It ain't right...

The day before Easter, my Aunt came over to see if she wanted the white sink I pulled out a week ago. While we were in the garage, a miniature Doberman pincher came in and was whining like it was hurt. She walked right up to me and as I looked her over, I didn’t think she was really hurt, but lost. As I stood up, she got scared and ran off. She ran towards the neighbor’s house. (Not the retards, but the good neighbors) I watched her go in their yard and then she ran right back to me. I looked and she had a collar on, but no ID tag on the collar. She also had a broken clasp on the collar, meaning she had gotten out of where ever she was by mistake. I brought her in the house and showed Heather. My dog, Ripley, didn’t know what to think, but he was ok with her. Ansley was intrigued by the Doberman, but that was about it. We brought her in and fed her. She was good around the house, but was pretty skittish. I got in the truck and drove around the neighborhood hoping to see a “Missing” sign or people out looking for a lost dog. Nothing. After awhile, I went out and walked around the neighborhood with her on a leash talking to anyone I ran into. Again, nothing. So, I decided we had a house guest for the night and I would put up a sign in the yard the next day.

We were going to let the dog just stay with Ripley for the night, but after she noticed Kyko, my African Grey Parrot, and looked like she wanted to eat him, I decided she needed to stay away from him. She had gone upstairs during the evening and was very comfortable on the couch up there, so I took up there and gave her the run of that room and the hallway. I closed off the rest of the rooms since I didn’t know if she was housetrained or not. The night went smooth until about 6:00 am.. She was whining up stairs and I didn’t want the baby woken up, so I went and got the dog. She started going after my bird again and making a big racket, so I made her go outside for the rest of the morning. We got up about 8:00 and let her back in. It was a very mild night, so it wasn’t even cold outside.

We had to do the Easter thing with both families, so we fed both dogs, got ready and left them here for the day. While we were gone, Heather said she would bet money the dog was the next door neighbor’s dog. (The Retards) I was hoping not, but they weren’t home this weekend and the dog was skittish around people (they have 3 boys at their house) so it would explain a lot. When we finally got home, “they” were home, so I walked over and one of the kids was outside on his bike. I asked if they were missing a dog and he said “Yes.” I asked, “A miniature pinscher?” His eyes lit up and he said, “Yes.” I said, “She’s at my house.” He looked kind of puzzled, so I told him the story. He came over and showed where the chain had broke and she got off it. He was very appreciative to get her back. Of course, I never heard anything from the parent’s.

Sitting here thinking about it, I’m VERY glad they have their dog back. I know how I would feel if it were my dog missing. But I can’t help thinking: They stole my pizza and I save their dog. It just ain’t right.

Productive day

You know, you have those days where you feel like you've accomplished something and you have those days where you don't feel like you've done crap. Well, today was an, almost, too productive day. It's the weekend; I'm not supposed to work this much!!!

The day started with Ansley actually letting us sleep until 8:00 am. Once we did get up and get breakfast, Heather decided she wanted to make a quick trip to Lowe's to get a couple things. She wanted one of those "Rain" shower heads for the Master bath and we needed to get a 10 foot ladder so I could reach our gutters and clean them. We went to Lowe's and got the ladder and the shower head, but Heather also decided she wanted a new faucet for the kitchen sink. She wanted a high-rise faucet and the sprayer on our has been sticking for some time so she thought it would be a good time to replace it all.
When we got home, I installed the new shower head real quick and then I started on the gutters while she was with the baby. We have 5 sets of gutters on our house ranging from 20 feet to about 60 feet long. I dug all the leaves and crap out of all of them and the sprayed them all out with the hose. Everything went well until the last one that had a hose running from the spout at the bottom into the ground. It was clogged up beyond belief, so I took the hose off of it and then took the gutters apart and cleaned all the parts out. After that, I hit the weeds in the front yard with the weed eater since there isn't much growth in the grass.

As I walked in from the outside, Heather mentioned that she had time to think about it and decided she didn't really like the white kitchen sink we had and wanted a stainless one. So, she asked me to install a new sink instead of just a new faucet set. OK.. So, I disconnected all the plumbing and the garbage disposal and then pulled out the old sink. After I took the old faucet set off, I put the sink in the truck, in case we need to look at anything while shopping. Back to Lowe's. We picked up a new sink, some gaskets and a drain kit.

Back home, I start working on the sink. The new faucet set goes on much easier when the sink isn't in the counter. After getting everything ready, I put the sink and and work on getting the disposal hooked back up. After that, I start re-plumbing. That's when I notice the drains are about 2 1/2 inches further apart than they were in the old sink. Back to Lowe's for plumbing parts. (My Lowe's is less than 2 miles from my house, luckily)

While I'm at Lowe's, I pick up the parts I need to re-plumb, but I also think about 2 toilets in the house that are acting up. One won't stop running and the other, you have to hold the handle up the entire time or it won't flush. So, I got all those parts too. Came back home, got my sink working after re-plumbing everything, fixed the non-flushing toilet and fixed the one that wouldn't stop running. While I was finishing that up, Heather was out back cutting the yard.

It was a very productive day. I'm tired. Although, I did get to use the new rain shower head first and that was cool. And, as you can tell, I did have some help while working on the sink.

Bad Attitude and Pizza

A couple weeks ago, as you all know, I went on a dive trip with a group from this area down to Florida for the weekend. During that weekend, we had a scheduled power outage in our building for some HVAC upgrades to be done. I knew my telephone switch didn't have the battery back up to run for 12 hours, so it was scheduled to crash about 2 hours into the power outage. which it did. No big deal. It has always booted itself back up and ran as normal any other time. Except this time. When it booted up, it came up on a database that was 1 year old. With the amount of work we had done in the last 12 months, it meant about 500-600 phones were either not working at all or working where they were physically placed 1 year ago. And, our voicemail system didn't survive the outage either. Not a good situation to come back too. To make a long story short, it's now been 3 weeks to the day that we started trying to fix our problem. The switch is still broke, but limping along. We have been able to re-program all 500-600 phones and got them working. Today, the new voicemail system is going online. So, why the bad attitude? I work with some of the biggest frigging whiners you have ever known. I even had people complaining to my Colonel that their stuff wasn't fixed, although they had never given me the list of phones they wanted fixed. It was a small but vocal line of complaining and whining from certain areas and people. After busting your ass for so long and working overtime to get all those people up, the last thing you want to hear is someone whine. So, after three weeks of it, I'm sick of it.. But, there were some GREAT people we dealt with also. I even had one send an email to me and my Colonel yesterday saying what a great job we've done. That is always great to see, since my colonel normally only hears the complaining. No one ever takes the time to say "Job Well Done." So, it means a great deal to me when they do. To all you whiners: Y'all can all kiss my ass!!! Which is why I needed to take the day off and get a grip on my attitude.


So, where did the "Pizza" in the title come from? You ever had one of those stories that starts out: "Y'all ain't gonna believe this shit" Well, y'all ain't gonna believe this shit. Saturday afternoon, Heather and Ansley went for haircuts and took Cousin Alyssa with them so she could watch Ansley while Heather was getting her hair done. After everyone was back home, Heather said I should just order pizza and invite Brother-in-Law Dale and Cousin Logan over since my sister was out of town and we already had Alyssa. Good idea.. So, I called BiL Dale and invited them over and they accepted. I got online and ordered a good amount of pizza and stuff. 42 dollars worth, to be exact. If you have ordered online for Domino's lately, they have the "Pizza Tracker." It shows when you order is received, when you pizza is put together, in the oven, out for delivery and been delivered. I had the Pizza Tracker up and went outside to play with the family. After awhile Heather came outside and so I went in to listen for the delivery guy. At about the 40 minute mark, I noticed the Domino's car at my next door neighbor's house. He gave an order to the kids and they went inside. I figured, what's the chances of both houses ordering at the same time from the same place? But, I just figured since they are 207, they delivered to them first and we would be next. The guy got in the car and left. After about 5 more minutes I checked the pizza Tracker and it said, "Delivery Complete: We hope you are enjoying your meal." WTF??? So, I called Domino's and said, "Hey, I'm just checking on my order."
Dominos: "Umm, hold one, let me see." (They have caller id so they knew who I was) "Uh, you're 209 (road name)?"
Me: "Yep, that's me."
Dom: "Uh, I just delivered that order."
Me: "No you didn't."
Dom: "Uh, yeah. Kids out in the yard with a trailer next to the house?"
Me: "Nope. That's my neighbor's house."
Dom: "Are you serious?"
Me: "Uh, yeah."
Dom: "Oh my God. Dude, they signed the credit card receipt and everything."
Me: "And you didn't check an id or anything?"
Dom: "Man, it was the kids. and they didn't have a number on the mailbox."
Me: "Was it the kid's credit card? No. It was mine. And, I have a number on my mailbox and I'm the one you were supposed to be delivering too"
Dom: "Oh wow man.. I'll get your order in and I'll have it back out to you very fast. No charge."
Me: "No charge? You think??? I know I'll get mine free, but you need to make sure you tear up the credit card receipt that was signed by a KID."
Dom: "I will."

So, after my call to Domino's I'm thinking, ok, now my neighbor just stole my freaking pizza!! Then I started, thinking, maybe it was just kids home and they thought the parents ordered it for them. I was going to walk over there, but cooler heads (Wife and BiL) prevailed and told me not to go over there right now. So, I waited around. Before the second round of pizza got here, the neighbor's wife's car pulls in there driveway. OK, the parent's weren't home. That explains it. She wasn't in the house 2 minutes when my phone rang. She thought she was calling Domino's but the number on the box was mine. She asked if I ordered pizza and I said Yes. She said her Husband and kids thought she ordered it for them while she wasn't home and they ate my pizza. I told her I had already spoken to Domino's and they were bringing me another. I was cordial to her, but the entire time I'm thinking: What kind of a freakin' retard is your husband to not check the credit card bill that the kids signed for and brought in. I don't know what kind of relationship he and his wife have, but if Heather or I are doing anything for dinner, we let the other know so we don't duplicate any effort for supper. Domino's did deliver my pizza order, an hour late after all this. I got my pizza and Mr. Delivery Dude got no tip. I also saw he went next door after he left here to, I'm figuring, to get the money they owed for the meal they ate. No idea if they paid or not. I'e actually seen the guy twice since then and he has said nothing about the incident. So, how did all of that actually happen on Saturday night? I definitely fault Domino's for not checking addresses or ID's on credit cards, but mainly I'm just chalking it up to the fact that I have a freaking retard for a neighbor.