me talking out loud

Well we made the flight and the drives (though I was hallucinating by the end of the first day - was kinda fun), picked up the dogs and dropped them off at my dad’s and finally made it to Georgia. All is going well except we have no home - but that will take time to find and organize. Luckily we have a room at the TVQ (Temporary Visitors Quarters) on the Kings Bay base - and I have to say - it isn’t to shabby for $30/night.

Today was a busy day. We hit up the Housing office (only got lost twice trying to find it) to see if they have any referrals for the area we want to live in (they don’t). So we took a drive to the area to just look around the area and maybe for a realtor. Liked the area (on a clear drive it is only 20 minutes away from the base) and found a real estate company that seems nice. Got a number of potential places to cruise through the neighborhoods to see if we like them. Talked to the bank about getting a mortgage and need to call a number to get a pre-qualifying value so we have a better idea of how much we can spend. Took a base tour to see some of the base’s services (gas is 2.96 on base) only to find they aren’t many and they are much smaller then we are used to but that is OK since we will primarily getting stuff out in town.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so everything will be closed. Sounds like a wonderful time to just sit back and relax for the day. Friday is soon enough to run around some more.

Yep - in less then one week we will be back in the states. So many things to still get done before the end of the week but everything seems to be organized and scheduled…

1) house - final pack out (Tuesday), final cleaning (in progress), yard cleaned (due by Monday) and final mowing, carpets cleaned (todo this weekend);
2) appliances - picked up on Tuesday;
3) bags packed - mostly - due by Tuesday;
4) dogs - tickets (done), crates (done), flight itinerary (done)… need to contact continental cargo for info on how to turn them in at 4AM, heath certificates (Vet Tuesday 10:20), need to drop that off at Dept of Agriculture for Guam vet to sign - pick up in 24 hours;
5) hotel reservations (accepts dogs) for the few days between when we move out and fly out - done;
6) hotel reservations for when we get there - done - need to reconfirm;
7) car - rented and can be dropped off at the airport when we fly out;
8) family notified - some - need to complete this weekend;
9) landlord final walk through inspection - Sunday;
10) sell the last car - dependent on husband;
11) Our tickets - bought and paid for - have passports available - fly out Sat the 17th at 07:30

Hope that is everything… If not - I am so screwed.

Finally got around to uploading a few pictures. Put in Kai at 1 year old and pictures Jason took while in Korea. Now if I can just find those pictures from the second time we went to Siapan…

Well it has been a pretty industrius weekend for us. Jason finished installing/fixing the gates for our new fence around the backyard while Kayla and I (and later Jason) did yard work (mowing, trimming, pruning, weedwacking, ect.). With a half to 3/4 acre lot it takes a while and we all work up a sweat. After that Jason and Kayla completed her science fair project (it dealt with electricity) with different results then everyone was expecting. Now Jason needs to take all the wires, batteries and stuff and put it onto a board for Kayla to bring in.

Sunday - we went to the kite festival. Kayla has been bugging us to go. And what happens on the day of it - she wants to stay home instead. Go figure. So Jason and I with the 2 dogs went and left Kayla home to do her own thing (she is getting to that age). We don’t normally let her stay home alone but the past 2 weekends we have. She absolutely did not want to go out with us when we played golf and for the kite festival. Guess it is time to start letting go.

Anyway - for the kite festival - we of course forgot the camera so there are no pictures. Next weekend is Easter (wonder if Kayla will stil want to do the easter egg hunt) and the weekend after is the dog show. Hopefully I will remember the camera so we can add a few pictures to the gallery.

Today (well actually from about 8PM last night until now) has been incredably bad. Quick summery - house was broken into while we were in it, husbands wallet and money stolen, and dog hit by a car.

Thank goodness no one was hurt (even the dog - though he will be sore for a couple of days) and everyone is safe. I’m trying to keep it all in perspective and simply be thankful, but damn it has been a rough 24 hours.

Unfortunately it seems that Kai will probably not be a show dog. He has bad teeth . Actually he has an underbite where none of the teeth touch so it is considered an automatic disqualification in the show ring. Granted he is only 7 months and there is a slight chance that it will correct itself as he fully matures but his breeder says it is VERY rare. Our breeder offered to take him back and replace him with either an adult female dog who is a proven show dog (already has her Australian Champianship) or a new puppy since she knew we wanted to show him. We personally beleive that pets are forever so we declined the offer but let her know we will be contacting her when the time comes for another dog.

Kai is getting old. He has managed to survive to 5 Months. You can see his latest pictures here

Finally got the newer pictures of Kai up. They were taken around his 3 month birthday (yeah - we know we’re pitiful). Got some nice ones of Khan and Kai together. You can see the pictures here

Well this week has been pretty… interesting. The kid got sick (got sent home from school) thought is was strep throut but it was just a cold. Missed my second java class - of course it was when we were to go over OOP concepts . The puppies we are dog sitting for are driving us crazy (don’t come when called, mess in the house, want to run on the street, constant barking, stuff like that). Don’t get me wrong they are nice dogs - but when it is 10PM and all I want to do is go to sleep - chasing after a little dog is not fun.

Found out that Florida is going to be hit by another hurricane. Kind of worried about the family there. Did talk to everyone though and they all say they are fine. Storm still actually hasn’t hit land so I will worry. Funny considering we get hit by storms all the time and don’t really think about that much.

Had a small earthquake this week. 4.8 accourding to the local paper. Was pretty cool - thought someone was moving furniture on the floor above until the earth did a little wiggle. By the time we figured out what it was - it was over.

Odd week wasn’t it. Well at least it wasn’t crazy.

Didn’t really do much this weekend. Basically hung out with the new puppy and the kid. Kai is doing well - mostly adjusted to us. He and Khan are still trying to work things out. Khan is getting a little jealous - can’t blame him since we normally give all of our attention to him and now he has to share. We used to have another dog so he knows what is going on. Before though he was the new comer not the other way around. I’m sure it will all work out.

Kayla finally realized that she would need more then 2 new pairs of pants for school. We tried to tell her but… she is at an age where she thinks she is always right. Anyway we also went out and bought her some. Took forever to find a couple that fit pretty well - think she tried on a minimum of 15 pairs to find 2 that fit. She is currently wearing mens jeans - they fit better since she hasn’t really started growing hips yet (just chest).

Kayla wants to bring over a friend to see Kai. I told her that is fine with me but she needs to ask Jason first (since he would be providing the transportation) and to get the approval of the other parents. We’ll see how it goes. I told her to shoot for Friday as the day.

Kai is finally here! He is so beautiful! Thank you Amanda for this very special little man. I will be posting pictures of him in the galley when I get home. He seems to be doing OK. He was playing earlier this morning and Jason is now taking him in for his health check at the vet (Guam usually has a quarintine but since Kai comes from Australia he is exempt with a vet check in the first 24 hours).

Poor Khan. Kai is going to drive him crazy! Kai so far has been only in 2 modes - play and sleep (standard puppy). So I am more then confident that he will constantly be bugging Khan to play. Khan is young (4.5 years) so he can handle it - and even dish it out occasionally. If Kai is a typical Mal we are going to have to look into obedience classes - and the sooner the better. Well that is still a couple of months away.

Only 1 more day until the puppy shows up! Bought the kennel (for crate training), collar, food and bowl for the puppy. Bought a dog bed for Khan dog (he normally sleeps on a pillow in the bedroom) so hopefully I will get back my pillow. No fence around the backyard yet (landlord will put one up later in the year) but we have put up a line so the puppy can go out at night for a little and do his thing without us worrying about the road. Khan knows better then to go on the road but the puppy won’t have the intellegence to understand that for a little while.

Poor Khan - he isn’t going to loke sharing his toys… especially when the puppy starts chewing the stuffed toys apart. Khan loves his squeeky baby.

Hope we haven’t forgotten anything… and if we have… well we can get it later.

Well the paperwork is done and the puppy is of age. He is expected in this Friday and we can’t wait. Kai will finally be home. See his last pictures at the kennel here. I’ll post new pictures when he gets in.