There are few things more frustrating than dealing with a bureaucracy. Case in point. I've been getting letters from the city for several months now, saying that Dash wasn't registered and threatening me with a big fine. Each time I get one of these letters, I call animal control and tell them that Dash is indeed properly registered and read them his current tag number. Usually, I just leave a voice mail message because it's hard to get through to city employees. Today I got lucky and ended up talking to a real animal control officer. I read her the identification number on the registration tag on Dash's collar and she said she would look it up and call me back. About twenty minutes later I got a call informing me that the tag Dash was wearing really belonged to Dot. I told the lady that this was impossible, since the dogs get their city tags at their annual exam and Dot hadn't even
had her exam for 2012. The woman insisted that the tag belonged to Dot and that I needed to get another tag for Dash. I told her to call my vet and they would straighten things out. After a while I got another call from animal control. "Everything has been straightened out," the lady said. "Just put Dash's tag on Dot's collar and we'll send you another tag for Dash." "Can't you just change your records to show that the tag you currently have listed as Dot's really belongs to Dash?" "No, we can't do that," said the lady. "Dot is already registered." This conversation could have gone on all day. I just couldn't seem to get through to animal control that Dot hadn't even
had her 2012 annual exam yet and couldn't possibly be registered. Oh, and the city says that Dot has already had her rabies shot too. Nope. That's not true either. The bottom line is that the city is happy now, even though things are hopelessly confused. At least I won't get hit with a $2000 fine.
I wish our yard attracted nice little critters like hummingbirds. This year, all it seems to be attracting are wasps and spiders. There are so many spiderwebs on the hedge at the back of our yard that it looks like one of those white flocked Christmas trees. Hopefully, these spiders serve some useful purpose, because there seems to be more of them every year. Luckily the bees haven't returned this year, but we sure have plenty of wasps. There are wasp nests everywhere. I tried to spray some of these nests today without getting bitten and somehow ended up getting bug spray on my tongue. Yuk! I went inside and immediately rinsed my mouth out. I don't think I've been poisoned or anything, but it definitely wasn't a good taste.
It was so hot at dog training class this evening that all the dogs seemed to be doing their exercises in slow motion. Everyone brought plenty of water for their dog, but the dogs weren't interested in working. Who could blame them. Unlike people, dogs are sensible creatures. I know that Dot and Dash would much rather have stayed home this evening with their noses in front of an air conditioner vent.
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