still cranky

After arriving here I realized I should make a couple of adjustments due to the weather. My desire for hot drinks is soaring, so I am trying to switch mainly to decaf. So far I am mostly failing at that while out because I forget to ask for it. I am waiting for a UPS delivery of my recent coffee order, and that included more decaf than usual to accommodate the switch at home. I don’t need to go NO caffeine, but if I drink half as much coffee as I want to in this weather, and all of that is regular, I will develop a problem. I also need to switch to mainly drinking black.

The other thing that it made sense to change was the dog feeding routine. In California the dogs were fed late at night. Before the dogs were fed there was this whole bathroom routine that needed to occur. Yes, I am talking a lot about pet bodily functions lately. Welcome to my life. See, Indy has never been a fan of going to the bathroom, at least not since we brought her home when she was about 6 months old. She was a rescue puppy, and I do not know if she was born that way, or there was some kind of issue with the potty training at her previous home, but she came to us really hating to shit, and it took a long time to work things out so that we had a reasonably regular poo schedule and did not have to worry about poosplosions. When things are normal, she goes once a day, before she eats. Yes, I realize most dogs are supposed to want to go soon after a meal. Anyhow, getting her to go still requires human participation. She cannot just be let outside at around the right time. Somebody must witness it, and sadly for me, there are many days when she will only go for me. What am I babbling about this for? Oh right, the eating schedule. It was just too fucking cold to be taking the damn dogs out and standing around and hoping for a poo miracle late at night. I have switched to an after human lunch poo and feeding schedule. The dogs are happy with their new meal time at their new meal time, but every night at their old meal time they go absolutely ape shit. When I go to bed they complain mightily about the fact I have forgotten to feed them. I keep trying to remind them that they already ate (and I’m actually feeding them more to help them put on some cold weather fat), but they refuse to believe me and keep insisting that I have forgotten to feed them. On the other hand, they are still pleasantly surprised by their after lunch meal.

I still need to take them out before bed to get in a final pee, but that doesn’t take as long as a poo outing. It still takes longer than in California because Indy thinks it is too cold and she keeps looking at me reproachfully, and London is always trying to catch something scampering through the backyard.

We do not have a real fence in the backyard, hence all the TAKING the dogs out instead of letting them out. Fences are very unusual here, and very few of the rentals I looked at had any at all. Most people who do have dogs opt for the invisible fence. I like having this crappy fence better than no fence at all, because at least it delineates our yard and we are less likely to have people wandering in. This is also part of the initial bathroom issue with London as he hates to poop while leashed. He is getting better about it.

Much to my great sadness, the house next door runs a daycare. I did chat with the woman over the backyard fence our first week here and cautioned her against letting the children stick their hands through the fence telling her that Indy could not be trusted not to bite them. She said she would make sure of it. I was hoping that the cold weather would keep them inside most of the time, but many afternoons are full of the noises of squealing toddlers. I am not a fan.

There is a good walking path just behind the house. There are an unfortunate number of burrs in the area, and most walks are followed by me needing to pick burrs out of the dogs and myself.

Pics from the walking path:

Now that I’ve talked so much about poo and the dogs, I’ll mention the other critters.

Wallace (the fish) – It was really looking touch and go for a while, but we’ve now warmed the poor thing up enough and he is finally eating again. I might need to find a cheap little aquarium (or larger bowl) and heater for him so that I am not stuck keeping one room so warm.

Willow – The cold she developed when we first got here has cleared up and she seems to be doing well. She is generally just as much of a pain in the ass as at the old house. The cats are spending more time near each other than they used to, but it is still not overly friendly and often ends in hissing and huffing.

Xander – He is also settling in well, although he is cold and is looking for warm snuggle places more often. Also, both cats are usually complaining of hunger and are super friendly because they hope we might feed them.

London is climbing onto the bathtub and stealing the cats’ food. He knows damn well he is not supposed to, but it is going to take some doing for us to enforce that here. Things were set up much better for managing the pets at our own house. If I can just figure out which box I packed the zapper thing in, I should be able to remind him about his manners where the cat food (and other sort of kitty treats EEEW) are concerned. In the meantime, the cats are always wandering around complaining about their lack of food. When we lock them in with the food, so that the dog cannot get to it. They complain about being locked in, and refuse to eat it out of spite.

Too much typing, time to go unpack something, or shop, or do something else unpleasant.