Spring Fever

Spring is here - the sweet scents of blossoms carry on the wind and assault the senses. Merely stepping outside, you are hit with a barrage of smells. Nearby orchards carry the scents of their trees in bloom - fragrant perfumes carrying across miles to find you.

I'm spending my weekends outside in the garden. Since the beginning of this little affair last year, I've fallen head-over-heels in love with the art of gardening. Spending the hours of my weekend days in the garden brings such great joy. While nurturing and caring for the little beauties in my care, I am delighted in seeing them thrive and prosper. Gorgeous flowers, scents, colors and hues dot my landscape.

I have the freedom of experimentation. I spend time walking the aisles at the local nursery - looking for something to catch my eye. Bright colors, saucer like flowers, delicate and ornate structures. When I fall in love, the plant comes home. I set it in the garden bed until the weekend comes around and I have the free time to work in the dirt.

I garden for me. I look for what catches my eye and brings me pleasure. I'm slowly turning the front garden into what is known as a "cottage garden." Beautiful flowers in a multitude of hues are finding their way into my little collection.

I eye the existing shrubs with disdain, and plot their demise. They will be replaced with elegant shrubs that flower. A few evergreens will find their way in as well, but things far more interesting that the existing shrubs. I want flowers and color, and these are just not working in my plan.

In the back yard, I am somewhat limited. This is the dogs' domain. I have integrated in my beloved jasmine near the bedroom window. And I will be basking in their fragrant blossoms in mere days, enjoying the cool evenings with open windows.

I plot the removal of a few select shrubs - to be replaced with flowering hibiscus and possibly more roses. And a gardenia near the patio - more opportunity to enjoy fragrant blossoms.

I've overtaken the patio with plantings. Instituting a flower bed in a neglected nook, and recruiting some old security bars to act as trellises, I will train flowering vines that will be enjoyed as the season progresses. Containers dot this landscape…seeking shade near the fence, I have a wild assortment of beautiful pots holding even more beautiful ornamental plantings. In a sunny corner of the patio, I have my sun-worshiping plants nested in their colorful containers.

I take such joy in sitting and enjoying the plantings. Nurturing their growth with nutrients and water. Time spent in the garden is time spent for me. I take pride in watching my little charges grow and change. Flowers burst forth in a colorful show meant to tantalize the senses. I have a hand in all of this. I carefully choreograph the dance, outfit them in bright costumes and enjoy their show. I tend to them with such care - basking in their day-to-day changes.

In addition to the beauty of the flowers, I also welcome birds into my garden. I have set aside the front garden as a bird sanctuary and enjoy watching them scurry through the garden from my perch in front of my office window. They feed from my feeders, bathe in the bath set up just for them, and trot around in the garden scratching for insects. They are such joys to watch - I can count more than twenty in the yard at times.

Yes, spring has arrived - calling me outdoors. My tree is leafing out, the grass is green again. Warm weather is here - how can I resist the call? I gladly bask in the joys of the season.

Five Months Gone

Today marks five months since Hubby officially left home on his journey to the sandbox. What has happened and changed over the past month?

- Number of meals cooked this month: 0 
  Running total for deployment: 0 
  (Note that I do not count frozen pizzas, chicken nuggets or baking a hamburger in the oven as cooking.)

- Scrapalooza saw the completion of 50 pages. I've officially finished with 2003 and crept into 2004. You would think that I wouldn't have as much to scrap for 2004, since Hubby was deployed to the desert during that year. Not so! I still managed to get out and take lots of trips without him! And pity me when I get to scrapping our Reunion Tour in 2005. A whole week of Garmisch, Italy and London…I'll probably have to do an album just for that week!

- I turned another year older. 31 this year. Do I feel any different than I did when I claimed 30 as my magic number? No. I was proud to be 30, and feel no different now that another year has passed. My age is indicative of my experience. I'm living a full and happy life. I'm proud of where I am ~ physically, mentally and chronologically. My age is a badge of honor - a testament of what I have seen and done, and where I have been. It shows my experience and maturity, and I gladly bear that badge. And speaking of birthdays, I got the best gift ever this year…

- Sadie Marie Sullivan was welcomed into our clan with open arms and paws. Who would have thunk that I would find myself in love with another dog? Well, it happened…I fell in love with a sweet and demure black lab at the shelter - someone had released custody of her to the city and she was promptly put up for adoption. It truly was love at first sight, and I brought her into our clan a few days later. She's an absolute wonderful addition to the family. Loyal and true, she follows me around the house like a shadow. I'll probably never have cold feet again. J And she's become a permanent fixture in the office at work - laying under my desk all day and basking in the well deserved attention of my coworkers. My brother and sister-in-law share my excitement ~ they have a lab farm of their own. Although they don't think it's fair that I seem to find all the sweet ones. Right now, they've got an "alpha female" that is an absolute handful. Perhaps I'll rename our little villa "The Home of Unwanted Labs."

- Body Count. Having two labs in the house, tug-of-war has become a new favorite game. While I've always had the power to limit the stuffed-animal carnage in the past, my pups don't seem to understand that we don't play tug-of-war with the things that tear easily. This month has seen the disembowelment of the red and white pig, both of the rats, the gray cat, Sylvester, the beaver, and the yellow lab. Just to name a few. As I type this, Sadie is gnawing on the rear end of the formerly stuffed lab, Fred is gnawing on the front end, and the stuffing is all over the floor. *sigh* In addition, the tennis-ball-on-the-rope is no longer welcome in the house (relegated to the "backyard toy" status), and the rope Frisbee is a goner. Perhaps I should look into some more indestructible toys…

- Mechanical emergency number three. The power went out, causing a hiccup in the internet service to the house. My computer registered that it was online, but none of the programs registered that they were connected! Somehow, with a lot of button-pushing I fixed it. How exactly? I don't know. Lots of looking over Hubby's shoulder while he worked on the computer helped. See, Honey…in addition to spending all that time with you, I'm also paying attention andlearning.

- Additions to the garden this month include the planting of seeds! I've planted lavendery-blue sweet pea vines and four-o-clocks in a gorgeous sky blue. And they're peeking through the soil - I can't wait to see them grow tall and blossom! I've also sprinkled an assortment of strawflower seeds in the patio bed - gorgeous flowers that are sure to produce a show pleasing to the eye. And an assortment of California Poppy seeds were just planted, and I'm looking forward to seeing them sprout up as well. I've also got a few sunflower seeds sprouting. Proving that they have a rightful spot as the birth flower of March, my daffodils are in full bloom, and are beautiful! My tulips and anemones are in bloom as well - I'm so pleased! I'm anxiously awaiting my freesia blooms. I'm so pleased with the success of my bulbs, considering that I had never planted them before! My strawberry plants are producing berries - I'm genuinely hoping that I get to enjoy the fruits of this labor. I've also planted a groundcover of gazanias under my tree - hoping that they will fill in the area at the edge of my front garden and blossom forth with gorgeous and funky flowers. Ranunculus, Columbine, Pincusion Flowers, Jasmine(!), Salvia, Lamb's Ear, Ivy, Asparagus Fern, East Indian Holly Fern and African Daisies add to the riot of color as well. I finally decided that I am brave enough to try a Hibiscus, too. My impulse buy for the month is an Alaskan Azalea - fragrant white blooms added to my container garden!

- Reports from the Front...The great dane returned! Wildlife ran rampant this month - we had a little blackbird trapped in a dumpster, baby squirrels and a hawk-in-a-box all in one day! Another day of insanity ensued…we had an opossum in a pit (of the hole-in-the-ground, not bull variety), an oversized pigeon trapped in a yard unable to fly, goats running loose and a German Shepherd with a giant hole in it all in one day…and all before 10am! Crazy phone calls seem to have brought out all the loons - and I had the joy of actually hanging up on someone. I found myself with another black lab. On another note, I'm forever grateful to my furry companions for the love and loyalty they share, and the light and warmth they bring into my life. Having seen some of the things I've seen this month, I'm grateful that these wonderful creatures are in my life, where they will be forever cherished. My heart breaks for all those furry critters out there that don't have such a loving home. My heart goes out to my fellow employees - we truly are a family all our own, and we've been through a lot of crap this month. When it rains, it pours, and somehow we all seem to be without umbrellas. But we're in it for each other, and for the animals…and that's truly what matters.

Why I Love The Public

Actual phone calls I have received at work (as office admin and dispatcher for an animal control agency):

Last Week ~

A lady calls in on her cell phone about a dog she adopted from us. There are physical issues with the dog, and she brought it back to us so we could take it to our vet for a second opinion. After listening to her prattle on, I was just about to refer her to our adoption center and provide her with that phone number when she asks me if I can hold. I then hear her ordering a hot fudge sundae through the drive-thru! I was shocked! I promptly YELLED at her through the phone to get her attention, and when she responded, I informed her that she needed to call back when she was done at the drive-thru, because I have other lines ringing that I need to be answering.

Who calls a place of business and places them on hold so they can order ice cream from a drive-thru window?!?

I like one of my co-workers' responses when I told her about the call ~ "Like she needs to have any more hot fudge sundaes!" HA!

*****

Today ~

I get a telephone call from a lady (out of state) that doesn't like the way that her son is treating his dog. While assuring her that we can keep her contact information confidential, it is like pulling teeth to find out where her son lives. I inform her that I need to establish jurisdiction by determining whether or not he is within our city limits. When I finally pry the address out of her, I determine that it is not within our jurisdiction and inform the lady of the name of the agency that she needs to talk to.

She begins to launch into a tirade about how she just spent an hour and a half on the phone with that agency and got no help at all, and was disconnected from their call. When I try to explain to her that since our agency is run by the city that we are located in, we are bound by the jurisdiction of our city's limits. This just sets her off even more. She begins to yell at me over the phone. I attempt to cut into her tirade, but she is having none of it. I then inform her that our telephone conversations are recorded by our agency, and if she is going to continue to speak to me in the manner that she is currently, I am within my rights to hang up on her. She just keeps going, and her volume is increasing.

While she keeps marching on in her tirade, I helpfully inform her that if she is not happy with the agency that she dealt with that actually has jurisdiction over the address that she was referring to, she can contact the city that the address is located in and complain to them, as they are the ones responsible for contracting their animal control issues. All the time, she keeps carrying on. I'm certain that she never even heard a word that I said. But I kept going. I told her that I was sorry that there was nothing that I could do for her, and I hope she has a nice day…and hung up the phone. While she was still screaming at me.

It felt good. She's probably still screaming into the phone.

I'll bet I know why her conversation with that "other agency" was "disconnected."

*****

Also Today ~

I get a telephone call from a lady that is upset. Seems that she had an animal licensed through the city, and she gave the animal to her mother. Her mother went ahead and re-licensed the animal in her own name, but the daughter keeps getting license renewals in the mail. She just received her second renewal and asked me if we "play with our brains down there."

Ooohhhkaay.

Fresh off the high of hanging up on that other lady, I decide that I'm not going to let that little jibe get to me. So I ask her how she received the notice - was it through the mail or by a note left on her door or handed to her in person? She states that she received it through the mail (eliminating contact with our officers from the equation). OK…so now I know that she received an automatic notice of renewal that doesn't come from us - it is processed through another department. I explain to her that we have nothing to do with those notices and I then ask her if the notice had the little check box that says, "Check here if you no longer have your animal." She gets huffy and states that she doesn't have the notice with her.

Ooohhhkaay.

I decide that I'm still going to try to help her with this issue. It'll be as simple as asking the correct department to disable her license in the system. I explain to her that I'm going to need to open up the license system on our database to access her information, and it may take a few minutes, as the system is very slow to work. She responds something to the effect that yeah, *city name* workers are slow, too…like "retards." Still feeling charitable (amazing!) I decide to ignore that comment and still try to assist her.

While I'm working my way through the painstakingly slow computer program, she continues to refer to the city employees and people in my department as "retards." After the third time, I decide that I've had enough. If she really wants to deal with difficult people, she can deal with the people that actually input the data in the system…I find them to be very difficult to deal with whenever I have to call that department. So I tell her, "You know what? I can't help you with this issue anymore. You'll need to contact *department name* and here is their phone number."

As I hang up the phone with her, I glance at the clock. It's four fifteen, and that department closed at four.

SCORE!