1) I absolutely cannot stand it when I'm talking to someone, and I ask a question, and they just ignore it. I'm not talking about situations when I ask a question and whomever I'm talking to doesn't give me a straight answer to it, I'm talking about people who just completely act as if the question had never been asked and start talking about something else. This happened to me again yesterday! I just don't understand the rudeness of it.
I guess what really bothers me is that they weren't even personal questions. I know my idea of personal information and other people's ideas are sometimes different, but I generally don't ask knowingly personal questions of people unless we're very good friends and I think they'd be comfortable telling me. I'll even go a step further and say that I completely understand even when those friends don't want to talk about those things with me, if they are truly personal and uncomfortable to talk about. They can just tell me they don't want to talk about it or whatever and I'm OK with that.
However, to just ignore a general question (one I'd needed an answer for) in the middle of a conversation is just so flipping rude! I even repeated myself thinking that they didn't hear me, but I know they did. Then the person I was talking to just turned around and started talking to someone else (about the same dang subject) as if I had just evaporated. I sat there, trying to figure out if what I asked was rude or prying in some way (and, hand to God, I can't see how that's possible considering the subject of our talk) but it just flew all over me. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but I guess I just don't understand how otherwise generally well-bred people can just be so freaking rude for no reason. I can't imagine ever doing that. It's like slamming a door in someone's face mid sentence.
Sorry for being ranty, but people who are blatantly rude just get up my nose.
2) Are there any amateur dog whisperers out there? Butler has been acting very weird and it's worrying me.
About two weeks ago we had to take him to the vet for his normal "old man" check-up and shots. As you know, he hates getting in the car and going places, so it was as traumatic as it always is. He didn't have a complete strip-the-gears checkup, but they did the usual blood work and senior exam stuff, but nothing really out of the ordinary. When we got him home he refused to go outside, which is weird. It was really weird. He wanted to come into the house and stay, but we can't let him do that usually because he's very clingy and if he's loose inside the house he basically wants to walk in-between your feet and stay right with you. That means that you can't really do anything productive. We eventually had to push him outside, which I hate to do because it makes me fee l so mean, but he seemed fine once he got out there so we didn't worry too much.
Fast forward to that night when we put them to bed. Both dogs have been trained since they were puppies that they go into their kennels to sleep after they eat. That's just the way it's always been. Before we had gone to the vet, Butler had been doing this thing where we'd get him settled into his kennel, and then he'd stand up and scratch at the door. We finally figured out that it was because he wanted a drink of water, so we had gotten used to letting him out at least once every night to do that. If he stood up again, we'd just tell him it was time to sleep and he'd lay down again. But that night he refused to lay down. He'd bat at the door and whine, and I'd let him out to see if he was thirsty or if he needed to go outside. I wasn't sure if any of the shots had caused him to feel bad or something, and I didn't want a repeat of the horrible thing that happened in his kennel a while back. He didn't want to go outside and he didn't want water. He just started wandering around the house, which really isn't like him at all. Then he'd come back into the living room and go to kennel again. We'd close it up and the whole thing would start over again. We finally just went to bed, thinking he'd eventually lay down again, but he wouldn't. We could hear him scratching at the kennel door and doing that pitiful nose whistling thing that breaks my heart. I'd get up and let him out, but he'd just wander around again. I knew that if we kept getting up and letting him out, he'd never stop, so I finally had to just go to bed and try not to listen to him whine. Eventually we just took both dogs outside and let them stay out for the night, just in case he really was feeling sick.
It has been a little over two weeks and he is still doing it. I don't know what's wrong. We didn't get back any bad health reports from the vet, and at every other time of the day he seems exactly the same as usual. He sleeps, barks and pees on things. That's just how he rolls. But at night it's like he suddenly has the surge of nervous energy and he can't be still. We've tried sitting up with him for a while, we've tried sleeping in the living room with him(and I'd like to apologize to anyone who has ever had to sleep on our couch. It's torturous.) to see if he's just suddenly gotten some kind of separation anxiety. He still wants out while we're in there, and he will eventually lie down, but he jumps up anytime he hears a noise. I don't even know what to say to the vet if I were to call her. "Uh, my dog won't sleep at night, even though he sleeps all day. I know you said he needs more exercise, but we can't take him on walks at 1:00 in the morning!" He just sounds so pitiful and it also gets aggravating, because Steve and I need to sleep at night. I don't know. I just don't want to ignore him if he's got a problem, but it seems less like he's got a problem and more like he's just wanting to piss me off. Bless him.
3) This is a sad, but beautifully written piece that I think you should read. A friend of mine wrote it. It hurts my heart, but it also is a lovely bit of writing.
4) We had ants in our kitchen over the weekend. ANTS. You know how I feel about bugs of any type being in my house, but ants just tick me off. They are so tiny and hard to kill! I had seen one on my kitchen curtain earlier that day, but it was just the one. I can't remember if I killed it or not, but I think I did. Later that night Steve went to get something off of the counter and they were just...bleh...everywhere. Apparently I'd spilled some sugar behind the canister, and didn't realize it, and they were having a grand old time nomming away. The only poison spray we have to kill bugs is this high-octane stuff that is supposed to kill everything in it's path, but I know for a fact it doesn't kill ants. I nearly poisoned myself with it once trying to kill some ants in the cabinet, so I didn't want to spray it on the counters just in case I accidentally get it on something I'll eventually eat (again.) We ended up having to move everything, spraying bleach and water all over the counter-tops, and going on a stalking mission to hunt down and kill every last one of them. Our house reeked of bleach, and it ended up fading some of the paint on the wall, and the damned ants still were coming out of the woodwork. Literally, they were coming out of the woodwork. Apparently we have a breach that can't be fixed until we completely replace a window. Curses. Anyway, I finally located some of those ant bait things that we had left over from last time we had the ant problem and put them in strategic places. The ants went in and out of them, and a day later we didn't have anymore ants. So, yay, I guess.
I still feel guilty for using the ant traps. I mean, yes, I hate the ants and want them to die. But it's one thing when you're tracking them down and killing them yourself. It's completely another to trick them: "Oooooh, look, I'm providing you with delicious food! Please take it back to your home and share it with your family! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I realize how dumb it is to feel guilty for that, but there you go...
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