Last night I was sooo pissed! Still am, too. From around 9:00 - 11:30 the dogs went crazy. Tom suspects Jesse was out and that something, probably a cat, was teasing them. Cats do it to dogs all the time, Tom says. There were no lights on up there when I looked up the hill, and had it not been for the late hour and the fact that Maryann is a long-distance call from the landline, I’d have called her.

Tom said Jesse would want the dogs to go off at the slightest of sounds when he’s gone, but what about us down here? We’re the ones that have to deal with it, and no amount of barks, alarms or any other ruckus would stop a break-in anyway in such a secluded place, so why be rude and inconsiderate to us and make us have to listen to it when it serves no purpose? I don’t know why people are under the notion that dogs or alarms will cause a neighbor to call the pigs. It ain’t their stuff that’s being ripped off, so what do they care? People only care if the problem is theirs.

Of course, there’s no saying for sure he was truly gone. Maybe he just didn’t give a damn, though I don’t see how he could stand such noise that close to him if it was loud enough to be annoying down here. And of course Tom, being the paranoid guy that he is, was reluctant to say anything for fear of us being booted out. Well, for one, that’s our right to say something since we’re the ones paying him, and we don’t have to come across as complaining as opposed to simply asking what was wrong and if there was anything going on around here we should know about, hoping he’d take the hint. But in the end, I decided to put the call on hold at least for now since it’s only been the third or so time it’s been bad, and people just don’t care. If he cared, he wouldn’t leave them outdoors round the clock. Why doesn’t anyone want dogs for pets? Why must they always be tossed outside like old furniture? Tom thinks they’re allowed indoors or else they’d be barking all the time, but I disagree. I’ve heard barks in the wee hours of the night, so I know they’re at least outdoors all night yet they don’t bark all the time then. I was hopeful that Jesse would get back to work, but now I’m not so sure if that’s going to cause the dogs to be allowed to be out of control more often. I’d rather his engines, chainsaws, voices, horns and whatever else, though I still wish he’d keep the damn things on the other side of the house if he’s not going to take them inside. I’m surprised there hasn’t been blasting music yet. Who knew our own landlord would be noisy at times?! When we moved here I was under the understanding that the “neighbor” was the people with the goats and that we’d be the only ones on the land. I had no idea anyone was up there. Either way, I will call Maryann since Jesse simply has his phone for show and not for answering if it gets to be a regular problem, and I’ll politely remind her why we wanted to move here in the first place. If I simply say we’re “concerned,” they might not get that what we’re really trying to say, since people are dumb, is that the dogs annoy us. Then again, they may not care. Meanwhile, it’s still the quietest place I’ve ever lived in so far on an overall basis, and there’s really no getting anything much quieter as long as you can’t be right smack in the middle of a 40 or more-acre farm, and I wasn’t kidding when I said I was sick of running from noise. If it does get noisy, we won’t be running since we’re not the ones causing the problem. I doubt Jesse would be a poor sport about it if we did have to complain for reasons I mentioned before. God protects our perps, yet how could he protect Jesse if he screwed us? How could he stop us from sneaking back in here in the middle of the night and vandalizing or torching the place or even killing the dogs? Jesse’s got money. He could easily get new dogs and drag in a new trailer (Tom found a sticker on it that suggests it was brought in in 2001 and not 1994), but who would want the hassles? Especially after all the time and money spent on this place?

Anyway, if he was out, he obviously did return at some point last night because Tom heard his chainsaw before I got up. We also heard the motorcycle. Then, when I was in the shower, someone drove down here. Tom said it was an old car that turned around, shot up to Jesse’s, set the dogs off, then turned around and left. Probably someone who was lost. I don’t have any bad vibes, but if it was anyone staking the place out unless they shot me or there were too many of them, it wouldn’t be very wise to tangle with me right now in this foul mood. God, that old familiar city stress is right back on after last night’s antics and it sucks! Not to the degree that it was in the city, of course, but now I’m stressing out over the idea of them going off and stealing the peace even when they’re not. Fucking dogs have been tormenting me ever since I left the East, and a little before that, too! In 2 of the 5 apartments I had back east, they were an issue, as well as every single goddamn place I’ve lived in the west. We discussed the idea, once again, of getting an anti-barking device, but I not only don’t feel it should be our job to take responsibility for controlling someone else’s dogs, but I think they’re slightly beyond the 75’ range the device is limited to, plus I don’t think the signal could go through the trees much less the hillside itself. The thing would be suitable for if we ever do buy a house (which I doubt) in a retirement community because then we’d be boxed in with barking just a few feet away like we were in Phoenix. It couldn’t go through block walls, though.

Tom got up late today, so there wasn’t any time to get a box in Auburn, but he says he can get one Sunday if they have him come into work tomorrow. I guess they’re back to being busy again, so no chance of being laid off this week. I just wonder how many more months it’ll be before I can get to a damn dentist! I wish he’d quit dreaming with the horses and get hunting in Auburn for a job with benefits, but he wants to wait till we get an address here first, which makes sense.