My letter to Charlette's owner

Hi There - I just tried to write you a big long email re: why we'd make a great new family for Charlette, and the email got returned because craigslist only allows a measly 150 kb. I thought about it, and I decided to just post the email to my blog so you could read it directly.

.....................

Hi there;

I have to admit, your ad was nearly the first one I checked, so maybe this is serendipitous... I took one look at Charlette, and thought, 'OMG! THAT's the dog we've been looking for'.

First, I'm a dog rescuer and fosterer, so it sounds like we have something in common. I've had dogs all my life, I've rescued, fostered and placed twelve dogs in the last 17 years, including the three we kept over the years. I just lost my "old man" Jake in January of this year, so my husband and I had started talking about finding another big dog. Jake was a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix who weighed 80 pounds in his heyday, and the most wonderful guy. I've always loved German Shepherd crosses, as they have so many great traits and they tend to have great, easy-going personalities. Charlette sounds like she's got that same wonderful attitude - and 'gargantuan-bouncy-puppy' does not intimidate anyone in my house. :) Everyone in my family has always owned big dogs, and the two dogs we have now, both under 15 pounds, are something of an oddity for us.

Our other two dogs are also rescues - my "old lady", a very old Chihuahua/Corgi mix named Zazu who's now blind and deaf and maybe a little bit senile :), who's lived with us the entire 15 years of our marriage, and our newest addition, a young spaniel-esque teenager named Sophie who tries to get Zazu to play with her but would REALLY love somebody closer to her age to expend some energy with. I wanted to introduce a new dog to our pack as young as possible, and fairly soon, so that Sophie would have a friend and a pack mate to help her when it's time for Zazu to go to the Rainbow Bridge. I've always tried to have two dogs at a time, as I feel like the dogs are just so much happier with some doggie company. No matter how hard we try, we humans don't speak the same language, and sometimes a girl just needs another girl, ya know?

We own a single-wide mobile home with a decent yard in north San Jose, right next to the Milpitas border, and we have a lot of family nearby that own dogs, so Charlette would get to meet and play with Holly the Gargantuan Rottweiller Puppy on an almost weekly basis in Morgan Hill (and Holly's mom and dad will certainly appreciate Charlette coming to play, as Holly is rather lonely right now - her only companion is another Sophie, Sophie the Rottweiler, who is far too old to play and just grouches at her all the time. Holly is another sweet soul who's too big for her own good, and also 9 months old).

Our dogs have ALWAYS been inside dogs, and we don't even turn the dogs out in the backyard unless they ask. They stay in the house when we have to go anywhere, and we have family that will dog sit if we have to go on vacation and we can't take the dogs, which won't happen often as my favorite type of vacation is camping. Our family also does not believe in leaving dogs outside ever.

Sophie the Spaniel-esque gets a daily walk, but Zazu's been too old for more than a walk around the block for some time now. I'd love to do more hiking, and so would Sophie, but before now, I haven't had much time.

Here's the other thing that makes this a very serendipitous situation - I just got laid off :) Ok, so that doesn't sound quite so good.... But let me explain. I would never dream of bringing a new dog into my pack, let alone a puppy, unless I was going to be there 24 hours a day to help him or her adjust to life in our family. My husband works from home, and I'm going to be present a lot more. I work in web design, so I'm not anticipating finding a job any time before 6 months (not that I'm really looking that hard right now, as I'm enjoying being a mom to our 8-yr-old daughter) and yes, in case you were wondering, we have excellent finances and no bills, no credit cards, no car payments, not even a mortgage, so money is not going to be an issue at all. We've been seeing a nearby vet, but I'm thinking of switching back to the BRILLIANT vet we used to see when we lived in Fremont, at Mission Adobe. Those guys were freakin' wonderful, and I haven't found anybody I like half so much where we live now.

I know it's tough to think of giving up your girl, but it reflects nothing but good on you that you're looking at your situation and recognizing that it may not be the best for Charlette. I'd love to get together and talk about whether our family might be a good fit for her.

I'm sending a second email with some pictures of Jake and Zazu, along with my nieces and nephews - just because I'm a sucker for cute dogs and kids and I operate under the occasionally mistaken belief that others are too...

My name is Ericka Hiatt, my cell phone number is (sorry, edited out for the sake of my personal sanity. Email me at tygrhaus@yahoo.com, and I'll send you my cell#). I can even provide references as to my level of experience and ability to care for and train Charlette, if you'd like to talk to some of my friends and family.

Thanks for considering us!

:) Ericka

Tuesday PM at Starbucks again

Hey Happy Campers;

Tuesday pm, and I'm at the Starbucks in McCarthy Ranch in Milpitas. This one's ok. I've got a nice spot by the window, and an outlet to plug into, and tuneage from Tiny Bob, my laptop (don't ask - I don't even know why he's named Tiny Bob; it's just something Elise came up with, and after all, it IS Elise's world - we just get to trim the grass in it. Oh, and make the mac 'n cheese), and when all's said and done, what more can one ask of life than a good spot by the window and decent tuneage?

Although I admit to being a little disappointed by the tuneage I just purchased from Corvus Corax; well, disappointed SO FAR. I haven't gotten all the way through it yet. It's a bit more mundane than I expected. I've just now gone back and downloaded a few more from some of their more traditional albums: very medieval, very tribal, and very suited to one or two of the works I've got going on right now.



The above video isn't one of their best, but it lets you see their live sound...

What's going on right now in the real world: both Jeff and I are looking for work, but we're both anticipating a hard time of it - Jeff because he doesn't have an actual college degree, which he's always felt to be a point against him, and me because I'm a woman, I'm 45 and I'm overweight, and I work in a very young-male-dominated field (IT and desktop support). It's frustrating to me because I'm actually very good at what I do, but there's no way a hiring manager will consider me... I've told Jeff I honestly believe he has a much better chance of finding something before I do. He doesn't believe it, but I guess the proof will be in the pudding. Luckily, we have no credit cards, no car payments, our rent is only $1500 per month, we already paid insurance for this year, and we can actually survive on my unemployment and what he makes from painting miniatures, at least for a while.

So, that being the case, I've also decided to spend some time this summer home-schooling Elise, and I'll explain why.

As you know, because I've talked about it in the last few posts, I've spent some time volunteering in Elise's classroom the last few weeks. I've come to see that there just is no way a second grade teacher can handle a classroom like Elise's without a teacher's aide, which I've tried to be. There are so many high-needs kids in her classroom, that - sadly - a few kids, through no fault of their own, and no fault of the teacher's, are taking up all the teacher's time and attention. It's just insane!

Elise is likely going to be going to school in Saratoga this coming year, and given the income level and educational level of Saratoga in general, I just KNOW Elise is not prepared for the third grade there. I'm contemplating having her stay back a grade, because honestly, she wouldn't be hurt by an extra year to mature a bit. She'd be starting in a place where no one knows her, and she'd have the chance to catch up, especially physically, without the stigma of "oh, you had to be held back". I'm not completely decided; Jeff and I need to talk it over and maybe have her see a counselor at her new school to be evaluated. In any case, I bought some math books for her, and we're going to do some homeschooling this summer. The one thing she needs the absolute most is help with her penmanship, spelling and reading! There are a couple of girls in her class who have perfect penmanship and spelling, and it was a shock to see the difference between her writing and theirs.

Okay, anyway, enough of that. I need to start on my writing now, so I'm signing off.

Friday in the Second Grade

There's a temptation, I find, to assume that just because one no longer works, one's weeks are suddenly devoid of all purpose and meaning. Ah HAH, I say to such naysayers! The last few weeks (three, I think?) started out a bit lazy, I'll admit, but my days are as much or more full now. I get up at 6:30-7am, get Elise up and ready for school. Some days I go with her, as I'm volunteering in her classroom to teach the kids about internet searching and research, and to get them look up a famous American they may be interested in.

I'm going to shoot off on a tangent here, but it's an important one, I think. The dynamics in Elise's classroom are pretty strange, and worth mentioning. I'm fairly sure these kids are worse behaved than most at the school, just so you don't think that the whole school is full of screaming ADD-heads...

There are three boys who represent the worst of the worst. I'll call them E1, E2 and M1. By no means do I believe these kids are just bad kids and that's all there is to it. Nope, they've all had a very rough time growing up - one boy spent the first five years of his life floating through different foster care settings. His mother's been forbidden to have any contact with him, and he's never had the slightest idea who his father is. M1 (and I have this from his father) has a psycho mother, and the father now has custody. He's raising this boy and his sister by himself, and it's a struggle.

I don't know the situation for E2, but he's like the other two: so desperate for attention that he'll do anything, including really naughty stuff, to get it.

I started out in the classroom a few days after I left my job. I'd promised the teacher, Mrs. A. to help her set up the computers in her classroom, but then I got swamped at work, and she finally got them setup. I then asked what help she could use, and she suggested I teach the kids the module about internet searches, and have them search for information on a famous American, thereby killing two birds with one stone.

I love kids, and I'd been on a field trip with Mrs. A and the class earlier in the Spring. I'd already met all the kids in our group, and every time I'd come to pick up Elise, on the days I could, everybody would say "Hi, Elise's Mom!"

Now everybody gives me a hug when I walk in, and I'm gaining a bit better rapport even with the difficult ones, who are starting to do what I ask without too much argument. They all seem really anxious to get my attention, and I find it really is true that you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.

By way of example, E1 started out the day just full of angry rebellion - every single thing anyone asked him for, he did the opposite, and he did it looking us straight in the eye.

At first I used my serious angry mommy-voice, but then I started to think about him the way I used to think of young horses: you can yell when they get something wrong, but the only way they know how to do the right thing is if you immediately praise them as soon as they stop doing the wrong thing. I also remembered that the only way to get a young horse to go the way you want him to go, when he's decided he doesn't want to go where you lead, is to push him sideways, and then as soon as he takes that sideways step, you lead him forward. You can spend your whole life and all your energy trying to push a horse forward, but let me tell you, it just don't work. Ever.

Example: E1 had some word puzzles he was working on. He WAS supposed to be working his journal with everyone else, but he was sitting at the back of the room, doing these puzzles, and ignoring the teacher when she asked him to join in.

So I went back and stood next to him, and watched him doing his word puzzles. Then, when he got all interested in showing me how he was doing them, I sat down in a chair, patted the one next to me, and he sat down so we could work on the puzzles together.

When he'd finished the last puzzle, I made a big fuss out of how well he'd done (and it wasn't hard - he has quite a fine mind for puzzles) and then I patted him on the back and said, "Great work. Now go grab your journal and we'll work on that together."

(Push sideways, step forward, walk ON...)

He grabbed his journal and showed me some things in it, and drew a star for me to show me how well he could draw a star. Then I drew one, and asked him how to make it look like Patrick. (Okay, so you gotta know Spongebob to know who Patrick is). Then I told him I wanted him to write me a journal entry on Spongebob. He wrote out a nice entry and showed it to me. I told him it was wonderful, but could he write a bit more? He came back with an entry about the Bubble Band, and pictures of Sandy, Spongebob and Patrick, colored in and everything.

Okay, so it went on like that. I found that he could do the work, but only if I spent every minute working directly with him. Mrs. A does not have a teacher's aide because no one gets a teacher's aide in these days of thin budgets. E1 will probably wind up in jail someday unless someone intervenes right now, and I do mean right now, while he's still a child and willing to listen. Once he hits puberty, if no one does anything for him, he's doomed. I could just cry.

Anyway, back to the original topic. I got up at 7am, got my shower and got Elise ready, and then we went to school. I worked with the kids until 10:30am, when I had to take off for a meeting with my career counselor. THAT lasted until 12:15pm, at which point I hurried off to get some lunch, and then hurried to Elise's school to pick her up. THEN I sat with her while she played in the play structure with some of her friends who were in the afterschool program. Then we went to the post office to get stamps, and then off to Safeway to get fruit and some snacks. From there we went home, where we had just enough time to get a snack, and for Elise to get changed for gym class. After gym class we came home again, had some dinner, and now it's 7:20pm, and we're off to my best friend's house to talk story (she's a writer too, and I ask her to read all the stuff I'm working on).

Tomorrow, I'm taking Elise and her friend Wynter to McDonalds to play in the play place and get some lunch. Then I'm driving my niece Brianne down to the in-laws in Morgan Hill, where I will then hole myself up in my trailer to get some writing done, and she'll go off with Grandma Doris to pick out yarn for the blanket Grandma is going to crochet for her.

I have an end-of-July deadline for having my portfolio finished and off to the first agent, and that's coming along well, and I have to write up the beginnings of a website and the corrections to my resume that I discussed with my career counselor today, and THAT has to be done in the next two weeks.

Da-YAM...

Unemployment is so much more hectic than I thought.

:)

Not a bad little Monday, all things considered

My weekend, sadly, was not as productive as I had hoped. I got stuck slogging through the rank molasses of writer's block, and instead of getting up and taking a walk or something, I sat there trying to force blood to come out of my eyeballs or something. How annoying.

But I did do one thing that was productive: I discovered part of why the trailer was getting so hot. I've got a tarp over the roof, because it leaks and has needed fixing for at least three years. The tarp does the job just fine, although traveling with it like that is out of the question, unless I go to the desert or someplace equally rain-proof.

So, anyway, I've had the skylights open, thinking that would help to cool down the trailer, but on Sunday, I put my hand up by the open skylight, and felt the air coming in, which was like an oven. I realized, this had to be because the open skylights were creating an airspace under the tarp, which was being heated by the sun. This really hot air was then leaking down into the trailer, and contributing to the outrageous heat problem.

I know this because even the roof didn't feel as hot as that air (and it was barely 80 degrees outside) when I put my hand up to feel it.

I don't think this has solved the problem, but I do hope it's helped. The next step is to get an evaporation cooler that I can run inside the trailer. If I close the windows, and run the fans, that should make the trailer proof against the worst heat (and Morgan Hill has some astoundingly hot days) without costing a million bucks for the cooler, or a million bucks to run the cooler. I'll have to see.

On to today. I took Elise to school this morning, and then went home to get ready for my Monday morning career development meeting. I dyed my roots, which had the happy secondary affect of dying my scalp. For those who don't know, I've been having a problem with my hair going into hibernation mode all over my head. Translation: my hair is falling out. I think a lot of that is about the stress I'd been under at my last job, and the fact that I'd had two surgeries in the last year. Okay, anyway, dyed my hair...

I got ready, climbed in the truck, and headed out to the meeting, but as I was on my way, I just completely lost heart in going.

I turned the truck around and went to the Starbuck's near our house. I got a mocha latte and a breakfast sandwich, and spent the next several hours belting out some good work on my "witch" story. Lesson to be learned here: I've always worked well in college student unions, where I could get something to eat or drink, use the restroom, and have a decent bit of background white noise. I studied well, was able to concentrate better, and was almost always productive.

In all fairness, Jeff has been telling me for months to check out Starbucks as a place to write, but I thought that it would be nearly impossible to get a seat there in the evenings (and I still think I'm right about that). Now that I have time in the day, however, I think it'll work well. Tomorrow, Tuesday, I'm teaching in Elise's classroom again, so I won't be able to go back until Wednesday, but I'm going to plan on spending all the time Elise is at school doing my writing at Starbucks.

Roughing It...

I've spent the weekend writing in my trailer, which is parked at the in-laws' place in Morgan Hill. It's been a really productive time.

I left my house late Friday night, stopped at the grocery store in Morgan Hill and got some fruit, some bagels and cream cheese, some sourdough, some juice. I got here about 10pm, and watched a movie on my laptop, which is how I get myself into the groove.

I managed to get some work done on my "witch" story, and then went to bed about 4am. I work best in the early hours - there's something about the silence and the dark that lets me plug into my worlds so much more completely than any other time.

I woke up at 11am, spent some time alternating between watching a movie and writing until about 3pm, when it got really hot - it was probably about 80 degrees outside, which is hardly uncomfortable, but the trailer has no insulation, so when the sun shines down on the roof, which is still covered by a tarp, the whole thing heats up like a sweat box. I have fans going throughout, the door and all the windows are open, but it still does no good. I wound up sleeping from about 3:30 to 6pm, at which point the air outside was getting cool enough to let me concentrate on working again.

I've been thinking about how to increase the insulation or decrease the heat, or whatever, and I have a few ideas. I read a study once on the lifestyle of the Bedouin. One of the sections was about their tents and how they survive in one of the hottest places on Earth. Bedouin tents are always black wool, and it turns out that inside the tent, it's an average of 10 degrees cooler. You'd think that a reflective surface would be preferable, wouldn't you?

My hypothesis about this is that the black tent does absorb a lot of the sun's energy, but it holds on to it, so that there's relatively little energy to transfer to the interior of the tent. I had the thought that perhaps I could try stringing a black tarp over the trailer, but not touching it, and see if that had the same affect. The back end of the trailer is already under a tree, and I know that it's always cooler in the bathroom, say, than in the front dining area, where I work, which is under full sun. I'm not yet sure how to get a tarp up like that, but the trailer is parked next to my father-in-law's workshop, and it might be possible to attach the tarp to that somehow.

Anyway, just a thought. I'm going to have to come up with something soon, however, because it can get to 110 degrees here in the summer, and I can't imagine it would be even possible to be in the trailer without an air conditioning unit at that point.

I got up this morning at 9am, and I sat down to do some writing in my blog first - my brother-in-law set my laptop up to be able to access the in-laws' encrypted wireless network, so while the cell phone can't work this far up into the hills, I can now get to the internet, which has got Jeff feeling a lot better. He hates it when he can't get hold of me.

Ok, that's it for this morning. Back to work on the "witch" story now.

For your viewing pleasure: Rather like the "Super Stooges" of a few days ago, here's "Killer Horse Saves Baby", courtesy of some strange Indian movie from the 80's.



Toodles