That felt awful

Was out walking around my neighborhood yesterday (literally around - it is a loop and I know that if I do five loops it equals two miles).  Anyway, out walking, had the baby and the dog with me.

Loop one: walked past neighbor leaning on his car, calling for his son to hurry up and come outside.

Loop two: neighbor and son are in the cul de sac, tossing a football back and forth, looks to me like they know what they are doing.  My dog tries to pull me, the stroller with the baby and himself over to investigate and possibly take the football and run off.

Loop three: neighbor asks me if I am new to the neighborhood.  No, I have been here three years.  Really, says he, wow.  I don't know what to say to that so I reiterate the three years bit.  Plus, I walk around the loop A LOT so it's on him for not seeing me before.  Where do you live, he asks.  I point, he asks if we have the yellow Beetle, I say yes.  He asks what I do.

I say that I left my job to stay home with my baby ohbutIalsoamacommunicationsconsultantfromhome.  Before I can rush that mouthful out, oh, says he, and asks what my husband does. 

I head off on loop four, alternating between mentally hitting myself in the head for saying that I stay home with my kid and drowning myself in guilt for feeling like that was totally lame.

But he was the one who acted all dismissive when I said that, so he shouldn't have made me feel badly.

But I am the one who felt badly.  

So again I ask you, why do we hate mamas?  

Fences are Good Neighbors

It should be known that I love animals. I'm a softy for them and am constantly thinking of new ways to convince my husband that we can adopt just one more cat and/or dog. Usually, it's the cat and/or dog with heart trouble or three legs or is 90 percent blind ("but I can help them find what they need!").

So...

My neighbor is an ass. Quite honestly. Almost so much he is a donkey. Or a burro (although, truth be told, I kind of want a donkey-slash-burro and should maybe not say such mean things about those kind, gentle animals). But we did build an entire fence just to not have to be subjected to the audio and visual yickiness from next door.

He has roommates (which I thought didn't happen past the age of 30) and they throw loud parties and leave their empties on the back porch (again, not past 30?). One of the old roommates had a dog - a female German Shepherd - who was made to stay outside, like, all the time.

Eventually roommate #1 goes away. Much rejoicing that there is no longer a sad, lonely puppy crying next to my house.

But along comes new roommate. New roommate ALSO brings with him a dog, this time a long-haired little dachshund with the sweetest little yip; we'll call her Enid (although her real name is so much more cute). Enid is tied to a stake in the middle of the yard all day long. Sometimes he doesn't bring her in at night, so it turns into 24+ hours that dear, adorable little Enid is staked in the yard (if he doesn't want other dogs in the house, WHY KEEP GETTING DOG-OWNING ROOMMATES?).

Enid yips when people are outside at the house, either leaving in their car or driving into the driveway. They ignore her. Enid yips because she is freakin' bored and has no shelter and has empty food and water bowls. They ignore her.

Enid likes us. We'll go over when no one is there to give her a biscuit or two. We toss her toys back within reach of her tie-out. I cry when someone comes home and I see her get so excited and wag her short little tail so hard it looks like it will launch her into the air, but they only ignore her or she gets a pat and her bowl gets moved out of the hot sun. This literally just happened and is why I'm sitting here angrily banging on the keyboard, sniffling and wiping my eyes).

My dog gets a biscuit every time he actually eats all the food we put into his bowl (it doesn't happen all the time). He gets fresh, cold water every single day. He has a basket of toys on the ground that he knows he can go to at anytime if he wants something to chew on. He has a cat to chase around, He gets a walk almost every single day and gets to take trips to the dog park several times a month.

We should be thanked for being such good pet parents (both have been "socially customized," both have regular vet appointments and are licensed...) and the roommate should not get to have a dog. As it is, we both get to have dogs.

That doesn't seem fair to the dog.

Or to the neighbors, who think they should get to take the dog and let the dog come live with them because they would clearly be much better, loving pet parents.