about my brushes with the licensing laws in our great country.

I moved back to Missouri in late November of 2005. I did not change my tags over to Missouri tags for a year when I got here. One night when I’d been here about 6 months my then boyfriend now husband and I were headed the 3 miles out of town to his parent’s house where he was living. I don’t remember the circumstances precisely but as we left the city limits, a cop passed us headed the other direction, whipped a quick u-turn and followed us out of town. This seemed odd to both of us as we had been breaking no traffic laws at the time but I tried to convince the both of us that he had been called out of town for something and that was why he had turned around so quickly. This would have held water had the officer not turned onto the little gravel road that his parents lived on. The road was bumpy as hell and freshly graveled so Jarell was driving more or less down the center of the road avoiding the worst of the holes and loose gravel. The cop continued to follow us until we were about 300 yards from his parents drive at which point on come the lights. Jarell pulled over and the cop came up to us. Jarell: “Good evening officer.” Officer Tickethappy: “Good evening. Did you know you were driving down the middle of the road?” Jarell: “I was trying to avoid the potholes sir.” OT: “Does this vehicle have front license plates?” (as an aside, my truck is a 1987 Toyota which at the time had the ORIGINAL tags and tags from 1987 in California are blue with BRIGHT YELLOW lettering. Very hard to miss at night as the lights tend to reflect off them) Me: “Yes sir but your welcome to go look.” He goes and looks and comes back. “Whose truck is this sir?” Me: “Its mine officer. I’m visiting from California and may be moving back here.” OT: Well you need to get this truck registered if you’ve been here over a month. Are you both wearing your seatbelts? (we were) Can I see your license and registration?” Jarell at this point realizes he had forgotten his wallet at home. “If you’re willing to follow us over the hill I’m Gary Sisk’s son and my wallet seems to be at home.” All of a sudden the cop is very polite. Well you all have a good evening and get this truck licensed if you’re going to move back here. Sorry for the trouble folks.” And off he went. We could only assume that dropping Jarell’s dad’s name in the conversation had scared him off altho we’ll never know for sure. He was bound and determined to get us for breaking some law up to that point and then to drop everything seemed suspicious. All I can say is God bless small redneck towns where everyone knows everyone else and this particular town where the Sisk name is synonomous with money, lawyers, and very little chance that the cops will win their arguments.