My premium membership expires tomorrow. I tried twice last night and once today to renew, but my card was declined all 3 times. Checked my bank balance....plenty of money, so I had no clue what was wrong. I was wondering if maybe NN had quit accepting debit cards. Anyway....just got a phone call from my bank. They were asking if I had tried to make a purchase over the internet in the last two days. Seems that the new billing address NN has in Cyprus sets off alarms at the bank. I explained that it WAS me, and that it was a legitimate website that I've been a member of for a while. My card should now work...but now I wonder if the FBI and CIA have me on a terrorist watch list. lol

Over a month now and I'm still waiting on surveyors and lawyers to straighten out the crap with the insurance company. The surveyor has been out, so now the attorney gets to work his magic to get the land properly deeded. Maybe in the next two weeks I can switch the name on the insurance policy and get a fucking check cut.
I did get a phone call a few minutes ago from one of the volunteer relief organizations. The lady that called asked if I still needed trees removed from the property. After I explained the screwed up situation, she said they would have a crew out by the end of the week to get the trees cut up and moved! Woohoo! That will be a great help, 'cause then I can get a contractor in to put up new fencing. It can't happen soon enough. I had to rig a second kennel to keep Linus and Moose separated, and Terra decided she wanted in with Moose. No big deal...but then last night she decided to escape from THAT kennel! Little bitch was getting on top of the dog house and jumping 10 feet over the fence! I fixed that earlier...now the fence is 4 ft. taller. It was funny because she tried to jump it again...and ran face first into the fence, then plop, on the ground.

All muh dogs is home! Yay!

I missed having 'em bark at me when I took the girls out for walks...and now maybe the neighbors damn chihuahua will be too scared to come in my yard....

I got the fence finished! My pack of yard dogs can come home tomorrow! That's the first positive thing to happen in the last two weeks. I hated leaving them at the animal shelter...Linus looked so depressed cooped up in a kennel. I also attacked some more trees with the chainsaw. Got enough cut up that I could pull the Chevy out where I can start getting my tools out of it. Of course, I just had to take pics of the carnage now that the tree isn't in the way...lol






I dunno....do y'all think that'll buff out?

bad enough the insurance asshats put the wrong name on the check....now they tell me the only way to get one in my name is to change the name on the policy...which means I need to have the house and land deeded to me instead of grand-dads estate. fuck it...let's get an attorney and a surveyor involved in this clusterfuck...the more the merrier!

on a lighter note, fence repairs are almost completed...so Linus, Moose and the girls can come home tomorrow! I'll save the Humane Society rant for later.....

Leave it to the insurance companies to fuck up. Adjuster came to look at the house on Tuesday, said I'd have paperwork and a check by Friday. Amazingly, the check and papers arrived today as promised. BUT...the policy is written in the name of "John Doe heirs" (in grand-dads name) and the paperwork for the policy is "C/O Happyhumper"...so the dumbass writes the check to my grandfather...who's been dead for the last 50 years.

I gotta get a new insurance company once the house is fixed....

Another week has passed and I still haven't got all the storm damage fixed yet. Tuesday was back to work, so I haven't had a chance to attack the endless mass of trees with the chainsaw. The Humane Society is running a shelter for pets displaced by the storm, so we broke down and took all the dogs to the shelter. They get all their shots updated while they're there and everyone having a separate kennel has got to be better than having them all crowded in the house. The only issue was my oldest pit Storm. She's been a house dog since birth and a kennel with cedar chips just wasn't the same to her as the sofa. Anyway, when we went to check the kids yesterday, they told us she wasn't eating and was acting aggressive. The girl wouldn't even walk back to her kennel to get her...she gave me the leash. She was quite happy when daddy opened the door and walked her out...even wanted to sniff and lick the volunteers she had acted "aggressive" towards. Brought her home and she immediately pounced on a bowl of Alpo and a cookie, then flopped on the sofa for a nap. The rest of the crowd seems fine in their temporary home.
The insurance adjuster did show up Tuesday...while I was at work. The way the guy talked, he's not gonna try to be helpful. Fine by me...just get me the fucking paperwork so FEMA knows what the insurance companies providing, then FEMA can process their paperwork and get me started on replacing my poor house. Even after I'm done cutting trees, I'll still need a tree service to come out and get rid of the trunks (the pecan tree was almost 6 feet around...my 16 inch chainsaw won't even dream of cutting it up. lol) so I can get the kennel back up and get the kids home.
Pfft....rambling again. Sorry about that.

Well, it's a week after Hurricane Irene visited and life still hasn't returned to normal. Besides the downed trees, the collapsed fence and crushed Chevrolet truck, there was severe damage to my house. A lot of the shingles on the north side of the roof are gone and even more were pulled up. The roof leaked bad enough that the ceiling tiles have drooped in places and fallen out in others, the carpet in one room got soaked and the sheet rock ceiling in the kitchen is sagging. The roof itself has warped...if you look at the house from the south side it looks like a swaybacked horse. I think some of the foundation piers even washed out from the rain...the north side of the house looks like it's sagging. All in all, the house is screwed...but has the insurance company sent some one out to assess the damage? FUCK NO! I guess they're too busy writing checks to the snow birds who 's waterfront houses got water in them. It's bad enough I went out today and bought a new chain saw, so I could at least start clearing fallen trees off the dogs kennel.....pffft. Took almost 3 hours and 4 different stores to get a saw, bar oil and 2-stroke engine oil...then 30 minutes into playing Paul Bunyan, a big branch I'm cutting twists on me and bends the bar on my new saw...back to town for another one.
On a better note, the g/f went out and worked over the Red Cross, FEMA and all the other disaster relief organizations...and actually got results! One organization said the house is condemned, without even seeing the damage...and they say the state will pay for demolition. They also told us to call the insurance commission Tuesday and file a complaint on the insurance company...they guarantee we'll have an adjuster out before the day is over. Pretty much, they said as soon as my homeowners pays me, they can get matching funds from the government and have a contractor here working on a new house! With any luck, that's the truth and not just a load of BS to placate the mad redneck (me, a mad redneck? nah...lol) Hopefully it's not BS....it's kinda crowded with all the dogs inside...and I don't want to trust my dogs to any of the "relief shelters" that the SPCA and the Humane Society have set up. I'm sure after an hour or so, they wouldn't want to deal with Linus and Moose either...lol.

Wow...that IS a rambling rant. Sorry...but I do feel better now that I've vented. Thanks for listening..err, reading the ravings of a close-to-psychotic mind....

So, it's Thursday now and Hurricane Irene has been gone for 4 days. I contacted the insurance company Monday morning and reported damage to my house and pops house...but we have yet to see an adjuster. Called both the Red Cross and FEMA the same day....can't get through to FEMA and the Red Cross told us "we'll call you back" and that's the last we've heard from them. Then Tuesday night, one of the pups gets sick. PJ wouldn't eat or drink, was acting lethargic and growled when any of the other dogs came near him. Our first fear was he had somehow contracted parvo. My girlfriend rushed him to the emergency animal hospital in Havelock, where they charged $160 for a blood test and told her he was fine. My opinion, they charged $160 to tell us they're fucking idiots. Tried calling our vet Wednesday...they still have no power....so I get him an appointment at the old vet I used when I lived in New Bern. An exam and an x-ray later, the doc informs me it's not parvo...my little man has something called Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy. She explained that it's an inflammation of the growth plates in their bones, and it's not fatal...just painful. They gave him anti-inflammatory meds and pain pills (Tramadol, ffs) and then removed $240 from my bank account. Money well spent, because not even an hour after his first dose of meds the swelling in his joints was down, his fever was gone and he had his face buried in a bowl of Puppy Chow. At least some problems have a happy ending!
Last but not least, we had company late last night. Smiling Sammy (the unknown neighbors boxer/golden retriever mix) figured out one of the girls was in heat and stopped to say hello. Got him shooed toward home...but he showed up an hour later. G/f was about to call animal control when I looked out....and there's 3 dogs. Then I realize....two of them are mine! Seems Terra and Moose had knocked a pane of glass out of a kitchen window and gone out to play with Sammy. Anyway, at 2 A.M. I'm awake and replacing glass with Lexan...then corralling my horndog Lab and psycho mini-pitbull back inside.

I need a nap.......

two more shots of the post-Irene carnage...and a few of the pups since they've been stuck inside....



This WAS a 100 year old pecan tree...and Linus's summer cottage.



Linus decided to be a ham for the camera...while sitting on my kitchen table.



This is a rare one....Moose posed for me!



Lucy was tired...so she hogged the bed.



The pups mastering the art of sofa hogging....from left to right, Sasha, Natasha, PJ and Luna.