Month: June 2005

So our France vacation begins, we are on our red eye (Swiss air) to Geneva. On the flight are Ben, Jeremy, Doris, Katherine, Bob, Vincent and Edda. Ben and Emy arrived at JFK via the subway. Bob and Katherine arrive together and the four of us take the trusty Volvo down the Taconic freeway to JFK. Jeremy and I are driving along the Hutchinson freeway, which is just north of NYC, when Vince announces that he has to go potty. Now we are in the heart of NYC traffic. If we get off at an exit, they only lead to other freeways or else into the city where we are bound to get lost. Jeremy pulls over to the side of the Hutch and tells Vince firmly, “Pee only, no poop.” Vince looks at Jeremy and says, “I gotta poop, no pee.” So there we are on the side of the Hutch, a million cars whizzzing by and there is my son, crouching and making a turd as large as Ruby’s on the side of the freeway. Jeremy insists on picking up the poop, so we wrap it in a diaper and shove it into an empty Kleenex box.

Speaking of Ruby, we left her at this place, Professional Pet People in Rhinebeck, NY. She was excited to see the other doggies there (it’s a completely cageless boarding place), but once she realized that we were leaving her there, she jumped over the 3.5 foot high fence, they had to put her in the back where the yard had a higher fence. She was pretty sad to be left there.

Three couples went to Washougal home and we had crab and rost duck dinner with the wine. Test of this wine is very good. All my friends love it. Thanks to Jeremy and doris.

All ladies helped to cook and wash the dishes. So my job was much easier. One of them bought a home about 10 miles away from us. We are trying to convince the other to buy one. We also had “Den Sin” today too. There is a newly opened place in Portland.

We went to rose garden too. It is very pretty this time.

Hmmm, he’s not logged into Yahoo.

So we have been agonizing over the flights because of Ruby. Ruby has the most complicated paperwork, with proof of vaccinations and treatments within specific time frames, a USDA certificate of export from Albany and an import license issued from SGP. I was hoping to take a non-stop flight from NYC, so we could be assured once on the plane in NYC, no paperwork glitch was going to stop us from reaching Singapore with Ruby. But the non-stop flight is 20 hours, pretty much guarenteeing that Ruby would poop/pee in her crate after holding it as much as she could and also we found out this flight is weight restricted and Ruby would not be allowed on the plane. They use every extra bit of weight capacity for fuel, so nothing extra. So we were looking a two flights, both stopping in Frankfurt. We were assured that the folks in Frankfurt were quite good at dog handling and that there would be a vet to look after Ruby. The two flights were one with an 80 minute layover and one with a 12 hour layover. The critical thing was to figure out if Ruby would be able to get out of her crate to pee and walk around a little bit. I was disparing that we would never find out exactly what happens in the cargo area of the Frankfurt airport and inclined to go as quickly as possible to SGP via the short layover, but my sweet husband, Jeremy found out (after about 50 calls and emails) that the dogs get to get out of the crate and walk around starting one hour after the plane lands and then they get back into their crates one hour before the flight takes off. Ruby will get to walk around and get food and water. So we are doing the long layover. It’s crazy, but this is the thing that is worrying me most about moving. I just invision us stopped in Frankfurt with the Germans not allowing Ruby on the flight to SGP. Then we would be screwed. But our vet is preparing paperwork for import into Germany, just in case something weird happens. I guess worse could happen, it would only be a paperwork snafu, and not really anything terrible. We would just have to work with a German vet to get the German paperwork ready.

Vince is going to miss his school a lot. He really enjoys it so much. Ms. Pat, his teacher, really does a good job. Today they came home with handmade Father’s Day Gifts! (I’m glad you got the wine dad, sorry it was a hassle, I thought the apt complex could do it. It is from Jeremy’s favorite winery – maybe he can tell you the story…)) I hope his new school will be just as much fun for him.

Jeremy took the day off today and we all went up to Bard. Actually, we went to Bard last night. Today was a full day, it started off slowly, but we all went to the dentist, then Ruby had an appointment and then Vince and Edda had a playdate with Andrew and finally a dinner party at Bob and Katherine’s place.

Vince’s portrait of me. Notice the Thomas the Tank engine placemat.

Since we don’t have a TV, we watch the washer.

Spaghetti for breakfast. What a mess!

So things are getting crazy around here. Today the movers are coming to survey the apartment and tell us how long it will take them to pack and move us.

Jeremy is doing conference calls every night this week to Singapore and also handling the dog import rules. It looks like we are going to fly through Frankfurt, so we have to confirm rules in Singapore/Germany and the US. It looks as if the dog handling services in Germany are quite professional and are good at telling us what to do to make Ruby comfortable for the airplane ride. We have to see if Ruby gets to get out of her crate to pee in Frankfurt or not.

Hmmm, what else? Tonight we are going up to Bard to take care of Trudy/Ruby while the Martins are in NYC. We all have dentist appointments tomorrow and Ruby has a vet appointment tomorrow as well.

And, oh yes, this weekend we are flying to Europe.

Vince has been so excited to have Jeremy home. Yesterday, we went swimming in the pool at the apartment complex. Today we went to Tot time and then the gym and finally a play date with Sammy. He was so exhausted…

For the THIRD time in three weeks, Ruby has managed to find her food supply opened and she has happily gorged herself on IAMS kibble. However, this makes her really ill the next day. She probably eats about 20 cups of food at one sitting, now she’s bloated and uncomfortable.

There is no problem with the car transfer to the parents, everything is OK with AMD. Getting Ruby to Singapore is our most complex issue right now, Jeremy is trying to work it out.