Alarm Clock

I don't need one. Because EVERY MORNING the dogs next door start barking at exactly 6:30 am. I don't know if it's because someone next door gets up at 6:30 every day and they hear them, or they are used to being fed at 6:30 and are barking in excitement because it's food time, or some neighborhood cat crosses their fence at exactly 6:30 or what. But, every morning, without fail, they start barking at 6:30. Yes, we have complained but it hasn't done much good. I am about ready to go buy them shock collars, though.

Our neighbors are a little odd, there are 3 women living there along with the toddler son of one of the women (yes, 2 of them are 'partners'), 5 dogs, 3 outdoor and 2 indoor, and I think there are currently about 8 or so cats, all outdoor. The dogs didn't used to bark until they found a stray dog and brought it home to join the 2 already in the back yard and the new dog really really likes to bark. And sets off the other 2 every time it starts barking. Then if they let the 2 little indoor dogs outside, they like to bark too. And growl if you walk anywhere near their fence.

Hoarders? We think so.

Oh, and apparently the world as we know it is coming to an end tomorrow. All of us non-believers are going to be watching all of the believers get sucked up into the sky on their way to Heaven and we're going to be left behind. Oh, snap!

We were talking about being responsible pet owners yesterday afternoon and how we really need to get all the kids to the vet this year, so we made an appointment for Lucy for tomorrow (depending on if the world is still here, that is) and will stagger all the rest of them out over the next few months, taking one cat every 3 weeks or so until they are all checked out and have their shots and get their anal glands (Pepper) expressed if needed, and maybe even get their teeth (Bear) cleaned because she has such bad gum issues, and hopefully we will still have some money left after all that. We are going to take them all to the new Affordable Animal Hospital just up the road. One of the vets from our old animal clinic started her own clinic so we thought we'd help support her new business. Hopefully the prices will be a little lower, since the name is AFFORDABLE after all. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they are open until 6 each weekday, and open until 5 on Saturdays.