Jesse came down to work on the cooler yesterday with the dogs and we actually had a little fun. For the last two days, our cooler wasn’t working properly. Tom thought it would work itself out (that’s how optimistic he is), but when I saw that it was 82º in here when it was on high and it was only 81º outside, I knew we needed to call Jesse. It’s his piece of shit anyway, so he should be the one to deal with it. So right after we heard Jesse return on the motorcycle, he called him.

He came down in the truck with the dogs in back. He then got on the roof and saw all the junk that had gotten into it which was why not all the pads were able to get water pumped to them.

When he got down I asked if the puppies had been born yet and he said they would be at the end of this month. The dogs look similar. For some reason, I had thought one was black and the other brown. But the female, which has shorter hair and is part Australian shepherd, part border collie, is mostly black with white markings and weird-colored eyes. The male, which is almost twice as big, has longer fur and brown eyes. Their names are Brandy and Whiskey (someone likes to drink).

I commented on how they’re wonderful when he’s here and naughty when he’s gone, and he said that while there’s only so much he can do, feel free to go on up there and yell at them and throw sticks and rocks at them. Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to do that, but tomorrow when he goes back to work I’ll go out and yell out the word “quiet,” which he assures me they do understand.

Jesse then took off to get his kid for a few hours like he usually does when he’s not working, then returned with him and the dogs. The kid’s adorable with freckles and a curly mop of hair.

So Jesse went up with his shop vac and vacuumed out the crap and that’s when the boy got out of the truck and we chatted with him and I patted the dogs. They’re very affectionate. Whiskey slobbered kisses all over me.

I was glad to hear Jesse say that his brother has 4 dogs which he thinks is too many. Good! Now I won’t have to worry about him starting a collection up there. I was also surprised and kind of glad to learn that you do have to get rid of your dogs if you get at least 4 complaints. This came up when I said I was glad the renters moved. He said he doesn’t know for sure that they moved, but that they might’ve started tying them up so they don’t lose them, which was when he mentioned that you can lose them with 4 complaints. I thought that he could get a million complaints against his own dogs and all he’d have to do is say, “But there’s nothing I can do about it when I’m out, and I work 12 hours a day, too long to keep a dog indoors.”

So a part of me wishes he’d get a few more complaints to go with the one I know he’s already got, but if going out and yelling, “Quiet Brandy, quiet Whiskey” will do the trick, so be it.

I joked about us trading houses and he laughed and said, “Yeah, especially with how often I’m gone.”

It kinda does suck to know that we’re two people crammed into 500 square feet, yet he’s just one person in more than twice this amount of space.

He said he’s got to clean out his own cooler too, so he’s going to pick up pumps and pads in case one of us needs them. He’s also going to aim for either after work or the weekend to bulldoze the back of the lot. He’s been saying that a while now, so I’ve got to see it to believe it.

Earlier in the morning, at around 8:00, I didn’t want to wait another hour or two for Tom to get up so I could run indoors. Therefore I ran outdoors instead. It was gorgeous out! Just smelling that fresh mountain air is really invigorating.

Between 6:00 - 6:30 is when he goes to bring his kid home and I knew they’d bark at that time. When they did I stepped outside and said, “Quiet,” loudly and sternly and it worked! I wish I had known the magic word months ago and that it keeps on silencing them this fast!