Chepooka.com

Pardon me, I’m cranky. 

But why is it that people have such a hard time understanding the Alaska time zone?  I don’t mean as a rule, I mean people that you explain it to.  Like your friends and family that live out of state who may wish to call you on a Saturday morning.

You’re used to four time zones, right?  Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific.  These are the time zones in the contiguous United States (we call it “the lower 48").  Then as we move further west, TWO MORE STATES!  So there’s Alaska time zone and Hawaii time zone. 

If you start in New York at noon, moving west, Minneapolis is 11am, Denver is 10am, Los Angeles is 9am.  It’s a pattern of subtracting one hour as you move west from one zone to another.  Yes there’s math involved, and yes there’s a certain degree of memorizing the borders of the zones, but major cities should not be a problem.  It’s not trig, it’s subtraction.  I KNOW first grade was a long time ago, but come on.

Alaska? This is where it gets tricky, apparently.  Move one more time zone over, one more hour.  New York noon, Anchorage 8am. Seattle 9am, Anchorage still 8am. 

Hawaii is a bit trickier, they’re a two hour jump behind from Alaska.  And if you’re in Indiana or Arizona, you’ve got all kinds of crazy going on but even people that live there get confused.  Alaska?  EASY. 

Sometimes people get it backward, and think we’re ahead of them.  We’re always behind you, no matter if it’s daylight savings time or if there’s a lunar eclipse we’re always west of you (unless you live in Hawaii, in which case, need a new friend?) So I’ve had people WAKE UP EARLY, and call me at 7am their time to catch me at midday.  No, you’re catching me at 3 o’clock in the morning, but a fine effort indeed.

The fact that we’re behind everybody in the lower 48 means I can’t read blogs until American Idol is over, maybe that’s what I should tell people, I think people could really wrap their brain around the American Idol analogy. 

Long story short, when it’s 10am on a Saturday morning in Toledo, Ohio, mathematically speaking, IT IS TOO EARLY TO CALL BRIAN TO TALK ABOUT GOLF.  Thank you.  Going back to bed now.

Have a lovely weekend everybody. 

Hurray!  Pop open the bubbly. 

Neighbor A and I went for a walk tonight and found Trouble’s owners.  His real name is Chaos.  I was SO CLOSE.  lol

It was a pretty anti-climactic end to a strange day, but all’s well that ends well.  The Animal Control shelter told them that they didn’t have a dog matching his description, which really pisses me off.  Why do you have a FOUND BOOK and FOUND REPORTS if you don’t check those?  Sheesh.  EEdiots.

Also, the flyer that I put up right across the street from these people’s house was gone.  So now I sort of look like an asshole walking around with their dog (even though I was out walking him AGAIN to see if I could find people who knew him), and felt like I had to explain and justify my whole day.  Neighbor A did too, and tried to make a point in letting them know I wasn’t poaching their dog and had gone to great lengths to make sure if somebody was looking, he could be found.  Gah.  I may just be overtired, but neighbor A was feeling the same vibe.  Just, sorta ... ODD.  Like, that if it were one of OUR dogs, we would have reacted differently. Yunno?

Wonder if I made a mistake in taking him in the first place, he lived right next to where I found him.  Me Feel Like A-hole.    But they did make a point to say that he must have gotten out sometime last night and they weren’t aware of when that happened and so forth, and that he JUST lost his tag, too.  They thanked me, and seemed to love the little guy and all that jazz. 

End of the day, I was TRYING to do the right thing by the dog, not the owners.  And it all worked out. 

I am 110% relieved. 

But now?  I am thinking I want to start seriously looking for a dog of my own.  One that I’m not allergic to and stuff.

So, I think I’ve done what I can today for this dog.  Vet, Animal Control, Flyers, Craigslist, Neighbors.  Check. 

He definitely has a bum knee joint, which happens with small dogs who are allowed to jump up and down on things.  He tried to jump on my bed but it must be MUCH higher than the one he’s used to, he met that thing with a noble force but fell squarely on his rump.  I am starting to worry that he was dumped, surgery is expensive.  He needs to be neutered and a good old fashioned claw clipping and who knows what else.  Why do I have a bad feeling about this? 

He’s pretty classic Chihuahua, I think I’ve already been pegged as “his human” - he’s quiet and well behaved except when he’s being protective.  He’s scrappy as hell with the neighbor dogs (blood hound, pit and lab) who didn’t pay him much mind at all.  My arms are all scraped up trying to prevent him from flying through the air at them.

He answers well to Trouble (poor thing) and doesn’t like it much when I say the “Yo Quiero Taco Bell?” joke over and over again.

Now, I wait.  What a long day.  Perhaps it calls for merlot.  TGIF everyone, thank you for your support today. 

I didn’t leave Trouble at the pound, they allowed me to file a Found Dog report. I brought in a photo of him and they taped it on the back.  They said if I leave him there they give the owners 5 days to claim him, if he stays with me they have 30 days.  After 30 days I can call them and they’ll say “hey, you got yourself a new dog” apparently.  If my allergies flare up and I can’t keep him for whatever reason, they’ll take him in and put him up for adoption after five days.  So far my asthma is holding up, but I have welts where he scratches me the little stinker.  lol I can live with that.

I just couldn’t leave him there.  I’d rather have him here than in a sad old kennel.  :\ Dammit.

Now I’ll start posting stuff up around the neighborhood and place some ads and stuff. 

I’ve grown tired of calling him “Dog!” so I changed it to “Trouble.”

Took him in to the vet to get scanned, no chip.  Not neutered, no tags, no chip, ungroomed claws (they’re LONG!), left in middle of street.  I’m beginning to wonder W.T.F.

The Animal Control Shelter opens in half an hour, I really don’t know what to do.  I have welts all over from him scratching me (because he is a spaz and the vet assistant said it’s probably because he still has his family jewels) and my stupid allergies.  Somebody WILL adopt this dog, he’s just too nice and such a popular breed to end up in the gas chamber. 

I won’t let that happen either way.  I’ll leave him there on the condition that they call me if nobody claims him.  The only reason I’m considering doing this (rather than post an ad in the paper or craigslist) is because if my dog were lost, they would be the first people I call.  I am still running on the assumption that there is some frantic, caring owner out there that’s trying to find him. 

Another concern, though, is the fact that he has no tags.  What does Animal Control do to a dog with no tags?  I have no idea, I will need to find out.  I think, too, that they’ll have something to do about this not being neutered business.  Maybe the owner chose not to neuter for some reason, but if that’s the case—gotta put a tag on your dog dudes. 

If I don’t feel good about leaving him there, I guess I’ll have to place an ad and hope for the best.  I can not have a dog that I’m allergic to, as cute as he may be.  He can just stop being so cute curled up on the couch over there with his head tucked in his paws, it’s not gonna work. 

See?  TROUBLE! LOL

We’re off for a walk, in the rain no less, to see if we can find his moms.  Sigh.  Wish me luck.