Yesterday our rude, selfish prick of a landlord left at 8am, and on the motorcycle, as I figured would be the case. I was hoping he’d wait till between 11am - 1pm like he used to, but nope. So off the dogs went on their barking spree which I figured would last till noon at which time I thought Jesse would return, then head out again an hour or two later for a few hours, then maybe go out one more time for yet a few more hours. Instead, we didn’t hear him return till 5:00.

The dogs are definitely morning barkers as opposed to afternoon barkers. We occasionally hear them in the afternoons, but they seem to sleep the afternoons away for the most part. So when they started up after Jesse left, I opened the door and yelled at them to shut up, then Tom went out and whistled at them. Because the leaves haven’t fully grown back yet, he could see them come running toward the edge of the hill. After that, they were quiet, which convinces me all the more that all the barking is over not wanting to be left alone. I don’t know why they decided in November that that was when they no longer wanted to be left alone, but I’m 99% sure it’s not that there’s anything that’s been stirring them up.

Then Tom got a great idea I wish he’d told me about months ago, although I don’t know if it will help for sure. He told me that dog whistles, which people use to train dogs with, may control the barking. Especially if I’m right about it being a case of them not wanting to be left alone. If they bark and get whistled at in response, they may not feel so alone. I don’t know if things will ever be like they used to be around here, but this will give us an idea as to whether or not the debarker will work. The debarker has a money-back guarantee, but why shell out $80 for something that might very well not work? Yet if they can hear the whistle, they could hear the debarker. It’s supposed to be inaudible to humans. All we’d hear was a slight wind sound of the air actually being blown through the thing. This is good too, cuz then I can use it while Tom’s sleeping. The only thing is that it was under $10 so it’s not automatic like the one we want to get sometime in May. But if it will help stop the 5:30 - 9:00 weekday barking sprees, that’d be great, since obviously no one else is going to do a damn thing about it. So we’ll take responsibility for his dogs, and we’ll pay for it, too. The whistle should arrive next Thursday or Friday. We got it on eBay and it’s coming from SC.

If nothing we get works, then we’ll have to give Jesse an ultimatum. Either shut them up or lose us. Or maybe take a couple hundred off the rent.

We have 3 auctions ending on eBay in 8 hours. Two auctions with just a single hardcover book, and a 27-lot of paperbacks. Right now it’s not looking good at all. The lot may go, but the singles aren’t likely.