Winter Hostage

Oh dear, I am getting lazy.  I blame spring break.  Spring break and late snowfall. 

Yes indeed-y, we had a lovely little batch of snow arrive lastTuesday night.  No biggie, right?  This is MN and we can take it.  OK.  I live in a townhouse, which means that my property is managed by a homeowner's association.  They take care of the contracts for things like insurance, lawn mowing, fence repairs, park clean-up and of course snow removal. 

Over the years, I have had varying degrees of satisfaction with the services contracted by my association.  They are good about landscaping and warm weather maintenance.  They are less consistent about cold weather assistance. 

Case in point:  I awoke at 5:45 a.m. on Wednesday to take my dog outside to pee.  We discovered a lovely winter wonderland complete with a big ol' drift of snow snaking across my driveway.  I registered a bit of alarm at the obvious reality that the plow service had not yet arrived, but I figured that they know many people in my neighborhood work and would need to have plowed driveways and streets, so they would be there soon.

Long story short, they didn't show up until 3 p.m.  I opted to take a personal day to avoid what was sure to be a hellish commute and an excruciatingly slow day of work.  Also, I had a school paper to complete and I knew my dog would prefer me to spend the day at home with her.  I was correct in all of these assumptions and predictions. 

One additional benefit to this unplanned personal day was that it helped my overall mental state quite a bit.  I know that I try not to write much about work in this blog, mostly because I feel it is not appropriate.  However, the state of things in certain aspects of my professional life have lately begun to encroach on my mental stability outside of work as well.  Don't worry, I'm seeking help.  In a way.  Never mind.  Let's just say that I REALLY needed that day to myself to calm myself down and not want to bang my head into the wall every five minutes. 

I thought that I would mention that I was momentarily excited to see that I now have eight followers.  Upon further investigation, I discovered that the new follower is actually my friend Rox who is apparently now following me twice.  :)

Here is some fun news - in less than two weeks I am going to attempt a feat that is as of yet untested.  Am I going to jump through a flaming ring surrounded by ravenous tigers while wearing rollerblades?  Am I going to master the art of French cooking a la Julia Child?  Am I going to eat a whole box of raisins without wanting to barf?  No to all.  I shall instead be house-sitting for my parents and sharing a bed/attempting to sleep in the same room with three small yet energetic and frequently early-rising dogs.  Oh yes, and I will also be going to school during that time as well.  Wish me luck.

Are you not convinced that this will be a difficult task?  Perhaps I should relate to you the events of Monday morning.  As has been my custom of late, I chose to stay over on Sunday night at my parents' house.  This enables my dog to be kennel-free for most of the day and if I can give her an additional day to run in the yard without a leash, I'm cool with that.

Back to my story.  This Monday morning, as it happens on many mornings, my mother had to work at 5:30 a.m.  This means that she is up and out of the house before my alarm rings.  Unfortunately, my dog does not heed alarm clocks.  As soon as she senses movement in the house, she begins her morning process of agitation. 

Around 5:30, once my mother has left, my father rises with the other two dogs.  This spells the end of my sleepy time.  Lena jumps off the bed at this point, my dad lets her out with the others and I get up 20 minutes later.  My father takes care of feeding the dogs for me.  This is nice, but it is part of survival in our house as the dogs are like piranhas when they need to be fed.

Dogs are smart.  They pick up on habits and rituals very quickly.  One of the parental dogs' rituals is to expect a small chew toy known as a Dingo every morning after they finish their food.  They know this and they also know where the Dingos are kept (in the Closet of Many Wonders).  By the time I come down to breakfast, they have finished their food and my father is heading off to the shower.  This means that I am alone with the herd.

Monday morning, this was the scenario.  I was ATTEMPTING to eat my breakfast quickly and in peace, but unfortunately, my young thuggish friends were not happy about it.  They not only continually attempted to get my attention, but they started to bark/growl at me.  In order to save myself and document the experience for posterity, I photo-documented the event.

I did eventually give in to their threats and gave them their treats, but I felt quite strongly that my hand had been forced.  If this is how I am treated on a morning when my parents are present, I'm a bit nervous to find out how they gang up on me when I am all alone with them for the weekend.

Anyway, this blog entry has taken about a week to complete, so I think it's time to post.  Hopefully I can be a bit faster in the future.