Rant, rant, rant!!!

Okay, now it's my turn to rant! I hate, I HATE, irresponsible pet owners and their !@#$ pets! Today, for the second time (that I'm aware of... it may have happened more), I found pee from some STUPID animal right by my front door! If I lived in a ground level apartment, I don't think I'd have room to bicker as much, but I live UPSTAIRS. Not only that, but each upstairs apartment has its OWN PRIVATE STAIRCASE! The first time, I'm quite sure it was a dog (due to the large, um, volume), but this time it might have been one of the stupid stray cats around here (because the corner of our welcome mat is also shredded now! I don't mind pet cats, but I HATE STRAYS! OOOH! I'm just really frustrated right now. I called the main office and complained, saying I've seen lots of people around here letting their dogs run around off leashes, and asked them what I could use to get the smell out. After all, one sure-fire thing that would attract more animal pee is, of course, the smell of animal pee! The first time it happened, last summer, I used bleach... large amounts of it. Well today, the lady up at the office told me that white vinegar would do the trick. Luckily, I had a whole unopened gallon jug of the stuff under my kitchen sink. I probably dumped about 2-3 cups, full strength, on the pee spot after rinsing it with a big ol' pitcher of water. I also scrubbed our umbrella, which also got peed on, with vinegar. By the way, if management catches someone with their animal off a leash, they get fined like 25 bucks... but that's a hard rule to enforce (due to the large size of our apartment complex and the limited office hours).

Well, now my entry way smells like vinegar. Vinegar I can live with... animal pee-- NOT A CHANCE! And, if it rains within the next few days, that might help dilute the strong vinegar scent. This whole thing is just a pain in the butt! Man, if I ever catch a cat or dog doing their business by our front door, they're not gonna know what hit 'em when my foot connects with them!

It may not sound like it, but I really do like animals. I just hate ones that aren't mine when they pee on and destroy my stuff! We're planning on getting a dog someday, and we've had many pets in the past (ie., guinea pigs, rats, love birds, hamsters, chinchillas, fish). We won't get cats because of my husbands severe allergy to them, but we'll definitely get a dog. For now, we'll just have to settle with fish. We've lived here for almost a year, and until a few weeks ago, we've had two empty fish tanks. We've got them almost all set up now... all we have to do really is get them established before we can get fishies to put in them. Fish are cool. They're clean, quiet, and require minimal attention... and did I mention they're clean?

Whew! I'm feeling a little better right now. It's nice to rant every now and then. I've got to get some stuff done now cuz we are going to the new Ice Age movie tonight. Jasmine is really excited about that. Ty had better behave himself, the little twerp! Tomorrow, we might take a drive up to Seattle for the weekend. We could probably listen to General Conference on the radio while we're driving, (we dont' get it on TV here in Oregon). I sure hope that we can find a station that is gonna broadcast it. I've gotta get some laundry done and stuff prepared, just in case we DO decide to go. So, adieu.