[nagdu] Now I know WAS RE: What do you do when...

Fri Feb 4 07:17:09 UTC 2011

So poison control was the right first call, suggested police nonemergency
for an air check, which I had considered but didn't know if that was the
thing to do or not...  So I did that, a couple of officers came out to sniff
the air or whatever else and agreed that there was indeed a very strong
odor...

Which they identified as mulch.  /lol/  The minute they said that, I could
identify the blend of odors and realized that indeed that was what I was
smelling.  Kinda nasty mulch, but just mulch.  Of course, I had taken Mitzi
into the front yard where it wasn't as strong about the time they showed up,
so she barked a time or two when one of them spoke to me, which woke up
Daisy, which woke up Wayne anyway.  So he came out, heard the mulch
diagnosis and took a deep whiff.  Oh, he agreed.  That would be mulch.

So now I feel relieved to feel very very very stupid for calling out the
authorities to sniff the air for that horrible poison that was going to kill
my dog the minute she had to go out to do her business, which turned out to
be just nasty mulch.  She'll live, but I'm kinda mortified.  /grin/

Happy the nearby neighbors haven't taken up cooking meth, too.  No thank
you.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tamara Smith-Kinney
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 10:14 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: [nagdu] What do you do when...

You go out into the still night air on the back porch and breathe in before
sitting down to light up a nice relaxing smoke...  Then stick your head back
in the door to rant at your roommate to come see if *he* can figure out what
that smell is because it is *wrong* and you need a second opinion about
whether something needs to be done about it...

I couldn't identify the smell, but after going through a number of
unpleasant options that wafted through my mind (with unfortunate visual
imagery) and ruling them out, I sat down and lit up thinking my own fumes
would cover it.  So then I decided to wander out back to see if there was
any difference there.  Honed in on my sense of smell now.  Cigarette smoke
really stinks if you stop and think about it.  /smile/  I came in to report
further on my findings and what my brain kept telling me it might be (if
you've ever been camping and walked past poorly buried human waste, you know
the closest odor I could come up).

So DD came out and stuck his head out the door.  Not raw sewage, he agreed.
Not somebody smoking pot (preferred option), not garbage, not one of those
(expletive deleted) kids taking a dump on our yard...  Nope!  Smells like
drugs, alright.  Smells like someone's cooking.

Did I mention absolutely still air here this evening?  It is really, really
close!  My first thought was that if they blow up our house when they
finally get around to blowing up theirs, I am going to be really (expletive
deleted).  Especially if our dogs get singed!

So off to bed went he with his dog, having agreed that there is nothing to
be done except feel vaguely unhappy and disgruntled about it.  So I decided
to just get on with that solution, checked on my dog and gave her our usual
after everybody else is in bed rub and sweet talk, then out of habit went
out to see if I could talk myself into relaxing again, especially my
muscles, which still need a lot of coaxing to stay happy....  

It's worse!  My throat is still burning, even after I just sacrficed the
cigarette and came indoors.   Absolutely furious, because it had suddenly
occurred to me:

Pretty soon my *guide dog* is going to walk through that to do her business.
In the morning, both dogs are going to walk through that to do their
business...  Insert expletive deletes to taste.

The solution this evening is to take Mitzi out the front door when she's
ready to do her thing before bed.  That's not so good an option with Daisy,
since we -- and pretty much everyone -- we keep her in the fenced part of
the yard unless big strong DD is holding her leash.  She does okay these
days in Halti, which I guess I need to find hers for morning, but DD does
*not* like it when I take her out even then just in case she gets loose.
She's doing really well these days, a sweet sweet angel, but...  She *is*
Daisy, and fear aggression is forever.

More cusswords, please!  If it affects me, I don't want either of my 50
pound dogs breathing it in!  And one of them *is* my guide dog.  I am so ...
you know, the expletives and all.

Does anyone anywhere know what one is to do in these situations?  Can I
expect anything to happen (beyond snide laughter on the other end of the
phone) if I call law enforcement to tell them I smell something nasty and
I'm afraid it will hurt my guide dog (or me, but I'm pretty sure my throat
will recover...).  What about poison control?  I'm not sure what they're
supposed to tell me, but it's clearly toxic, so that would be poison, right?

Okay..  Also, apparently my computer is have a serious senior moment while I
am typing fast, so I went to check my search results and discovered enough
letters were missing from my search query, that Google wanted to know if I
meant pain control...  Which is what I need to be doing right now and which
does not involve being uptight about poison in the air, thank you for point
that out.  /lol/

Suggestions welcome!  Meanwhile, I'd better take this rant away from
keyboard before I start forgetting to deleting my expletives!

Oh, if anyone has some of those to add to my existing supply, let me know!
I'm bored with my own repertoire just now.  /grin/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tamara Smith-Kinney
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 8:11 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Getting back your cane legs

Only when there are lots of people around when I'm doing it.  /lol/  Or is
that just because these days I only use a cane to shop and go around the
shopping center while I'm waiting for my poodle to get her hair done?  /lol/

In cane anyone is wondering, my cane sucks at the "find" command.  One day I
was thinking especially hard about where the aisle I wanted was in relation
to where I was standing and got really mad at my cane for not obeying
"Forward! Left!"

Then again, DD starts giving me the guide dog commands to tell me which way
to go when we're doing whatever it is together.  /lol/  Tami, forward.
Okay, now, left.  Halt!  I said *HALT*!  Left.  /lol/  Now I know how Mitzi
feels.  I'd bite me if I were her.  I might bite him at those time if I had
her teeth.  Teehee.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Cindy Ray
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 4:52 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] Getting back your cane legs

I had a lot more trouble adjusting from a cane to a dog, but even now it
isn't too difficult for me to switch to the cane. I rarely do because the
great doctor to whom I used to be married said to me before I got my first
dog, "When you are getting a dog, you need to think of all the places you
would rather not use it or think it would be difficult and then do it." Now
I know there are places where this is inappropriate counsel, and, of course,
I think he did, too, but he was saying if you are going to have a dog, use
it. I miss the dog when he isn't with me much as I would miss my child, and
I miss the tug on the left side. That's partly why the awkward feeling. Has
anyone ever given his/her cane commands?

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