A note from Tufan to his friend Buddy....

Dear Buddy,

Most of my fence is metal.   And yes, I've tried chewing on it but I just can't seem to chew through.   The people say something about it being strong enough to hold cattle.  I've seen some of those critters and figured there's no way I can chew through something that'll hold those lumbering beasts.

Digging...I've been doing that too.    The woman was complaining last week because she was walking across the yard and kept stepping into holes.  As if it's a bad thing to have no less than 20 holes scattered here and there around the yard!

The people have been giving me all kinds of toys and things to chew on.   I'm managing to destroy a doggie ball in less than a day.   The big booda knot things take me a while to shred.   The woman even brought home a Jolly Ball, saying something about it being for horses and something else about me resembling a horse.    Anyway, I chewed the handle off that...took me a few days but I did it.  Now I've got a nice ball to chase around.  

Those people have been afraid to say anything for fear of jinxing themselves, but they may actually have fixed that fence so I can't escape.  I've now been contained  since Tuesday morning.   I'm sure to let them know how unhappy I am about it....I do lots of whining and howling whenever they walk around outside.   The woman came out to play for a while, but she had  a yummy basted rawhide in her coat pocket.....rawhide chewing outranks loving and playing any day of the week LOL

Update from Tufan, the prisoner....

After my escape yesterday afternoon, the people put me in the garage while they made more repairs to my fence.   Then because they didn't trust me, I was locked away in my house for the night.   Boy, was I not happy about that.   But I let the people know....hey, a dog's gotta whine and howl now and then.    And this morning I was released from my prison of warm comfiness.     I ran and jumped and ran and jumped and ran.    The man stood in my yard and watched my every move, so I had to be pretty careful about not trying to worm my way under any part of the fence.    I'm afraid if I'd tried that he would have put me back in the house.

So I spent nearly an hour sniffing all of my yard.   That evil kitty, Frell, had been in my yard and I had to pee on every spot where I could sniff that he'd even just walked on.  It took a while, but I think I've managed to cover all scent of that feline menace.    And it kept the man from thinking I'd be testing the fence.

So the people finally went into the house.

And I paced the fence, trying to stick my big bone-head anywhere along it to see if there's a weak spot where I can wedge my body under and be free.

But I got my head stuck.

I whined, whimpered, and yelped.

And those people stood outside and laughed for a minute before they helped me.   Can you believe that??!!       They laughed and said something about maybe I'd learn to not do stuff like that.    shyeah right!

For now, I'm still in my yard.   Give me a day and I'm sure I'll work a spot loose enough for me to escape

Another note from Tufan, the amazing disappearing dog......

I'm a smart one, I am.   The people worked pretty hard all day Saturday to catch me every time I ran away.   Then they'd lock me away in my extra large dog house (hey, I could have quite the dog party in there...it's really quite roomy and spacious) or in the garage (but those people were a-thinking and put up all the things I would have loved to shred to pieces) while they worked away at trying to make my yard secure.   They sure thought they had it, though.   And I managed to behave myself all day Sunday and about half of Monday, making them think they really had me secured.   But then on Monday afternoon I just couldn't help myself anymore.   I'd paced the fence, stuck my head thru here and there, and finally I located the weak spots.    Sure I had to try a few different areas before I was finally able to find a place where I could stretch enough slack in the fence, use my big bone-head to wedge the fence up, and squeeze my body through.    It was time to chase away the evil cats that hang around the shed and garage.

Then the woman spotted me as I was trotting around the back yard.    She's something, I tell ya.    She made the men keep my lead hooked to my collar, and apparently that's how they catch me when I start to run away.   See, I let the people get pretty close to me, but just as they reach for my collar, I duck away and run....and they can't get me!    But now when I've got the lead hooked on my collar, all a human has to do is stomp on that lead or grab it and I'm caught.

So now I'm back in the garage.   The people have walked my fence and found three places where I've been trying the fence.   I've heard them scheming about how to block those areas.    And I imagine I'll finally be released back to my yard after they do their work.

Hi there.   My name is Tufan.   Well that's not my full "official" name, but Tufan is what I answer to. 

Okay, so maybe sometimes I answer to that.......if I'm in the mood to listen......and if you happen to have yummy treats to offer .

Anyway, the last two days I've learned a new skill.   I think it's a very fun thing to do, but for some reason my people are getting pretty peeved about it.    Yesterday the woman of the house walked from our little house all the way across the street to the big house.   I'm the bodyguard/protector/defender to the people of my household, and I just can't quite stand when one of my people dares to leave the yard.   It's just not right, I tell ya!   I tried to convince her it wasn't safe to be out there alone, but she wouldn't listen.   She continued walking, all by herself, to the big house......where there's lots of evil cats and a demented bird.    It's dangerous for a person!   

So I did what any large guardian dog would do.   I escaped, ran after her, and completed my duty by chasing the bird to the top of the roof and all the cats in to the nearest tree.

Well, now that I have that taste of freedom, I'm liking it!    The people tried to block one of my escape routes by blocking a space under the pasture fence.    They then let me loose.   I ran around, checked out my very large fenced-in yard, then promptly jumped the fence.

Hey....I needed to!  There were three evil cats eating food scraps from their bowl beside the garage!   They had to be chased off.  And their food smelled absolutely yummy.

And then the people came outside and captured me.....after I made them chase me for about 15 minutes.    They thought they were being smart by putting a long cattle panel over the shorter sections of fence.....little did they realize I can jump over the other section of fence too.

So I had to do it.   Only this time when the people came chasing me, I ran down the field road. 

And it's fun to run back and forth over the bridge that crosses the creek.

And there's lots of interesting smells all around the field, down in the creek, and in all the grassy areas.

Hey, did you know that if you keep running, eventually you'll find yourself in a neighbor's yard?

The people weren't happy with having to hop in a car and chase me thru the bean field, over the creek, thru another field, across the ditch, and into that neighbor's yard.

So I've been called all kinds of new names....Houdini and Dumb-Butt seem to lead the list, but there were a few others that I don't think I should repeat.

The people have spent their day now adding to my fence while I've been cruelly locked in the garage.   I can peek out the windows and see them.   I bark a few times but they still haven't let me out.    That's really okay, because I'm pretty wiped out from my morning's adventures.....I sure need a long nap.

I met again with the flooring place and finalized all the flooring choices.   I'd been waffling over the tile for the laundry/mud room.   It was a nice tile but was priced a little above what the estimated allowance had been.   While it wasn't really the price, it was that particular tile for that price.   If I'm going to go over allowance, it's gonna be for something I really like instead of something that leaves me just "eh".  kwim?    So I prowled around the showroom and found the tile.  But silly me didn't think to take a camera with me or to bring one of the tiles home with me.   The best part...well other than having a gorgeous tile that I really like....is the new one is cheaper than the first one we'd chosen!   Yaaay!

Note to self: call and have M bring the tiles with him for the walk-thru next week.

I'd kinda reached the same point on the tile choices for the downstairs bathroom.   It was nice.....but I wasn't feeling that "this is it" about it.   Again, I found one that is perfect....and cheaper!!   Whoo Hoo!  

Then I made a final decision over the shower tile.   While the pewter would have been really neat looking, the black will be terrific....and for a price difference of $2000, the black will be perfect, thankyouverymuch.   Can you believe a difference of just over $2000 for the same space, just in a different tile??   Eeeek!   That made the decision to select the black so much easier.

We also had them submit the order for the carpet.   It's a patterned style that isn't made until the order is placed, so it made sense to place the order now.   Then the store owner piped up that the prices were changing effective Monday, so that solidified our resolve to place the order before then. 

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On the family front, we've been dealing with germs.   Oldest was diagnosed with an ear infection on Saturday.   Monkey Boy joined in on Monday.   On Wednesday, hubby and Demon Girl were started on antibiotics.    That leaves Tinkerbell and me.   Why do I feel like a walking germ target?      But the good thing is the four that are being medicated are finally sleeping better.   Apparently aching ears and stuffy/snarky noses don't bode well for sleep.   And loud snoring from both the man of the house and Monkey Boy means that this momma wasn't getting good sleep for a few nights.

When we temporarily relocated ourselves to this house, I had thought it would only be for a few months....heck, maybe even 5 or 6 months, but that at the most.    Silly me.   Anyway, in arranging items in the mudroom, I didn't even think about being here long enough to need our winter coats.   Well, it's that time of year that the winter coats are going to be a necessity pretty darned quick.    The arrangement of the mud room really didn't allow for many coats, and the few jackets we did have were just piled up in the corner behind the door.   Oh yes, folks, now isn't that the look of a tidy home .   Last week I put a bit of thought into just where we should put our coats and how to make them easily accessible for the children...because I'm just not into hanging/unhanging coats sixty gazillion times a day.    Hubby and I finally came up with a decent plan, and this morning I decided it was time to implement said plan.   All I gotta say is WOW!   Not only will this re-arrangement allow for the girls to have their coats easily accessible to them, it really opens up some of the space.    By moving the shoe cubby/sock drawer unit, it should alleviate the bottleneck every morning we have in front of the back door.  All morning whenever I've walked out there, I'm still very pleasantly surprised at how spacious the room now feels.   Yaay!!

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A small building crew arrived at the big house this morning.   With cold and rainy conditions outside, they are in need of indoor tasks.   Yaaay!!

It seems my week's turn at dealing with difficult people might be over.   Next!

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On Wednesday evening, Kerri and her children arrived.   Oh my goodness.   I knew I'd liked her from our message board dealings, but little did I realize just how much alike we are.  She's got a great sense of humor and we tend to make the same little jokes.   Her children are absolutely adorable....and as much as she worries, they are extremely well behaved.    I'm still hoping that some of that would have worn off on my girls LOL.   Their visit should have been longer.....I really enjoyed them being here and look forward to our next time together.

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Ever have one of those moments when you suddenly realize that a holiday is just a few weeks away?   Yep, I had one of those moments last night.   Do you realize just how close Thanksgiving Day is?    I did one of those ACK! things and a WHOO HOO! at the same time.    I've done absolutely nothing in the way of prepping for that weekend (there's the ACK!) and I'm getting so excited for a visit from Sindy (there's the huge Whoo Hoo!!).  

But do you realize what happens after Thanksgiving?   Yep, gotta start thinking about Christmas.

Morons, jerks, and idiots of the world:    My turn for dealing with your sorry butts is about over.   I've had my week and, boy, have I ever had to deal with a bunch of ya.   It's time to move on and either grow a brain or torment some other poor soul.   Or better yet, figure out where the Stupid Island is and move there.

Geeesh.   It seems every day this week  hubby and I have had to deal with some moron.   Thankfully, though, we've remained rather upbeat through this....and a good dose of smart-assed sarcasm really helps too .    In the end, we've smugly sat back and realized that, yes, we were correct in our dealings and moved on.   Okay, so we've relived the situations a few times and laughed about them.....a lot.

Anyway, it's been a week now of this stuff happening on at least a daily basis.    I do believe we deserve to now talk with intelligent and helpful beings.

The most recent example.....again I was in the middle of surfng the 'net when "poof" our internet connection was lost.   Like any working-brained adult, I follow some simple steps to determine if the problem is with my machine.   Check my connections, be sure my laptop is connected to our home network, check the main computer for any connection issues, check the link status to our local tower, and be sure that one computer isn't the only one with internet issues at the moment.   Yep, we were chatting with the local tower, but could not access the internet.   I've been a customer with this particular provider for over three years now....I was one of the very first in the area and have come to learn a good deal about this system.    So I'm no idiot when I can intelligently deduce that the problem lies beyond our local tower.   I called in to Technical Support right away because, darnit, I wanna do my surfing and I wanna do it now, so I braved dealing with yet another moron.   Well, of course, the problem can't possibly be at the hub or tower because they've not had any other reported problems  (gee, jerkoff, maybe because someone has to be the first to call and I'm it???).   Of course the problem must lie in my very own computer, so I'm instructed to go through a bunch of crap to check everything.   Jerkoff couldnt' seem to understand that he should go check the hub to see if there's a problem and, wow, maybe save himself (and me!)  20 minutes of wasted time in pointless effort.    By this time I'm really not suffering him well at all.   He instructs me to reboot my computer (oh yes, now that's going to solve everything wrong with the world ), he then puts me on hold for 2 minutes.   While he's gone, my machine reboots and Oh My Sweet Goodness the problem still exists!    Imagine my level of disgust and sarcasm when jerkoff comes back (after I've jumped through all these hoops of his) and announces "I checked with Engineering and there seems to be an outage in M*****, which is the hub for your tower".      Gee whiz, now why didn't *I* think of that scenario 20 freaking minutes ago?!    Oh wait, hey, I did think of that!   I even stated it to him.  I went so far as to request he check the hub and the tower first and save us time and breath.  

Lesson here.....I'm not stupid.   Don't treat me as such and my sarcasm will remain safely tucked away.  

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 I haven't been over to the big house for a day or so, but I'm told the electrician was there for a bit yesterday afternoon.   I'm hoping he finished installing the ceiling fan in the storeroom and hooking up the last few little things in that area.   He'd also said he was installing a smoke detector system  in the  addition as well.   Wow, ya know, I had no idea that was part of the deal, so it was a very pleasant surprise for me.   It's one less thing I have to buy and install.   He said these detectors are interconnected (or something like that) and when one is activated, it will then activate the others.   Makes a lot of sense!

I need to snap a pic of the front door now that I've gotten some of the Chocolate Truffle painted on.   Right now it's only the first coat over most of the door.....I did a second coat around the locks area so I could install the lock and lever.   Hubby is most pleased with my color selection...even employee had to begrudgingly admit that it looks nice...though he had to toss in his "but she didn't paint the trim" comment (this then extracted the sarcasm from me gee, that may be because the trim is going to be white, moron ).

And somehow employee thinks that "a bunch of Mexicans are arriving on Saturday to hang drywall".    Now first of all....if he's been in a tractor all afternoon, how would he know anything about drywall.   And secondly, what does their nationality matter to anything?   They could be Martians for all I care, just as long as they do a good job on my house.    Anyway, somehow (gee, anybody wanna guess how long of a "break" he spent strolling around my house chatting it up with the electrician who is trying to work) he heard that the drywall is going up this weekend.    That is a little Whoo Hoo for me!

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In another situation I dealt with this week, I'd placed two orders for items from the same site.   Apparently before they actually submit to the charge card, they place a "hold" for the amount on the card.   Gee, when they've put a $500 hold on my card and then try to run thru the $500 charge on a card that already has $200 charged to it earlier in the week and is kept at a $1000 limit, maybe just maybe the card will be declined.   Now this practice kinda chaps my butt.  There's a reason I keep this particular card at a low limit because it's the card we use for internet transactions.   Hey, if someone in cyberspace actually gets this one, they won't be charging for long on it....sounds good to me.   But anyway, both of my items were declined.   I submitted a second charge card on my account and called in to assure it's use.   Now one of my items arrived on my doorstep a week later....I waited patiently for my second item.   That was a good idea, right, since apparently the company decided to cancel that order.    Nobody could explain to me why one item could be processed on the second card but the other item couldn't.   Oh I so love this stuff.   End result?    I've now got a like item currently on its way to me and I got it cheaper than the first time I bought it!!   Whoo Hoo!    That's right....cancel my order, tick me off, and watch me go get it cheaper.   Hah!   Okay, so they haven't a clue that I'm getting it cheaper elsewhere, but I'm smug in the knowledge that  I've come out ahead on this.

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So.,......today I'm needing to head to town and get some errands accomplished.   I'm anxiously awaiting dealing with idiots somewhere in my travels.   I know it'll happen....the unknown is where, when, and who.    I'll be sure to pack my sarcasm along with me

Fer crying out loud.....how on earth do some people manage to maintain employment when they are so obviously clueless and lazy that they can't even handle simple tasks???    And  how hard is it to acknowledge to me that you cannot/will not resolve the situation for me and transfer my call to someone who will/can actually do something???!!!    Gawd, if I could reach through the phone line right now I'd sure to love see what brainless morons actually look like!!

And this must certainly be my week for dealing with difficult people.   First is a very frustrating situation with a doctor's office.   Right now arrangements are being made for the medical record to be transferred to another practice.   Hah!   Go ahead and smugly tell me that their practice is the "only specialist" in the area and that other patients are "more important".     Another doctor was located and scheduled this morning.   HAH!

Then I called my internet provider yesterday to report an outage.   Apparently because it had just happened and I was the first to call it in, the problem could not possibly have been on the provider's end but was instead a problem with my antivirus software and firewall .   This determination was made by someone without even bothering to check the hub.    Good grief, I'm not an idiot and don't tolerate being treated as such!    Silly me, I was just calling to alert them to the problem and get resolution going right away.   Whatever.....all I had to do was wait another hour until all the local children were home from school and let THEM start bombarding Tech Support .    The connection was back up and running a little while after that.

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On a positive note, the 2nd floor of the big house is being insulated as I type this.    They'll return tomorrow and install insulation on the 1st floor.

I did a walk-through with the builder and the drywaller.  Yaay!  

I've got a big selection of paint colors to sift thru and start deciding colors for the various rooms.   They'll gladly do whatever color I choose instead of sticking to just basic white or off-white.   Builder will bring door choices to me next week so we can get the inteiror doors selected and ordered.

I'm still waiting to hear back from cabinetry  as well as flooring.   Being the meanie I am, I now have the builder jangling the phones for those guys and I'm sure they'll be finishing up their stuff and meeting with me soon

OK, now!   I dashed out to town this morning and I've got what promises to be the perfect color for the door......it's called Chocolate Truffle.    Now tell me, who couldn't resist that one?!   I plan to go slap a first coat on this afternoon and we'll see for sure how it looks.

I also bought two ceiling fans.   The electrician had planned to be there today finishing up his stuff upstairs....but we haven't seen him just yet.   He needs to connect the outlets in  the storeroom and then the last task will be the ceiling fan.....whoops, we needed a ceiling fan.....so I bought one.   Gotta love finding great things on clearance prices.    So one of the fans is for the storeroom.    The second fan was another of those clearance deals, last one they had.....it is beautiful and the price couldn't be beat.   Hubby's in the other town this afternoon with orders to stop at the store there to see if they have an identical fan....then one will be in the sitting room, the other in the master bedroom.    Yaay!

Yesterday  I finished up the storeroom paint, assembled two shelving units for hubby to start filling, and moved the big crates to their new corner..   This afternoon I've got a cabinet to install up there, which will be the perfect companion to the washer/dryer area.    Oh, yes, I did decide to go ahead and have the second washer/dryer site created.   The old set we've got still works just fine (despite my hope for non-repair) and I've realized it would be a good thing to have a second set.   It's location will be ideal for doing bath towels.....especially since it's very near the kids's bathroom (and you should see how many towels these girls of mine go thru on a daily basis ).