yes yes yes

Two hours and $160 dollars later the lump turned out to be just an abscess. The vet recommended letting her body heal itself but to watch the lump in case it gets worse. We've got a return appointment scheduled in three weeks for some follow up shots. I kind of lapsed on some of her boosters so we have to restart the process again. Thankfully these are the shots that cost the least. We're very lucky and I'm quite happy that two bullets were dodged today. Pretty paws is happily chewing up her tooth cleaning treat the vet techs gave her. Phew!

I haz a abscess?

no no no

I haz a tumor?

Sunday afternoon while I was lying in bed and talking on the phone, I was petting the beagle as she lounged beside me. It was then when I felt a lump just above the top of her front right leg. SHIT! That was my first thought. Please don't be cancer was the second. I'm thankful that I had an appointment booked this week for her annual booster shots. Bridgette is fine and the lump doesn't seem to bother her in the slightest. I wish I could say the same for me. Family and friends have been doing their best to allay any fears I might have, but it really hasn't helped. She's reached the age where this kind of thing is common, but (to me) she's still the puppy I brought home and raised. Yes it could be benign but I won't be at ease until I know for sure. See I lost my last dog to cancer and the way things went down were not pretty. I don't want to see my baby go through that and wish her to have a long happy medically uncomplicated life. Our appointment is at 4pm tomorrow afternoon and I can already tell it's going to be a long long day for me.

cutting ceremony

I had some time this morning and finally got around to going through my stack of credit cards. Half hadn't been used in a while and were already closed due to inactivity as I learned when calling creditors. This practice used to annoy me when I wanted to use the card again, but for once I've learned to appreciate it. The eulogy was moving, but short as there were a few cards to eulogize. The beagle was solemn throughout. Truth be told it was the cutting that took the longest due to the cheap scissors and my anal retentive need to be thorough with each cut. The ceremony convened in the kitchen with refreshments. Coffee, mini cinnamon rolls, water, and pupcorn (I was out of punch and pie).

My checkbook/wallet kind of looks like it was on a crash diet because it's thin again.

home at last ...

I shopped around for land yesterday and realized my house in the country dream may not be dead after all. It's all contingent on selling my CA land though. If sold I could afford the new land, containers, fixtures, and have a bigger nest egg than I do now. If I don't sell I still have a place to go where no one can throw me (and good friends) off of it. Sold or not I wouldn't be living there anytime soon because I'm gonna be living mobile first for a while. This is strictly for the future. Taking to heart the wisdom of a good friend who said "don't count on that money and plan without it". So let's just say it doesn't sell and I pay for the new land out of pocket. I found some choice pieces of property in NM and AZ.  I found a semi remote place where they're selling at $500 per acre. I'm calling them Monday to verify as well as ask a bunch of other questions about it. If everything checks out I may buy 2 acres with my next bonus check (in May). It's too good a deal not to! In AZ I found a few 20 acres plats for around 10k. I picked them because of the price and remoteness of the area. The size helps to keep neighbors at a healthy distance. The problem is the cost takes me away from debt freedom. Not possible unless the CA land sells. *crosses fingers*

For the country house I researched shipping containers homes which I'll call SCH's from now on. The cost of SCH's are affordable enough to where (had I the money and land now) I could purchase and have them placed on my property if I wanted to. Using recycled housing materials will help to further drastically reduce the costs as well. What really draws me to SCH's is how easy and versatile they are for building. They have insulated models which carry the same R rating as conventional housing insulation. All I really need to do is cut holes in it to install the doors, windows, plumbing and could move in right then and there. In reality I would probably spend the total allotted cost on making the inside nice and leave the outside looking as is. These things are built to withstand ocean weather so I know they can handle whatever the desert dishes out easily. However the two things I would do to the outside are to build a deck/porch and an angled roof for water collection. Then I'll plant my veggies get some chickens, and Bob's your uncle!

Now if this seems like I plan too much in my life. I'm really not since it's most likely 3-10 years away from starting. I like to start early and take my time thinking big decisions like this through. The reality is that circumstances change and the benefit of starting now is that I can plan to incorporate any advances while also discarding whatever becomes obsolete. I've learned some pretty hard lessons in not employing providence in my life. I'm not making that mistake again good, bad, or ugly. 

i got nothing

I've been watching videos on youtube.com the last two weeks. Normally it's a complete waste of time. I'm still not sure that I didn't just waste two weeks of time I won't get back. I did a lot of (pseudo) research on various subjects. It was really more of me just clicking whatever interested me in the "Recommended" column. So here's a quick list of all the things I spent a substantial amount of time on (in no order). By substantial I mean that I watched at least more than 6 videos about said subject and/or spent time googling it for further study.

Guinea Pigs as pets
Rats as pets
Squirrels as pets
Chipmunks as pets
Various clips from Star Trek
How to hunt jack rabbits
How to skin jack rabbits
How to hunt quail
How to hunt pheasant
Sons of Anarchy bloopers
Earth bag homes
German shepherd puppies and dogs
Shipping container homes
Homes under 400sq feet
Tiny house movement home tours

In review I'm seeing that I took away a lot more than I realized. The two main things that were reinforced were my desires to raise another german shepherd dog and have a house in the country. There'll be another beagle in there too, but my baby has plenty of years left on her clock. The thought of getting another one isn't being entertained at this time. The tiny house movement was very inspiring and educational because now I know I can get what I want on the cheap. I'm not looking to settle down in one place yet; I am thinking about how I might make that happen when I'm ready.

a small confession

I'm not sure what you'll all think of me after I tell you this, but here goes. I logged into my credit union account every day (for a week) after paying off the credit card and auto loan just to bask in the glow of the creamy goodness zero balance. There, I said it!