New Den Is Ours!!

Wednesday - June 1, 2011

We met our Tudors agent, Ashleigh, at our new den on Teton Way for the detailed walk-thru today. Yesterday we had done a quick walk-thru to look at the insides for the first time and confirmed that we definitely wanted it. Today's viewing was to look for any damage or flaws prior to our moving in and to get the keys. Ms Ashleigh was in a hurry, and quite frankly, that pissed my partner off. 

The darn thing was called a DETAILED walk-thru for a reason. My partner was going thru the house methodically: checking every window lock, whether it opened fully, checking the mini-blind functions, opening every drawer/cabinet to see if they secured & were they clean inside, etc. We found things that obviously hadn't been touched in years. Ashleigh reluctantly recorded them, but kept pushing us to finish, saying we had 72 hours to find and report stuff.

They left us den-warming presents: a 4-pack of toilet paper, a roll of paper towels, one packet of laundry detergent, and a small bottle of dish soap. That was nice of them! And this den has a nice big oven and a dishwasher - neither of which my partner will use properly. She'll use both of them for storing NuNu's food, our treats, paper plates, chocolate stash, pans and other miscellaneous items.

I have properly anointed the side and very back yards. I haven't been in the little back yard that is fenced yet. My partner says she doesn't want me going out there and getting my petticoats and feathers dirty. She knows I spent a year outside with a family, then a year in an outside kennel. So I'm used to, and thoroughly enjoy being in dirt! The 2 times we went to Empire Mines State Park, I got filthy by sitting and laying down in the sticky pine needles and sappy stuff - what fun! If you want to see a few pictures, you can click HERE and HERE.

After Ms Ashleigh hurried away, my partner put me in a spare bedroom with a Milk Bone and some of my favorite toys - then she shut the door and left me in there!! WTF was that all about??? I could hear her and Mom going in and out the front door of the den and they were huffing and puffing as they went back and forth in the hallway in front of the door where I was standing. I scratched at the door and whined a few times, but my partner told me "Quiet!" so I did. 

After a 15 minute eternity, my partner released me and I jumped all over her in joy! To share in my happiness, we played football in the living room and in the hallway. She even managed to get a couple pictures of me as she threw my ball and they were clear enough to keep - gosh she has a super good picture taker!

With all the strangeness that has been happening around the den in Marysville and now with this den, things have gotten very confusing, and I don't want to be accidentally left behind, or worse, be given to someone else...I hope I'm staying with my partner when she moves into this den and that NuNu is going to come too. If you click HERE you can see what the new den looks like. My partner says it is best if you click on the first picture to blow it up full size, then use the right arrow key to cycle thru the pics, & you will also be able to read the long captions. This is a bright, light, airy den with loads of space and a peaceful feeling. I think we will be happy here and will easily be able to keep on keeping on.

Kalifornia Kota

Boxes Everywhere I Can't Have

Sunday - May 22, 2011

I am in paradise today! I am surrounded by cardboard boxes. They are in every room of our den. I love boxes! When they are delivered to our den, my partner gets excited and takes things out of the boxes. She gets very happy about those things. Sometimes these things are for me or for NuNu, my cat. They are always fun things.

After my partner takes the happy things out of the boxes, she lets me have them - and oh, what a joyous time I have!! I carry them around. I drop them on NuNu. I toss them in the air and catch them. And then I have the ultimate experience with the box: I attack and destroy them! I rip them to shreds and spread the pieces all over the room. I make a glorious mess. It is such fun and my partner sits and watches and laughs at me. Then she picks all the pieces up.

But today she kept telling me to "Leave It" whenever I started to pick up a box. I don't understand. I've always been allowed to play with boxes. Why is today different? It is very strange. 

Today the boxes came from the den where stuff is stored that is attached to our den. They didn't come from the human dressed in brown. My partner is putting things INTO these boxes instead of taking happy things OUT OF these boxes. Everything is backwards today. It is very confusing. I put my nose in these boxes and find things that have been in our den all the years I've been here. Why is my partner hiding them in the boxes? I just don't understand.

And then there are the ominous big black bags. I've never seen them before. My partner got them out of a cabinet that I've never opened. She pulled them out and shook them and they became very big! She took them into the room where she never goes - it has a big fluffy sleep place that only NuNu uses. It has cabinets that hold my partners clothes. She spent hours and hours pulling out those clothes, trying a lot of them on. I had never seen almost all of them.

I guess because they had been hidden in there for so long, they were a little on the dusty side. My partner kept taking armloads of them into the laundry room and washing them. Then she would make scratchings on a paper and put them into different big black bags. Those black bags had a terrible smell and I didn't like them. But I kept putting my nose in them to try and understand why my partner was putting her clothes in there. She kept telling me "Leave It" and that she didn't want my fur to get on the clothes. At the end of the day she had bags and bags of clothes - more than she had left in her closet. Where will these bags go? Why did she put the clothes in them? I just don't understand this at all...

In the fireplace room is a whole bunch of boxes - boxes of all sizes - all tumbled together! Oh, they are all so tempting to jump right into and play with and tear apart. But I've been told to leave them alone. I am a good doggie and I obey my partner (most of the time <G>) so I won't touch them. But I take my naps right next to them, just in case she changes her mind and gives me the release command. I did get a treat for leaving them alone - my partner told me that I was very obedient about leaving all the boxes alone so I could have something special. She got out my "meat blankie" and I got a case of the zoomies. My partner gave me a really big lamb rib to chew on, and oh my, that was really, really good! So if that is what I get for leaving the boxes alone, then I will keep on keeping on.

Kalifornia Kota

I'm At My Wits End

Thursday - May 19, 2011

I am NOT a touchy-feely dog! If my partner hugs me one more time, I swear I'm gonna lose it! This den-hunting business is making her crazy and is driving me insane... 

A couple days ago we went to look at a den in Granite Bay. When she found it she was hugging me a LOT. The rent was a little higher, but this den was only a couple minutes from Mom's house and a 10 minute bike ride from my partner's 2 brothers. It had a huge fenced back yard, but you had to go thru the garage to get to it. The minute we went out there, 2 of the bordering dens had several dogs in their yards that started barking furiously and attacking the fences. It was quite a racket. My partner had filled out the application on her silver machine before we went there. The agent man had no fur on his head! He also looked at copies of our other applications and said he would verify them independently, but expected no problems, and that we were #1 on the list to have the house. The houses are very close together. All around the house are lots of gorgeous trees and bushes and flowers - they make the whole house dark and gloomy inside - the windows are all very small and high up on the walls. Mom liked this house because it was so close. My partner didn't like this one for reasons we won't go into here... but we still signed up for it, because she wants a big yard for me.

This morning, Ms Ashleigh of The Tudors called my partner. She reminded us that she was waiting for us and Mom to deliver proof of income. My partner was stunned to think that so many days had gone by and been wasted over something so simple that she had forgotten. She gets so very angry and upset and frustrated with herself when she realizes that she has forgotten something. She never knows if it's because of her bad memory or if it was because she had dissociated at the time. I know she was very sick and had gone away several times when she was in Ms Ashleigh's office last Saturday, so maybe that was it. But why didn't Mom know that we needed to do this???

At any rate, we had a copy of Mom's IRS 1040. So my partner got on this silver machine and pushed some buttons to make a copy of her 1040 and some bank papers. She was very excited, dancing around and hugging me every 5 minutes. We drove down to The Arbors to deliver those papers. When we got there, my partner realized she had left Mom's papers at home. She got all quiet and she went away. I jumped up on her and made her come back. Nick told her she could fax those papers when she got home. (We don't have a fax machine.) I took my partner back to the car and waited patiently while she fumbled with my seat belt. Thank dogdom she had the sense to get in with me until she was able to drive! And yes, I allowed her to hug me, because that was the right time for me to be hugged.

We stopped at Ben's Bark Ave Bistro in Roseville on the way home to get some yummy food for me. I went straight to the right freezer that holds my brand & size of bags - yep, I'm that smart. On the way to the register, I started pulling my partner to the left, and she was trying to stop me - she wasn't able to smell that Ms Sally was in the next aisle!! I love Ms Sally! She wasn't there 2 weeks ago and I missed her. She always scritches me and gives me a treat. So I had to go over and say "Hi!" to her. Finally my partner must have gotten a scent of her and she laughed and gave me the Go Greet command. When we got back in the car, I had to suffer thru even more hugs.

After driving all the way home, we picked up Mom's 1040 form, then went to Staples. We faxed those papers to The Tudors and confirmed they had arrived. Nick said all the papers would be given to Ms Ashleigh who would verify them. If they were, then a date would be set as soon as possible for us to view the house to say Yes or No as to whether we wanted it. Then we would pay the Move-In fee and sign the lease. So now we are in a waiting stage. And apparently my partner seems to feel that means she has the liberty to hug me every 15 minutes in her excitement that she is so close to getting this house.

My partner found out from Nick that the house does have a washer and dryer installed. So we have to find a good, loving home for the excellent Kenmore work horses we have. And we have just the perfect deserving family: my Auntie Jeanne is to be the recipient! I love my Auntie Jeanne - even though she doesn't give me cookies - it is just her being herself that I adore! Going to a laundromat is no fun at all. Now she can wash clothes in her jammies!! And when my partner found out that Auntie Jeanne had washer and dryer hook ups at her den, she got all excited again and started in with the damn hugging.

So, I request that those of you who have knowledge of my partner to please pray in the name of dogdom that she be darted with a tranquilizer gun so that she is knocked out, or at least calms down. I'm at my wits end trying to avoid all this hugging and cuddling crap. Now when she is sick, I immediately and happily go to her and do my works which do include tactile stuff like allowing stroking, holding and hugging. Or when she's overwhelmed, I'll quickly get up on the sofa with her and curl up as close as possible with my head or a paw on her leg and my body against hers. But these random, and hit & run, and out-of-nowhere grabs to hold me close and hug me telling me how happy and excited she is about moving are getting quite tiresome. I'm beginning to think she has turned bipolar and is in a mania phase. What is a dog to do? In the den I have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide: so I guess I'll just keep on keeping on.

Kalifornia Kota

What Is Happening?

Saturday - May 14, 2011

What a very strange day! My partner was very sick this morning, and it took all my skills to work on her to make her feel better. Then she started pushing the buttons on this silver machine, saying she was looking for more new dens that we could live in that were close to our Mom. There were so many to choose from - but they were either too expensive or were trash.

Then she got all excited and happy again. She was jumping up and down. She had found something called an "apartment house". It was in a city called Antelope. She called the humans that control that den and made a date for us to see one on Wednesday. They said this den would go fast. So my partner called Mom and asked her to give up watching golf and go with us to see this den. Mom agreed. So we drove down and picked up Mom then went to the den called The Arbors.

We met a nice lady called Ashley. She showed us some places that we could use for free if we get this den. There is a swimming pool, but I'm not allowed in it. There is something called a gym with lots of strange machines including a "treadmill" that my partner threatened to put me on. There are 4 parks there, including one just for dogs! Other things that I've never heard of are a Clubhouse, Business Center, Theater, Hot Tub, Basketball Court, lots of open green areas and it's next to a huge City Park & Rec Center. There is guard shack at the gated entrance and security guard is on duty all the time. If you want to read about this denning area you can push this button to read about it.The den we applied for is called the Sycamore and it's located at 7848 Teton Way if you want to Google it.

Living room, with part of dining room to the left.

Ms Ashley said there was a "model home" of the Sycamore that we could look at, so we walked over there with her. This den was already filled with furniture and looked very nice; as though it was lived in - with clothes in the closets and shoes on the floor! The first thing my partner noticed was that there are NO carpets! There's the traditional linoleum in the 2 full bathrooms and kitchen, but the rest of the den is all beautiful hardwood floors. This den has 3 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms. It has a fireplace, a tiny fenced in patio, a small fenced back yard, a really big green area on one side of the den, so only 1 neighbor on the other side! The ceilings are really high up, the living room windows go from floor to ceiling, there are walk-in closets, and oh-so-many other neat things! 

Ms Ashley couldn't remember if there was a washer and dryer already in the den. If there is not, they would take $35 a month off my rent. She also doesn't know how many or the location of any ceiling fans. But she said it costs $200 per room to have them installed. All the exterior areas are maintained by them; we just have to handle the little back yard.

If we get chosen to have this den, it is available on May 21st, and Ms Ashley will hold it for us to move in on June 1st. Mom liked it and was willing to sign the application papers as our co-signers. That is so very generous of her. She says it is close enough to her. It is making my partner very nervous though because it is surrounded by "city" stuff that she isn't used to dealing with - so much traffic, and people and businesses.

My partner was very sick when we were in the office with Ms Ashley. She had her back to the door, which she hates very much. There was a birthday party in the Clubhouse which had spilled out into the foyer. A lot of children saw me and were calling to me. Several of them kept coming into the office because they wanted to pet me. My partner was hyper-vigilant, trying to understand Ms Ashley and trying to watch her back. I kept warning her, but she wouldn't leave. Finally we got to leave that office and go look at the den.

My partner turned very happy when she looked at the den! It was very open and airy. She really liked the wood floors, but I didn't - I think I will be slipping on them with the feathers I have on the bottom of my paws. She better keep them trimmed, that's all I have to say. It had things in the kitchen that made my partner laugh out loud cause she would never use them - garbage disposal, built in cutting board, dish washer, big oven - but she will use the big built in microwave. 

Then we returned to the office. My partner and Mom filled out a bunch of papers. My partner started to get really, really sick. There was still a bunch of children around that kept coming in. And she was having trouble understanding the papers. She did remember to bring papers from the last den. That had made Mom mad, but they came in handy today - she could copy the information into the application instead of taking it home and then having to drive back to deliver it. I kept telling her that she had to leave, but she just told me to lie down. I kept insisting. She refused. So I went to Mom and put my paw on her and whined. Mom petted and talked to me, which she never does when I have my vest on, but she didn't understand that I wanted her to make my partner leave. I tried so hard - I told her over and over, and I pulled hard on the leash, but she just wouldn't budge. Finally after making scribbles on a bunch of papers, my partner and Mom finally stood up and let me lead them out of there.

Floor to ceiling windows - leading to back yard.

I was so happy to get my partner out of there. I led her to the car as quickly as I could. She sat in the back seat with me for a while, which made Mom mad. Mom wanted to leave right away and didn't want to wait for my partner to just "cuddle" with me - she thought we were wasting time. So my partner cut our time together short and prepared to drive off. I kept sticking my head up by her shoulder where she could reach me and stroke my head and I know that helped. We had left our den at 11am and didn't get back till 6pm. It was a very long day for both of us. We shall see what happens with this potential den and will keep on keeping on. 

Kalifornia Kota

A New Den - Part 2

Wednesday - May 11, 2011

Wow, what a day we've had! We had an appointment for 10am to meet Miguel at the new den we want to rent in Loomis. We got there early. As soon as I recognized where we were in the driveway, I started whining and pawing at the door to get out. I knew where we were and wanted to get to the den right away.

As soon as my partner undid my seat belt I bolted out of the car past her and tried to run to the opening of the den, dragging her with me. I am very strong and she just had to come along with me - although she sure made some angry sounds at me! When I got to the den opening, it was closed so I sat down like I'm trained to do and waited for my partner to put the little piece of metal in it to make it open. But she didn't.

Instead, we went back off the porch and into the back yard. Oh my, it is SO big! It is all grassy and has big fences so I can run as fast as the wind without a leash on! That will be so much fun. Now my partner can throw my balls and I can chase them without getting tangled in the long line. There are some bushes there I can explore. The neighbors have some big trees that hang over and give plenty of shade. Oohh I hope we get this house and yard!

At 10am Miguel arrived. I recognized him and gave a yark to say hello. I wiggled my butt at him! I was trying really hard to push past him to get in the den, and my partner was getting angry again at my bad manners. And I was really disobedient inside the den. I wanted to go all over really fast and my partner wanted to linger and talk with Miguel. Finally she was so angry with me that she didn't want to be with me anymore.

My partner took my leash off and I was free! I ran and ran all over the den. I could go in circles and in and out. The dens within the big den are interconnected in very interesting ways. The soft floors have brand new softness on them - not the smelly dirty stuff that was there the last time. I peeked and sniffed at every nook and corner. I made sure that this den was completely safe and the right place for my partner, NuNu and me to live in. I decided it was and went back to my partner and jumped up on her and smiled and told her so! We are crossing paws and fingers that we are chosen to get this den, and will keep on keeping on. 

Kalifornia Kota

A New Den?

Wednesday - May 11, 2011

We were up almost all night. My partner was so fidgety that I had to keep calming her down.  She is all excited and nervous about a big den she is going to see this morning. It is the same one she went to see last March. She really loved it, but other humans were in line ahead of her and they got it.

Just last Sunday she found out it was back on the market again and made phone calls to get back on the list for it. Right now she is #5. I like this big den too. It has large rooms I can go all around in as they are interconnected. 

And it has a really big back yard that is fenced just for me! It is all grassy, so no more gravel for my paws. It looks small from the front, but it is really quite big.

So my partner is gonna brush me really well this morning so I look extra nice and shiny. Then we'll go down there and try to make another good impression on Miguel again. Maybe my partner will have moved up on the list? I hope so. She said my Auntie Jeanne has proclaimed "I have spoken" in regards to getting this den, and she is always right, so... we will keep on keeping on.

Kalifornia Kota