Money pits
The shithead we hired to do some work outside our house left on Tuesday or Wednesday and said he'd be back that afternoon or the following morning to put another coat of paint on the new back door and hang the screen door again. Haven't seen him since. Tim left him a message yesterday, and he didn't call back. I'm going to call him Monday morning and tell him I'm going back to work this week and won't be around to wait on him, so he needs to come get it done. I'm starting to wonder if he's going to come back at all. That'd be the cherry on the shit sundae that was my week.
I found another guy to re-screen the back patio--- for less than half the price quoted by the shithead, by the way. He also knew someone who might want to buy the hot tub, and said he'd be by yesterday or today to look at it. I filled it up, then today I realized that it's not working properly. I don't know what's wrong with it, but the pump doesn't seem to be doing what it's supposed to do, and the filter won't come on. Neither will the light. Fantastic. If I can't get it fixed super fast, I'm screwed. The guy is going to start re-screening the patio soon, and the hot tub has to be moved out before then-- sold or not. He's going to remove a couple of the 2x4's next to the doorway to make room for it, and even get us some guys to do the moving. I was envisioning it being loaded onto a trailer and hauled out of here by a happy buyer. Now I'm starting to envision it setting behind the shop and quickly becoming yet another haven for snakes and other unwelcome critters of the venomous and/or creepy variety. (I mean, where do you dispose of a non-working hot tub??) Either way, it's coming out of my patio in the next week or two. This is the only time I'll have someone to deconstruct and reconstruct the room it's in and help us move it out.
Speaking of things that are costing us money, the dogs have destroyed two more collars this week. I don't know if the previous collar chewings have received any blog coverage, so lemme sum it up for you: The electric collars that shock them when they try to leave the yard cost about $75 each. Every once in a while, one will fall off. (Actually, we once caught Daisy in the act of chewing Bear's off.) Sometimes we rescue the receiver; sometimes they eat it before we have a chance. They've eaten 3 or 4, and all we can do is go to Lowe's immediately and fork over another $75 for a replacement, which started getting old somewhere around collar replacement number TWO.
Earlier this week, Bear's collar somehow came off. The strange thing is that it was cut in two places-- one on either side of the receiver. The cuts were each within an inch of the receiver, and it didn't look frayed at all. Very strange. It looked like someone used a pocket knife to remove it. Why anyone would want to do that is beyond me. Also, I don't know how anyone could get close to Bear without being mauled. He's not aggressive, but he wants to play and he can easily knock an average person to the ground trying to play. They probably wouldn't get that close because at 80+ pounds he looks scary and makes a lot of noise when people come into the yard-- and there's another reason I don't think anyone could've pulled this off-- I would've heard, unless I wasn't home. Anyway, we were able to save the receiver, and were planning to put it on a spare collar we have in the house. In the meantime, we just put Daisy's collar on Bear, because Daisy is scared to cross the line with or without the collar. That was yesterday morning. I was going to fix Bear's old collar and put it on Daisy today, but before I got around to it I noticed that Bear didn't have a collar on. Again. I walked all over the yard, but found no trace of the receiver.
So let's review. Two collars in two days. One receiver rescued, one lost. That's $75 and one hell of a mystery. (Not to mention the headache or the whatthefuck factor.)
I'm not buying another collar. I refuse. Tim can go fork it over if he wants. I'm sick of dealing with them, and I don't care what happens to them. Every time I even go out there to feed them, I inevitably pull the hell out of every ligament in my baby-incubator trying to dodge them when they jump up on me and bite me.
Work starts Friday. The kids will be there next Thursday. My spawn will be here in three months. In other words, I have more things to worry about than a couple of money pit mutts.
I found another guy to re-screen the back patio--- for less than half the price quoted by the shithead, by the way. He also knew someone who might want to buy the hot tub, and said he'd be by yesterday or today to look at it. I filled it up, then today I realized that it's not working properly. I don't know what's wrong with it, but the pump doesn't seem to be doing what it's supposed to do, and the filter won't come on. Neither will the light. Fantastic. If I can't get it fixed super fast, I'm screwed. The guy is going to start re-screening the patio soon, and the hot tub has to be moved out before then-- sold or not. He's going to remove a couple of the 2x4's next to the doorway to make room for it, and even get us some guys to do the moving. I was envisioning it being loaded onto a trailer and hauled out of here by a happy buyer. Now I'm starting to envision it setting behind the shop and quickly becoming yet another haven for snakes and other unwelcome critters of the venomous and/or creepy variety. (I mean, where do you dispose of a non-working hot tub??) Either way, it's coming out of my patio in the next week or two. This is the only time I'll have someone to deconstruct and reconstruct the room it's in and help us move it out.
Speaking of things that are costing us money, the dogs have destroyed two more collars this week. I don't know if the previous collar chewings have received any blog coverage, so lemme sum it up for you: The electric collars that shock them when they try to leave the yard cost about $75 each. Every once in a while, one will fall off. (Actually, we once caught Daisy in the act of chewing Bear's off.) Sometimes we rescue the receiver; sometimes they eat it before we have a chance. They've eaten 3 or 4, and all we can do is go to Lowe's immediately and fork over another $75 for a replacement, which started getting old somewhere around collar replacement number TWO.
Earlier this week, Bear's collar somehow came off. The strange thing is that it was cut in two places-- one on either side of the receiver. The cuts were each within an inch of the receiver, and it didn't look frayed at all. Very strange. It looked like someone used a pocket knife to remove it. Why anyone would want to do that is beyond me. Also, I don't know how anyone could get close to Bear without being mauled. He's not aggressive, but he wants to play and he can easily knock an average person to the ground trying to play. They probably wouldn't get that close because at 80+ pounds he looks scary and makes a lot of noise when people come into the yard-- and there's another reason I don't think anyone could've pulled this off-- I would've heard, unless I wasn't home. Anyway, we were able to save the receiver, and were planning to put it on a spare collar we have in the house. In the meantime, we just put Daisy's collar on Bear, because Daisy is scared to cross the line with or without the collar. That was yesterday morning. I was going to fix Bear's old collar and put it on Daisy today, but before I got around to it I noticed that Bear didn't have a collar on. Again. I walked all over the yard, but found no trace of the receiver.
So let's review. Two collars in two days. One receiver rescued, one lost. That's $75 and one hell of a mystery. (Not to mention the headache or the whatthefuck factor.)
I'm not buying another collar. I refuse. Tim can go fork it over if he wants. I'm sick of dealing with them, and I don't care what happens to them. Every time I even go out there to feed them, I inevitably pull the hell out of every ligament in my baby-incubator trying to dodge them when they jump up on me and bite me.
Work starts Friday. The kids will be there next Thursday. My spawn will be here in three months. In other words, I have more things to worry about than a couple of money pit mutts.
If they were pit bulls, you could have said "money pit bulls."
I think the old hot tub would make an excellent water bowl for Daisy to lounge in.
AND, the folks at Lowe's are probably behind the mysterious lost dog collars!
My work here is done.
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:16 PM
Our black shepherd dog who goes by the name of 'Ann' used to chew the collar off our old dog, Grizzly. She ate two of them, then started bringing home itty bitty dog collars. My son was afraid she ate the little yippy dogs instead of their collars. Once we got our little Beagle puppy as a Christmas gift, the collar-eating stopped. I guess she was no longer bored, and had that new puppy to herd around.
I can't explain your strange case of the collars that disappear in the night, since your dogs are built-in companions.
Posted by
Hillbilly Mom |
7:02 PM
DY-- I guess the Lowe's people returned the collar when they heard that I wouldn't be buying any more replacements, because Tim found it behind the shop when he got home.
HM-- I think they're sick of each other, so it could still be boredom.
Posted by
Mommy Needs a Xanax |
10:16 PM