Moving Toward Something

Spring!

See here, in the picture!  There is no snow!  There is green!  There are leaves budding on the trees!  Spring is here!  This means that in about three weeks, it will be summer--muggy and hot.

I've been learning about dogs.  N's dog is the first I have ever had prolonged contact with.  Here is what I have learned so far, although I am positive there are more lessons to come:

• They do not purr. Do not be alarmed; it doesn't mean the dog is never happy.
• They desperately want whatever it is that you're eating, even if it's a salad, something spicy, or something poisonous (like onions or chocolate).  If they find it not to their liking later, they'll generously throw it back up for you, no questions asked.  They believe this is an excellent arrangement and cannot understand why it is not adopted in more households.
• That ghostly sound with intermittent thumping coming from the living room is NOT a poltergeist.  It is the dog harmonizing with a passing firetruck and whapping his tail against the sofa.
• Dogs will alert you to any nearby wildlife.  I have now seen deer in the area, as well as a gray fox with at least two kits.  Also included under "wildlife" are the lady who walks her mini collie down the street every day, and anyone using an outdoor grill in a 1/2 mile radius.

In other news, there have been a lot of family visits.  For Easter, N and I got together at my cousins' farm place near Spring Green.  I'd never been out there before, so we got a walking tour of the property.

"Oh look," said my cousin Ian, "A dead deer!"

"Oh.  Huh.  Yep!" said his grandfather.

"I'm sorry, but I have to take a picture of this," said I. 

They were amused.  Then we went and had a lovely Easter meal.  Here is the picture (of the deer, not of the meal).

Most recently, my parents came to Madison to visit.  It was a great time for it; the flowering trees had just begun to bloom and the weather was nice.  Dad got to see the farmers' market at the capitol (which is back for the season, yayyyyyyyyyyyy!!!), Mom finally got to meet N, and we toured around for the bulk of the weekend. We even paid a visit to New Glarus.  It's nice that they've been here now, because now when I talk about Madison they'll have an idea of what I'm gabbling about.  They departed on Tuesday.

I'm in the process of buying a house, but I don't want to jinx it by writing about it here until the deal is done and final.  I'm very excited, though.  Tired of renting!  I was spoiled by owning my own home in MN for a decade.

Apartment Population +2

Boyfriend and dog were safely installed in the apartment a couple of weeks ago, and as you can see, the Mr. Willis is VERY excited about his new surroundings.

Actually, the adjustment has gone much better than expected for the pets.  I had predicted that my cat Eloise would have a psychotic break, and that Beatrice would eventually befriend Mr. Willis after much fear and loathing.  In reality while the cats and dog couldn't be called friends (there is still the occasional hissing), we were able to leave them alone together the second day the dog was here. 

I the components that made this smooth-ish transition possible were:

1. The dog respects the cats' space.  He's dealt with cats before and he knows they can get sharp and pointy, plus he's just not all that excited by them.
2. The cats have a very tall cat tree they can climb up on.
3. A month ago, I installed a baby gate with a small pet door in the doorway of the room where I keep the cats' food, water, litter, and cat tree.  This means the cats can run to safety whenever they like, but the dog can't run in after them.  Not that he's even bothered to try; see item #1.

Yes, I'm blogging about my pets.

Oh, right, and the boyfriend-who-will-henceforth-be-referred-to-as-N is here now too.  That is a singular joy, as prior to this we'd been long distance for three years.  It is such a happy thing that it's hard to put into a blog post.  How do you make people understand why it is SO AWESOME that you got to go out to dinner with your boyfriend of three years, and that you'll get to go out to dinner with him again next week?  So that's why you're seeing more writing about the pets and less about N.  It's just hard to explain the joy.

Homeowners Associations Gone Wild

I think I'm selling my house at the right time.  Not in light of the housing market, but in light of this big packet of new and "reinforced" rules that the homeowners' association my townhouse is a part of just sent me.

Some of their new rules:

No owner or occupant shall keep more than two dogs, or two cats, or one dog and one cat on the property at any time.  No dog shall exceed 25 pounds at maturity...Allowable pets are dogs, domestic cats, or small birds (e.g., parakeet or canary).

Um, whut?  So if little Timmy wants to have a pet gerbil and he lives in this set of townhouses, he's S.O.L.?  No goldfish?  You can only have two dogs/two cats (so glad they specified "domestic" there)/one dog and one cat, but you can have a metric buttload of birds?  I bet the HOA people will start pointing and squealing and saying they saw you sign your name in the Devil's book if you even mention the word "ferret."

Guest parking marked at the end of each driveway is strictly for guests.  Owners that have guest [sic] for more than a 24 hour period (but not more than 7 days) shall register that guest's license plate number and vehicle description with [the HOA management company].  Owners that park in guest parking may be towed at owner's expense with no notice.

I can't have an overnight guest park in guest parking without letting my HOA know?  That kind of defeats the purpose of moving out of Mom and Dad's figurative basement and into a home of one's own.  And what happens if I have a guest stay for more than seven days?  The document doesn't specify.  How thorough.

No clothes, sheets, blankets, laundry, or any other kind or [sic] articles shall be hung out of a townhouse or similarly exposed to view.

That is to say, even if you want to dry your laundry in an eco-friendly manner, you can't even do it from your back porch.  You can't even do it inside your house, if someone can see it through a window.

I will be so pleased to sell my house to someone who is comfortable with these rules and the mindset behind them.  The rules at my apartment are much more lax, and the place looks fine.

Interlude

I need to clean the apartment up a bit for some friends who are coming to visit me this weekend.  It's very sweet of them to drive all this way.  The least I can do is try to ensure that they do not trip over my junk in the middle of the night and break their fool necks.  So here, enjoy this picture of one of my cats in a pile of packing paper: