Falon’s World

Remember Jude? Well, he needs a new home. His “new owner” is dropping him back off at the Humane Society. He doesn’t want to put the time and effort into owning a dog . Apparently, I was right to feel nervous…and wrong to assume he was mature and responsible enough to handle a pet. I’m a little embarrassed and ashamed to have been involved with this poor dog’s fourth rejection from a home – this will make his odds of being adopted even less. Eric is as upset as I am and said he wishes we could afford to adopt him ourselves, but we can’t, not with our pup on the way . Poor Jude!!!!!

Plus, I let this guy list me as a reference, that does not make me look too good. Added to that, we shelled out $75 for Eric and Kya to join Jude in his obedience class for moral support – of which Eric and Kya are going to continue on alone. I’m almost ill with being a part of this .

This morning, Eric was convinced he had lost his keys somewhere. He said he searched high and low and when I asked if he had checked his coat pockets, I was told yes with impatience. Where did I find them? In his coat pocket.

Next we drive home to find out that the door is locked and the key we had been hiding outside until we got the copies from the landlord was gone. Eric was sure he had brought it in the house with him that morning and forgotten it. Stranded in the driveway with all three dogs, we called our landlord, and agreed to meet back in Grand Rapids, where we had just come from.

We met him, drove back home and let the dogs out and while I was out in the yard with them, I heard the door slam and immediately thought “Uh oh..” yup, Eric had left the entire ring of extra keys on the dining room table (within sight of us) and the door was locked. We called the landlord again, who was extremely displeased that he had to drive all the way out to Allendale, and he opened the door for us. Meanwhile, we had been huddling in the truck with the dogs until he arrived.

What a day…now we all have copies of the key and various hiding spots for each door…whew! What a day!

For our Two Year Anniversary, I got Eric tickets to Rascal Flatts, a band which he really loves and which he hasn’t seen since we started dating. I think their music is ok, a little too boy-bandish for me but still alright. Therefore, I was blown away by the amazing show that they put on. Jessica Simpson was annoying and overdramatic with the way that she moves her mouth and plays with her hair but that was to be expected. In the row in front of us, there was a drunk woman with the shortest skirt I’ve ever seen on. She was crying for Jessica Simpson and she kept bending over the row in front of her, baring her ass for all to see and not even noticing. She was obnoxious and horrible and eventually somoene complained and the woman and her very embarrassed…guy friend were kicked out.

The rest of the was just awesome though:

After unloading the U-Haul for the second time…

We all load back into the truck and begin the journey home.

We are already exhausted, eager to get home and just want this horrible trip over with so we don’t even stop and sight-see. It starts to pour again…with all of our stuff in the bed. Who cares? At this point we just desperately want to get home. Eric starts to fall asleep so I take the wheel for 3 hours or so (North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia), until I’m so cramped and in pain from being in the same position throughout the whole trip that we are forced to stop and stretch – the dogs needed some time to move around as well.

We finally make it to Ohio (thank goodness!!!!!)…and hit a deer. A buck. It bangs up the front of the truck a little but nothing major and everything still works. Since it was the parent of the person we were moving we were forced to get and incident report from the local police. Who were all so busy that they asked us if we could possibly not get one, but when Eric insisted, had us come to them to receive it. After another 45 minutes of waiting and photo-taking (by the police of the truck) we finally got back on the road. Could anything else go wrong?

Yes. Mason has diarrhea in the back seat. Luckily it’s mostly on the dog blanket but…ugh. So we stop at a Meijer gas station and clean it out as best we could and I force some Pepto-Bismol tabs down Mason’s throat (during the process of which he manages (in his mad thrashing) to slice open my thumb. The dog will eat poop but not the meds – go figure) and get back on the road yet again. We don’t get very far before we’re both drooping and absolutely MUST stop. We sleep for a couple of hours, potty the dogs and get back on the road. Only to stop a couple of hours later, again for more sleep. This trip pretty much sapped both of us totally. We’re hardly talking at this time and both just want to get home and shower and fall into a bed where our knee caps aren’t bent continuously and our butts aren’t completely numb.

We eventually do make it home (I don’t know about you, but I had some doubts there for awhile) and start to unload – only to find out that we must get a move on cleaning the truck out because it has to be picked up immediately. Things are even taken so far as to accuse us of not getting home at 3 am like we planned (how DARE we sleep!!) and to blame that on the dogs (not on the stupidity of the entire trip as a whole), we are shown no sympathy or understanding after this insane favor we carried out and forced to begin the unpacking process at this moment. I am more angry than I’ve been in awhile and allowed myself a quick shower before we vacuumed every inch of that cab, washed the windows, scrubbed the carpet and in the end, left it cleaner than when we received it.

At this point in the vacation, every single thing I was looking forward to didn’t happen and we are both so exhausted that we don’t want to do anything else but sleep. Unfortunately, we get yet more…news. Since we didn’t use the van, we are told that some random guy we don’t know is going to remove the hitch so that it can be sold on EBay and the money made back that was spent. I am incensed. Here we drive to NC, hauling a crap-ton of crap, it takes SIX HOURS longer than planned, deleted all vacation-y enjoyment from the trip, were treated like we were not trusted to use money only for gas only to get there and find that no one will tell us which house to drop the stupid trailer at, are told that our crappy trip to the coast for the sunrise must be funded out of our own pocket, unload the crap-ton of crap at various places (after Eric had loaded it to begin with), sleep crammed inside the cab of the stupid truck, get chewed out for sleeping and are now told that we must accommodate yet another time for the van to be “worked on” …not by the company that put the hitch on, but by some other guy, because “$300 can’t be wasted on Eric right now”, so it must be sold on EBay.

Meanwhile, very little appreciation is shown, in fact the only thing I heard was more complaining and whining. We were treated as a moving company (and storage if it comes down to it) and we had to request that gas be paid both directions. We were not offered accommodations, let alone expenses for food or anything remotely enjoyable. Nope. It was all about getting the crap-ton of crap there and then screw what happened to us. The result of this trip? I’m still so disgusted and angry I can’t even talk about it without wanting to hit something. Never again. Oh and did I mention that this friend that Eric did all of this for did not even come to thank him in person or even come to say good-bye. Yup. That’s how this all ended. One can only hope that this “vacation” gets better from here because honestly, how could it be any worse?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Update ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This post was written from my viewpoint, and my viewpoint alone. This does not mean that anyone else agrees with me.

Eric’s sugar-coated version will be posted HERE…eventually.

He has also pointed out that the receipt issue could have been for tax purposes – although I believe if that was the truth, it should’ve been mentioned and we would’ve taken it more seriously.

Finally, it has been agreed that we will keep the hitch but relinquish the ball.

Sometimes Eric is way too nice for his own good. A lot of times. Most of the time. Occasionally friends will stop him from being nice to a fault, but frequently people take advantage of him. He also often acts before he thinks. For example, he volunteered to haul a whole ton of his friend’s stuff all the way to North Carolina…in my van. Who’s van? Mine. Did I volunteer? No.

Ok, so since that really stupid generous offer of his was accepted, now what? Come to find out that the plan is that we will only be given 1/2 the gas money needed to make the trip down and back. Once we get there and said friend’s stuff arrives, we are on our own to make it home. Sweet. Do we have a couple hundred dollars to throw at a trip in the middle of the summer hauling a bunch of stuff to a place that I, for one, do not want to go to in the heat of July? The answer? Absolutely not. After a whole lot of arguing discussing, I gave in (I honestly did not see a choice) and the plan is put into motion. Eric partially bribed me with the promise of at least one UAD event, perhaps even two. The van has a hitch put on (so that a U-Haul trailer can be hooked to it and hauled to NC), which in itself was a huge hassle and made me late to an appointment, and then we both take a week off of work.

After Mason’s Agility Class, we rush home and start to frantically pack the van (this is after Eric spent the previous evening loading the U-Haul with all of the things that were stored in our garage and spare bedroom). Two hours after our desired departure time (11:00 pm) we pull out of the driveway – fully loaded…to hear…..SCRAPE SCRAPE SCRAPE accompanied by small jerks of the van. What the hell??? It sounds as though the tongue of the trailer is dragging on the ground. I get out and jog alongside as Eric drives and yup, it sure is. After some rather panicked phone calls (one of which was totally worthless and one of which was helpful – thanks Dad!) we decide to wait until morning to see what that stupid company U-Haul has to say. They have nothing. Oops.

So, we are allowed the use of a truck, a Chevy Silverado (not Eric’s) and are also, provided we go down and straight back, going to be given gas money not only to get there, but also to make it home – as long as we bring back the receipts of gas to prove that’s what we did. We cram all three dogs into the back and hope the weather stays clear (all of our stuff was in the open in the bed of the truck) and finally head out bright and early Sunday morning.

The plan is now to forgoe the things I was looking forward to and to just rush down, unload, and rush straight back. I was going along to make sure that Eric stayed alive (he tends to sleep while driving) and whole on the way back. The trip takes way, way, way longer than we thought (Google estimated 12 hours, it took us 18) but the scenery was beautiful and I made an honest attempt to have a good time and enjoy it.

Scenery:

I like bridges

Some shots of the dogs and I:

Spacious….

This is where Midas liked to be, that way when he was too hot, he showered us in dog-breath until we blasted the air conditioning and froze so that they would be comfortable.

We finally get to the house where we’re supposed to drop a load off and…there’s no house number and no one wants to answer their phone at 3 am. What to do now? We desperately wanted to have something enjoyable to come of this trip so we decide to go to the Ocean and have a chance at photographing the sunrise. We wanted to leave the damn trailer but unfortunately, Eric doesn’t feel he should leave it in front of a house potentially not the one we think it is…

2 hours later we make it to the coast (which, of course, we must pay the gas money for)…and it’s raining, pouring, cloudy, disgusting. Eric has yet to sleep, I’m exhausted and cramped from trying to sleep in extremely limited space and the sunrise isn’t even visible .

I could seriously have cried, I never even got out of the truck. Although, Eric got some nifty photos HERE.

We head back to the storage unit to unload all of the stuff crammed into the U-Haul.

Which takes two hours and a lot of sweat. Eric organizes a bunch of very useless stuff everything so as to be the easiest and most accessible and we finally leave to drop the rest of the bits off at the house we had tried to get to several hours earlier.

It is so hot that Midas can hardly function and the other two just want to lay around and pant. Miserable hot. I-never-want-to-move-to-North-Carolina hot (and that’s saying something). Humid and disgusting and sticky and…yeah.

Think this trip is already pretty horrible? Well, the trip home only got worse…

A group met at our house tonight to go out to Mega 80s. I opted to stay home and hang out with the dogs and I’m so glad I did. In fact, I knew the way the night would turn out so I wasn’t even feeling bad when everyone left.

Lets go back two years….

Dan and I had just turned 21, we had heard everyone in the office talking about Mega 80s and we were both really looking forward to going and having a good time.

The beginning went great:

Then Eric started to get a little over-warm and to hump dance against the railing.

I guess that made him a little nauseous (or could it be his inability to realize his drinking limit??):

In the end, Dan and I hardly got to drink and then we got to spend 3 hours getting Eric to his truck and then to his apartment – at which time I had to turn around, go back, and cash out his tab…This is how he was at his apartment:

He kept repeating, “Yes please, thank you very much” and “Just one more minute”…it was a long night.

Fast forward…

So, this is the reason I don’t go and yet, what did I wake up to at 2 am? Not only some strange guy sleeping (snoring) on my couch but my bathroom was inaccessible to me:

If ever I feel my resolve slipping, I have only to look at this post to remember why I no longer go to Mega 80s with Eric.

ETA:

As a result of this one night of fun for Eric we missed the a CPE Trial (twice) and Band Camp. As a result of his procrastination I missed out on a vacation day and we missed out on the Cherry Festival UAD event.

Guy: What kind of dog do you have?

Me: 2 labs and a pit.

Guy: Oh, a pit…do you fight her?

Me: That’s illegal.

Guy: People still do it…

Me: I’m kind of against animal abuse.

Guy: Oh, well isn’t she dangerous after being on the fighting circuit?

Me: What? No, she wasn’t on the fighting circuit…do you know anything about pits?

Guy: Well, yeah, not as much as you probably. Aren’t you afraid of her attacking? Once they get that urge…

Me: GIANT EYE ROLL

Some people…seriously…

Midas’s agility class on Friday was a blast, we came in second out of about 8 dogs in a game called Snooker, to read go here. Then Saturday and today we had a dock jumping event right here in GR.

These photos pretty much sum that up:

Interested? Go here to read about it.

This morning Eric decided it’d be fun to goof around…and get us stuck in the little ditch in front of our house. He had a hard time getting us out even in four-wheel drive.

(notice Eric taking photos next to the truck)

This morning I hear Eric yelling to the boys…a pause, more yelling and then, “Falon, that dog is back again!”. The un-hit dog (obviously) of the pair from this story was in our yard…again. I was sooooo angry I didn’t know what to say. Eric had already shoo-ed it out of our driveway only to find it in our backyard. We tied it out on a line that the old renters left

and then had a serious discussion about the pros and cons of our different choices.

Send the dog home:

Con – it could get hit by a car

Pro – We don’t have to deal with it.

Call the Owner/Take it Home:

Con – Obviously not going to solve the problem, he doesn’t take it seriously.

Pro – It would be taken care of quickly with no harm to the dog.

Call Animal Control and Complain and Have Them Take Care of Her:

Con – If he found out, he would be furious (we’ve established that he’s an idiot and also irrational) and may retaliate on us, our house (rented), or our dogs. We would have to detain the dog somewhere (inside) until they could come and get it. If he doesn’t want the dog back and they take it to the pound, it will probably not get adopted (a black pit mix) and will then be euthanized.

Pros – The dog will be properly taken care of and returned. The man might take a person in a position of some authority more seriously than a short, enraged blonde. He might also get a fine (because the dog had no rabies tags and I would assume was therefore unlicensed).

So, we decided to go with Animal Control, from this Animal Shelter. We were assured that it would be completely confidential/anonymous. They came during Eric’s lunch hour (roughly) which was great. He signed a release form and left a note stating that if the man surrendered the dog and nobody adopted her, she was not to be euthanized, we would then take her. Some of the problems of this situation are that if he continues to let the dog run around it will only be a matter of time until Mason thinks that is alright and follows his new “friend” instead of guarding his territory and barking (as he does now). If she’s not spayed, it will only be a matter of time until she comes into heat and then Midas will definitely follow her wherever she leads him. This is going to be hard to prevent because she is coming fully into our yard and playing with our dogs. If he surrenders her and no one wants her (she’s so sweet I can’t believe that would be true), we don’t really have the space or inclination to adopt a full-size, spayed, female, pit mix right now. Let alone the money to feed another 70 lb dog high quality dog food. We are going through a 40 lb bag of $40 food every two weeks right now with only our two. Let alone trying to keep up with vaccines, heart worm, advantix etc. UGH, if this man would only step up to his responsibility we would be ok….