draggonlaady

I just want to scream today. Up since 5 because I couldn't sleep. Rally's had diarrhea for the past 3 days from eating god only knows what out in the woods. She and Haven pulled a disappearing act when Bruce let them out this morning.

Don't know where the rabbit we got yesterday is today. Minnie apparently spent the night in the rabbit pen; she never came in last night. Rabbits were NOT in the pen with her this morning. Hitchhiker came back (god only knows WHY) and I caught her this morning but haven't seen him. So here's hoping he comes back to hang out with her or something, and doesn't end up as coyote dinner.

Called and whined at dad this morning about lack of tree removal and the fact that I can't fence the damn dogs in until Don gets around to finishing, which is getting ridiculously long. Guy doing the tree removal started the first week of July, and estimated 25-30 hours to do the whole thing. That, to me, is half a week's work. So why the crap isn't it done yet? Well, because he shows up for 4 - 6 hours one day every couple weeks randomly with no warning. I have no contact info for him (he's a friend of dad's and dad doesn't have a number, just catches him at his shop intermittently). Can't put the fence up until he's done with the trees. Can't put the invisible fence back out for the dogs, because I can't leave it out while he's working and I never know when he's going to be here. If I leave it out, he'll run it over and potentially break it. And it's expensive. Can't, or can't convince myself I will, put it out and then get out and pull it up at 6AM randomly whenever he shows up. Meanwhile, the dogs are running up the mountain eating dead things, and/or neighbor's garbage, swimming in someone else's pond, probably chasing cats and cows, getting into my rabbit pen, disappearing randomly, and likely to end up dead on the road or shot. I am not happy about this. I'm trying not to be a bitch to dad's friend, but for FUCK'S SAKE just show up and get it DONE!

Still don't have the new washing machine we bought 7/30. Called the shipper's 800 number. woman puts me on hold to look stuff up. comes back, transfers me to Michigan. That woman puts me on hold to make a phone call. Comes back and says she can't get a hold of anyone, gives me the number for the distribution center in kent, but says the washer is in Spokane.
I call Kent. Kent says Spokane has it, call Spokane.
I call Spokane, Spokane says they don't have it, call Kent.
I call Kent again, and tell them that the Spokane guy walked the dock and verified that it's not there but missing a number or something stupid.
Kent woman puts me on hold to look stuff up. Comes back and asks for my number, says she's going to go look in the warehouse.
2 hours later, she calls back. Kent still has the damn thing. It's been there since the 10th. When I asked what the hold up was, she said "miscommunication in the system". It's supposed to be shipped from Kent to Spokane on Monday and they will call when they get it to arrange delivery sometime next week. Though with as smoothly as their shit's been handled so far, maybe we'll have it for Christmas.

Turns out that I am expected to do fair check in today--just that nobody actually bothered to talk to ME about that. So I'll be up in C-ville (30 mile drive) from 4 - 7 or 8 tonight dealing with disorganized kids that don't bring their paperwork and can't grasp the concept of waiting their turn to be checked in, and I don't have the advantage of Bruce lining them up and telling them to get their paperwork done before I get to them this year (which was unbelievably helpful last year!), because he found out last night that he's supposed to be taking Bruce Jr to the 7th grade open house thing tonight. Yay for people making plans for other people and NOTIFYING them, right?

Get to work and the parvo pup I've been treating died over night. Why the bloody fuck to people who can't afford to take care of dogs breed them? These people tried to convince me to send this dog home with an IV catheter in because they're "used to doing their own vet care". This immediately after telling me that the dog never got her 4 month vaccine booster because they "couldn't get it in her". RIIIIIGHT. But they didn't want to leave her in hospital because they can't afford it. Well then don't be fucking breeding them. When I talk to them today, they say that one of the pups in their 7 week old litter (not vaccinated yet, of course!) is now vomiting. Woman posits that this is "failure to thrive, and not actually sick". Bloody hell it is. "Failure to thrive" is a generic label that gets stamped on new borns that don't do well, waste, and die within the first 2 weeks. It is NOT a previously healthy 7 week old pup that starts vomiting after a known parvo exposure. But I'd bet on my receptionist being elected the Tzarevna of England before betting these people will bring that litter in and have it treated.

Title of a spam email I got today:

President spitted on Madonna!

Read that, and had this bizarre mental image of the singer Madonna compressed into some sort of spike, and Bush being vertically impaled on her. Disturbing, I say.

Today's grammar and journalism lesson. This article should never have been published without some serious proofreading.

Quoted from Q13 Seattle Fox News' website.

Army Says Teen's Death At Fort Lewis Barracks Is Possibly Drug Related

Q13 FOX News Online and Associated Press

February 18, 2009

Army investigators say the death of a 16-year-old girl at a Fort Lewis barracks is possibly drug related.

A spokesman at the Criminal Investigation Command headquarters at Fort Belvoir, Va., Chris Grey, wouldn't identify the drug Wednesday as the investigation continues. He says the dead girl and another 16-year-old girl who became unconscious early Sunday were acquainted with a soldier in the barracks.

A Fort Lewis spokesman, Joe Piek, says the surviving girl is in stable and improving condition at Madigan Army Medical Center.

Q13 FOX News has learned the deceased girl was a student at Lakes High School in Tacoma. Sources say she is 16 year old Leah King. According to officials, her family has requested not to release the identity of the girl.

What the Hell, people? How can you just blithely put the girls identity in a public article immediately adjacent to the family's request NOT TO IDENTIFY HER?!? What is wrong with you?!

Her family posted this message on her Myspace page. "Just so everyone knows, we have very few details about what happened to Leah. But what we know, we are not supposed to share just yet. after the investigation I will post a public blog and you can read it." Several of King's friends also posted messages on the Myspace page.

Two of King's friends spoke with Q13 FOX News about the Lakes student. The teen's boyfriend named Jonathan says he is very upset over her death.

"She was my girlfriend, she was my first everything. I did everything with her. She's someone I was able to open up with more so than others. I'm going to miss her a lot," said Jonathan.

Dylan Drennen says his King's death was a shock. "It's a shame, definitely it's really sad," said Drennen.

"his King's"? did he own the girl, or was she his ruler? or Elvis?

Fort Lewis Emergency Response personnel got a call at about 3:30am Sunday morning.

When medics arrived, they found one of the females dead at the scene. Another female was transported to Madigan Army Medical Center with undisclosed injuries. She is currently in stable condition.

Fort Lewis representative Joseph Peik said "There's one soldier who has been questioned by Criminal Investigation Division, he is an alleged acquaintance with the two females."

No, he's not "an alleged acquaintance with" anyone. He allegedly is acquainted with, or is an acquaintance of. I always thought a good grasp of language was a prerequisite for a job in journalism. Apparently, I was mistaken.

Neighbors like Charlie Parrez wonder how the girls were able to get past base security.
"How are you allowed to get a female into your barracks and spend the night with you, how is that possible," said Parrez.

The Army was investigating what the girls were doing in the barracks and whether drugs or alcohol were involved, he said, adding the presence of the teen civilian girls "in the barracks at 3:30 a.m. is likely a violation of any of the units' barracks visitation policies."

The Fort Lewis Criminal Investigation Division was investigating both the circumstances and cause of death. The girls were not identified.

Didn't you just a few paragraphs ago identify the dead girl and interview her boyfriend? How can she now be unidentified? READ YOUR OWN ARTICLE!

A Fort Lewis soldier who was "allegedly acquainted with the two girls" has been questioned, but no arrests had been made, Piek said.

Piek said the Army would not be releasing the names of the girls since they were minors and civilians.

Apparently the Army doesn't have to release the names, since Fox already did that. Oops.

Civilians entering and leaving the base are supposed to be carefully tracked.

A civilian entering the base has to show ID, Army spokesman John Norgren told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, adding, "You have to have a reason to be on the installation and you have to be sponsored" by a member of the military on base.

"It's quite a comprehensive system," Norgren said.

Piek said it took the Army until Monday to release information on the case because it took place during a holiday weekend and gathering information took time.

The girls did not have a connection with the military but base representatives say people can come on base if they have photo identification and an escort from someone with a military i.d.

In a press release sent to media Monday afternoon, it says, "Fort Lewis extends its heartfelt condolences to the family members of the deceased. Our thoughts and prayers are also with the family of the young lady who is receiving medical care."

Not as comprehensive a system as the brass would have you believe, apparently. Unless fraternizing is an acceptable "reason to be on the installation"--I know I never had trouble getting on base back when I used to go dancing at the e-club. And the never bothered to keep track of who left and who didn't, either; my friends and I spent several nights on base, and none of us was enlisted.

Just to be clear here; I'm not pissed at the military. I AM pissed at the heartless ass that wrote this article, and released the name of the girl despite the family's request. I think that's a schmuck move, worthy of a ball-peen hammer to the side of the head.

Somewhere out there in the infinite memory of the interwubs is a video put together by a comedian (Jon Stewart? Stephen Colbert?) of Texas Gov. George Bush debating President George Bush. I cannot find it! Someone with more accurate web-fu please point me that way?

Shoot me please. Or burn the house down so I can write it off on the insurance and not deal with this ANY MORE because I'm pretty sure that would be LESS hassle than dealing with the fuckheads in mortgage. Really.

*sigh*

Okay, you all recall the end of Octember, when I went in and straightened out the f-ups with my October payment, and made the check-by-phone payment to cover the mortgage payment that had be mistakenly refunded? Yeah. I distinctly recall doing so.

And then I get this lovely and oh-so-very-informative notice:

Dear Customer:

Your check in the amount of ... was returned to us by your financial institution for the following reason: refer to maker.

*Your loan remains due for the 10/01/08 installment.

*The amount due is

You may be assessed a late charge if an installment is not received before the late charge assessment date. Depending on your loan product, interest may continue to accrue until replacement funds are received.

Okay, motherfucker. Point the first: What in all the holy lands does "refer to maker" even mean? If you're going to give me a reason, GIVE ME A FUCKING REASON. Point the second: this notice was not dated until 2 weeks AFTER the "late charge assessment date" so how by Bloody England am I supposed to deal with it before then?

So Monday last week, I called the local bank and left a message for the manager who dealt with this last time.

Yesterday, I attempted to go to the bank to deal with it in person, and discovered that it was a bank holiday. Bastards. I was working.

Today, I called again. Was told by the woman who answered that it didn't have to be a manager who dealt with this, it'd be fine to just come in and ask whoever. RIIIGHT. So I left work early to come in a bit before lunch, so that the manager can't escape for lunch break (yes, I'm being bitchy. I think it's justified) because there's no way in Hell I'm believing this doesn't need to be taken to the manager.

And sure enough, I go up to the nice lady at the counter (that's not sarcasm--she really is a very nice lady), she looks up my account, confirms that I do still show owing for October and November, so this wasn't just a belated notice/miss-in-passing stupidity, and tells me I need (gasp, surprise!) to talk to the manager.

Flag the manager down - whee, no lunch for either of us!

He calls the mortgage people. Woman informs us that they are apparently having "system difficulties" and cannot access accounts. Oh, that's a GREAT confidence builder there. If I had any doubts at all about whether this was a reliable source to hold my mortgage that clinches it. 2 words for you: redundant systems. You handle millions of dollars of other people's money, and you can't access the accounts today? Fuck me sideways? Why SURE!

So now I'm supposed to go back to the bank after work, and the financial/mortgage gurus back East are supposedly going to call us back and figure this shit out. We'll see if that actually happens, or if we'll be calling them and getting the damn after-hours message.

http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/158765.html
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/157063.html
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/150350.html
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/110469.html
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/111025.html

But Countrywide, now owned by Bank of America, plans to open for business as usual on Friday, saying it has no intention of following the state's decision.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri_countrywide1017oct17,0,7289715.story

Good stuffs!

From dindrane: http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

From interactiveleaf: http://antispore.com/2008/09/08/spore/
http://antispore.com/2008/09/11/understand-my-beliefs-please/
It's worth reading the whole thing, and some of the comments as well. If you don't have time though, just read the last entry. But make sure you read it all the way through, it's SO worth it.

From evil_egg: http://www.qntm.org/?board

Enjoy.

With this sort of bullshit out there, no wonder people don't bring dogs in until they're practically dead. We got a call from someone today wanting to know about a product called parvaid, because his son has a sick dog that for some reason he can't/won't hospitalize. So I go look up what the stuff is, having never heard of it before.

http://www.parvobuster.com/

The lovely fuckheads at this site go so far as to claim that taking your sick dog to the vet is a waste of time, and you should instead "To save time, order now, and then come back and read this page, or the entire site if you like, but get the ball rolling so you can start to administer the emergency teas we send via email that will sustain your dog until your products arrive." No pressure there, right? don't read the page, don't look at what we're selling you, just order it, dammit OR YOUR DOG WILL DIE AND IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT.

They discourage vaccination, badmouth veterinary medicine, flatly lie about the chances of successful treatment of parvo by a veterinarian, refuse to tell you what's in the product they are selling, lie about what the product does (I guarantee you that if there was a cheap, easy, safe product available to "kill off the virus" we would be using it daily!), and use blatantly misleading claims and waffle about what they guarantee.

Highlights:

For sick dogs (i.e. dogs that already have the Canine Parvo Virus, or are showing symptoms), our success rate is about 90%, which is much better than the 50:50 odds most vets will give your sick dog. The remaining 10%, where it is harder to beat the virus, is made up of:

* puppies that weigh less than three pounds
* imitators of Parvo (i.e. diseases, viruses and bacteria that create symptoms that look like Parvo, but aren't)
* those puppies who have recently been wormed or vaccinated.

For healthy dogs, our success rate is close to 100% (i.e. it's as though the dog was never infected by Parvo in the first place).

So, what they're saying here is that you should buy this shit, and treat any dog that DOESN'T LOOK SICK and that will cure it of the parvo that's lurking in the system. But for crissake don't VACCINATE the dog, or treat it for worms, because that will worsen this product's chances of working, and almost certainly kill your dog. Oh, and if the dog does get sick and die, it's not our fault, it was probably some "imitator" disease and not really parvo anyway, so sorry.

Are these products cost-effective?

Vets charge an average of $100 - $300 to put a dog to sleep, whereas if you bought our products, you might spend $250, including overnight shipping, and be able to treat up to three dogs.

If you took your dog to the vet for Parvo treatment, you can easily spend $500 to over $10,000 per dog and only have a 50:50 chance of survival, whereas if you spent $200 on our products, you would have a 90% or better chance of a full recovery and be able to treat multiple dogs at home using safe, easy-to-administer products with zero side-effects."

That is total bullshit. The only way we charge more than $100 to euthanize a dog is if we are doing an at-home euthanasia: house call, mileage, drug, tech time, doctor time. Instead, you should order this crap for $250, wait 3 days for it to get there in the mail, pray your dog doesn't die in the mean time, waste another 2 days trying this crap that won't work, and then bring the dog in when it's too far gone for the vet to do anything about it, and BLAME THE VET when the dog dies.

Incidentally, elsewhere on the page, they claim that the product is safe because it doesn't involve using needles to administer it.

*descends into incoherent swearing and mumbling*

Crossed the state twice this past weekend with Bruce. Long long time to sit on a motorcycle. Trip #1 started Friday evening. We stopped at a little place called Cow Creek Mercantile for dinner. Little deli place inside a gift store. We got there at the worst possible time--15 minutes before closing. The lady was friendly though, and said to come on it. "She'll cook whatever I tell her to, she's my daughter," she said when I asked if the cook had already cleaned the grill. Food was good, we sat outside in a little garden area and watched the praying mantises hunt moths in the sign lights. (http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Cow.Creek.Mercantile.509-659-0490)

Kicked around Tacoma, hung out with insaneraven and his beautiful wife and cute kid. Had lunch at the Rock Pasta with khiril. Good pizza, and excellent brown sugar mozzarella bread! Went back to insaneraven's for dinner; you're right, julzerator, he makes a mean brisket!

Drove home Sunday, started early so we could meander and be silly. Took the long way home, across 2. Stopped at the Reptile Zoo in Monroe (http://www.yelp.com/biz/reptile-zoo-monroe), which was sorta mixed good and bad. The critters were fascinating, of course, but some of the habitats left somewhat to be desired. Staff was friendly though. As a side note, it's best to not leave the bike key turned on while you wander around. Got a jump start from a nice gent in the parking lot, and continued up the hill.

Hit the custom knives place at the top of the pass, and The Alps candy store above Leavenworth. Didn't buy anything. Knives were really pretty (but expensive, as expected). The Alps was neat, and had a ton of stuff, but I was disappointed that all the fudge was pre-packaged, so you we couldn't get just a small amount. Buying very much wasn't a good option, for fear it would melt and/or smash in the saddle bags, so no sugary goodness for me there.

Going through Wenatchee was horrible. Too hot to breathe, even on the bike with a 60+ wind chill. Weather.com says it was 105F there yesterday, but it felt even hotter.

Stopped for dinner in Coulee City at a place called Steamboat Rock Restaraunt.
(http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=steamboat+rock,+coulee+city&fb=1&view=text&latlng=9203843340315552548) Got the absolute worst service possible without the waitress outright insulting and mocking us. Walked in, didn't see anyone at the counter, so we grabbed a table. There was only one other group of people there. After a few minutes of nobody coming out, I went and got us menus. Woman eventually comes over, says "Hi. The special today is chicken fried steak." and walks off. Does not look up, does not even glancingly make eye contact. Didn't ask if we wanted drinks, or were ready to order.
She comes back after a bit and sets two TINY glasses of water on the table and walks off again. AGAIN without eye contact or asking if we wanted anything. Eventually she comes back to ask if we want anything to drink, and Bruce asks for a pitcher of water, since it's blazingly hot out, and we've already emptied the glasses she brought us. She refuses to give us a pitcher, says "I'll bring you more water" and leaves without taking our order. Comes back, fills the water, walks away without asking for our order or looking up from the table.
Seriously considered at that point just walking out, but decided that the bar across the street was unlikely to have milkshakes, and dammit, it was hot out.
We end up asking again for water refills when she finally comes back to take our order, and twice more during dinner. (Please mind that even though she's the only server, there are still only 2 tables to tend to!) At 6:30 she comes by and flips all the open signs to closed, even though the sign on the door says they're open until 7. When we are finished with dinner (food was decent, but nothing spectacular), she walks up and sets the bill on the table. Doesn't ask if we're done, or if we want dessert, or if we need anything. STILL has never made eye contact with me, though Bruce has managed to get her attention once or twice. So I stop her, and ask about dessert. She manages to fairly rapidly hide the pained look, picks the bill back up, and goes to get us a cinnamon roll, and brings back the altered bill with the roll.
AFTER we are ready to go, have put money on the table, and are walking out, she starts smiling and trying to chat with us; asking where we're headed, how the ride's been. Don't know what was with the sudden mood swing, but it was much too late to salvage a tip.

I'll let Bruce do the ranting about stupid other drivers and people trying to kill us.

( Cut just for the heck of it )



So, unrelated question: does anyone want to see pictures and stories of my own critters? or would I just be one of those people who insists on annoying everyone with their baby pictures if I do a series of entries here about them?