I’m so bad at thinking of entry titles.
So, it’s Friday. Woo hoo, right?!? Even though I don’t do anything outside the home, I have to say, it feels like this has been a mighty long week. I’m glad it’s coming to an end.
Did everyone take care of their taxes on time? I sure did. We mailed ours in several weeks ago. Unfortunately, we still haven’t seen our state refund, but that’s no surprise. No matter where I’ve lived, it seems like state taxes take so much longer to process than federal ones do. I’m sure there’s a reason for it, but I’m not sure what it is. Kel was telling me that people in New York aren’t even getting their tax returns if they’re owed one, because apparently the state is bankrupt or something like that. That really sucks for them. I would be furious.
We have nothing scheduled for the weekend. That kind of sucks. I would’ve liked to hang out with my nephew, but since his father’s still staying with him, there’s no way that’s gonna happen. Not that he’d want to do anything but play video games anyway. I thought it might be nice to get out and visit the arboretum in Raleigh, but we went there last weekend and it seems like we either missed the plants and flowers blooming, or we were still too early. I don’t know if I feel like going there one week later. What if it looks the same as it did before, ya know? Maybe we’ll just hang out around the apartment and watch movies.
I still haven’t put my garden together yet. I should do that this weekend. I had a plan in mind about what I wanted to grow, but I’m still not sure if I feel like taking up my entire patio space with containers. We’ve been enjoying evenings on our patio just talking and looking at the neighbors go by with their dogs, and we wouldn’t be able to do that if we had the containers out. But I really want to grow some kind of hot pepper, and I miss the basil that I’ve grown in the past couple of years. I was thinking about giving stevia a go, and definitely cilantro again. I really wish we got better light.
I’ve been so tired lately, but unable to sleep at the same time. Also, my stomach has been feeling sloshy and I haven’t had much of an appetite. That sucks when you’re on medication you have to take twice daily with food and you don’t feel like eating.
I have to tell you guys the cutest thing — so you know we live in an apartment, right? Well, even though it’s pretty roomy, it’s not big enough for a dog that I’d be able to tolerate (in other words, something larger than a small, whiney dog that’s suitable for a one-bedroom apartment), and I don’t think it’s right to get a big dog that needs room to run if we don’t have a yard for it. Anyway, Kel’s been wanting a dog for a long time, and aside from the space issue, I have an issue with having to put the dog to sleep when the time comes. When we put our family dog to sleep when I was in my early 20s, that was the hardest thing I’ve had to go through. Keep in mind, not many people in my family have died yet, so losing our family pet was really hard on me. I cried for days, and I kept her collar — still have it — because I can’t bear to let it go.
So where am I going with this? Okay, so Kel wants a dog but I won’t let him get one for a variety of reasons. Because he can’t have one, he really loves watching the neighbors walk their dogs, and he’s made up little nicknames for them all because we don’t know our neighbors and we don’t know the dogs’ real names. There are two beagles. One of them is called Nosy, because when we’re out on the patio and Nosy’s owner is walking him (I guess it’s a boy, but I really have no idea), Nosy always stops and stares. He pulls on the leash so hard to try to get to us and he’ll just stay still and will stare us down, wondering if he can be a part of our conversation. It’s cute. Then there’s another beagle that Kel has named Doggoyle, because they live on the third floor, and whenever the owner is out on her patio reading a book, she lets Doggoyle out to join her and whenever the dog hears people walking around, it sticks its head out from between the balcony slats and looks down over the parking lot, like it’s a gargoyle protecting the neighborhood. It’s really a cute dog for a beagle. Then there’s Happy the Pomeranian, called that because the dog and its owner were walking through the parking lot and they crossed in front of our car, so Kel got angry and yelled, inside the car with the windows rolled up so the owner couldn’t hear him, “Get the hell out of the road!” Right when he said that, the dog turned around and I swear it smiled at him. That made Kel get over his anger really quickly. He was charmed by this dog’s happy little face, and thus the name Happy was born. There’s also a dog named Fluffbag who moved to another apartment in our complex who we rarely see, and our neighbors across the hall who moved recently had a little black lab puppy that was barking and goofing around one day while Kel was out for a walk, so he gave the pup the name Yapper.
Anyway, you get the idea, right? Kel likes dogs. A lot. All sizes, shapes and coat styles. Well, last night, he went out for a walk and while he was out there, he saw a different beagle walking around with no collar and he said the dog looked scared. He thought maybe it was lost and couldn’t get back home, so he tried to get close to the dog and see if it had a collar. He said there was no collar or tags on the dog, and after he got back from walking, he spent the whole night telling me he was so worried about this pooch. He was worried that the dog would get hit in the parking lot, or wouldn’t be able to find its way home, or that the owner wouldn’t know where to find it.
I texted him earlier and asked him if he’d seen the beagle on his way to work this morning. Here’s the conversation:
ME: Hey, was there any sign of the beagle this morning?
HIM: No, I didn’t see it at all. I woke up a few times thinking about it, though. [frown face emoticon]
ME: Aww, Keeb [my nickname for him], you are SO CUTE! That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard!
HIM: I kept thinking about that sad, scared look on the pup’s face. [frowny, crying emoticon]
ME: Awww. I really need to get you a doggie of your own.
HIM: I have been considering a volunteer position with animal shelters/rescue but i’m afraid I would get too attached to the animals.
ME: You have?? Well, that’s sweet, but you’re right, you’d probably get attached. There are no-kill shelters that you might want to look into. You’d be bringing everyone home with you though, huh?
HIM: LOL, I could lead my own puppy parade. [colon-D emoticon]
ME: Yeah. You need a recorder or something, though, so you could be like the Pied Piper and they could follow behind.
I could totally picture him doing that. His love for pets is the cutest thing in the world. He’d have a whole farm full of animals if he could, especially dogs, cats and donkeys.
Is there any point to me telling you this? No. I just wanted something to fill this space with so I can stay in the habit of writing.
And I guess that’s gonna do it for me. I’m tired and I want to lay down and read some more before Kel gets home. Have a nice weekend, everyone, and do something fun and write about it so I can live vicariously through you guys!
