Lot's of Arms to Hold and Love

Puppa

Aarika

Katie

Courtney

Brittany

Parker and Warren

Mommy, Parker, and Warren

Auntie Laura

Auntie Krystal

He's so handsome!

Sweet Family

Nini Loves the Baby

No Court

I received a phone call yesterday afternoon informing me that court would be continued because a witness could be present for the May 20th date. Oh well. Let you know how that goes whenever it is rescheduled.

Parker's First Bath

And he did not like it!

OMG!

My neighbor two doors down has had a junk collection in his front yard since before we moved here 17 years ago. In all that time the neighborhood has beat up the city about making this guy clean up. I don't know if he finally grew a wild hair and decided to clean up his lot or what but he had all the cars removed last weekend. It's amazing! I wish I had a before pic, wait, there was one in the Decatur Daily, wonder if I can retrieve it. No, can't get the picture. We did have a duck to spend the day in our neighbors yard Sunday and I was taking pictures of it. Perhaps you can see the junk before and after.

All these cars have been collecting for decades!

See! No cars beyond the basketball goal! It's amazing.

There must be a city council meeting this week.

Hey Mom! How do these work?

Why these women so stupid?

In court this past Tuesday no settlement could be reached. We come to a settlement all agree to and the minute we leave the courthouse it's breached. The judge even sounded like he was fresh out of patience and tired of playing games.

After the last session Shamika was to give up the addresses of the dogs. She wouldn't give up the address where Tracker was kept even after animal control officers told her where he was. This week she still claimed they are not her dogs and doesn't know where Tracker is.

This weeks problem sits around why Shamika is still being dragged to court when this other guy on Harrison claims Tracker to be his dog. I don't know what happened to the you can't get rid of property involved in a crime thing. I didn't get to sit in on the settling talks in the witness room this time. I had to take one of my toddlers out to have a diaper change before we were held in constench of court.

I could not understand what was being said when the parties stood in front of the judge. A nine percent city tax and our courtroom can't afford microphones. No, it's not The People's Court by a long shot. I did hear the judge repeat over and over that if there are charges that can be brought against the person that has the dog now then that case should be brought before him.

After court we stood just outside the doors talking to M, the animal control officer that was there that day. As Shamika passed us on her way out she cussed and fussed and I heard the B word a couple of times before she hit the first landing of the stairwell and I could hear her no longer. M explained to us that because someone else claims ownership that they have to have a reason to go after that person. Since that dog has caused havoc and chaos in it's new neighborhood that wont be difficult.

Now, this is the crazy part. No matter who the dog owner is, when there's a dog crime, the owner of the property the animal resides on is the one charged with a crime. In this case, the one who signed the lease on the rental property.

Here's the stupid part. I don't know what's so great about these dogs that two women are willing to spend so much time in and out of court, paying fines, and gaining a criminal record. Shamika with her four kids and freeloading boyfriend who is technically "the baby sitter" according to the landlord and doesn't live there according to Section 8 records, is willing to take the crap for Nick's dogs? Lie in court? Pay fines? Stupid.

Now, Nick's cousin has the dog but Dude (I think in a previous post we agreed to refer to him as "Dude on Harrison St.") doesn't legally live there. No, his girlfriend is the only person on the lease at that address. According to animal control, there are animal cruelty issues that they will be bringing against her. Hello! Would I allow my freeloading boyfriend to let his loser cousin dump his dogs on my property causing me trouble with the law, fines, and criminal charges? I would be telling a man to take the dog and an f 'ing hike! At the very least I would call animal control to relieve me of the damn thing (and the dog too if a spare cage was available).

What I found interesting was that the animal control people already checked into whether or not they could prove Nicholas lives on Clearview St. with Shamika. The way this is done is to get mail records. I'm guessing a warrant is needed for this. I'm also guessing they had one. Apparently Nick gets no mail at the Clearview address so legally does not live there. They're pretty good at committing fraud over there. What I'm thinking is how neighborly it would be of me to send him a gift subscription to something like Dog Fancy. Anyone in on that with me?

See you after Tuesday's trial.

Oh did I get messed up!

Correction!

Ok, I am confused with my players. Let me untangled them now:

Shamika Shirley and Nicholas Kennedy are my foolish, violent, irresponsible dog owner neighbors. They have had four offensive dogs on that property over the past three years. The almost white dog, a big hairy thing I have no idea what breed. Bamboo, who showed his teeth at a daycare parent and an animal control officer on at least one occasion each. Tracker, the brown and white spotted pit bull, and the little white pit pup that we discovered after court January 15th. No dogs, as far as I can see, have resided on the property for a couple of months.

Now here's where I messed up. The dude formerly referred to as "Cousin Chris" and possessing Tracker, is not the man on Harrison St. SE. He's the guy with the white pup and he lives over by the fairgrounds. He is Shamika's brother.

I don't know the name of the dude on Harrison St. so I will here on refer to him as . . . er . . . uhm . . . I don't know, how about Dude on Harrison St. He's the one that claimed that Tracker belonged to his cousin Nick until Animal control came with a court order to pick up Nick's dog and he claimed it was his. My advice to this momo, pick a side of the fence and stick with it or the barbed wire will really rub your nu. . . . I'm sorry, no more Dr. Phil.

I think I've got it right now. See you Tuesday!

Ugh!

I just checked my mail and I have been subpoenaed to appear in court again next week! Here we go again!

I just called my buddy about this and she says that help has been found. Apparently it's against the law to get rid of or sell or whatever property involved in a crime. The dogs being that property. There's new hope.

Oh what a tangled web we weave. . .

You know what's wrong here? No body has been sworn to tell the truth. One can't perjure oneself if he hasn't taken an oath.

We went to court Tuesday morning. We agreed on a settlement that goes something like this: Shamika Shirley agrees to let both dogs, Tracker, the brown and white spotted pit and the little white puppy pit, to be picked up by the animal shelter. The shelter would then offer the dogs (at the regular fee) to be adopted out by the people who are currently taking care of them as long as they have a suitable environment. Simple.

This should have been a painless solution since the first thing Shamika Shirley's attorney said to the judge was that these dogs belong to neither Nicholas Kennedy nor Shamika Shirley. So, Shirley was to give the addresses where the dogs could be found. It was hard to hear everything said and I didn't hear this part but apparently Shirley was less than forthcoming with the 411. L, our animal shelter representative, informed the judge that she already knew where Tracker was. He's on Harrison Street irritating the crap out of the SE neighborhood. Finally an address was given for somewhere over by the fairgrounds for the white pup.

The judge was careful to state that this deal was not sealed until the animals could be taken into custody. If they couldn't be obtained then he would see us all back in court next Tuesday. L seemed certain that there would be no problem picking up the dogs.

Not so. T and I spent a couple of hours after court shopping and had hardly returned home when trouble began. It went something like this though the details aren't really clear to me. In trying to take Tracker from the Harrison St. address, L had a run in with Nick (who is one scary and violent SOB). He says that the dog on Harrison St. is not the same dog they have an order to pick up. Bullshit. Actually, I don't think that was L's reply but I know she was thinking it. L called me asking for the best pics I have of the dog. She had to prove to Shirley and Kennedy's attorney that this was the dog. Of course it was. The animal has several very distinguished makings and there was no question.

So, back on Harrison St., this is the dog they have a court order to collect. now there's a problem with the resident, Chris. Chris who two weeks ago when the animal shelter confronted him about the dog getting loose and terrorizing the neighborhood said, It's not my dog. I'm just keeping it for my cousin." The cousin turned out to be none other than Nicholas Kennedy. A nice break for this case. Nicholas Kennedy avers strongly and repeatedly and up in the animal control officers faces, "It's not my dog!" one minute and "You can't take my dogs!" the next.

Ok, let's go over this. It's not Nick's dog. It's not Shamika's dog. It's not Chris' dog. What's the problem then? The problem is now, Chris, who lives at the same address as Tracker but is not the property owner, (no, he's a freeloader just like his cousin, living off his girlfriend) now claims Tracker is his dog. SAY WHAT? And the property owner wont let them take the dog. And that's another thing, Chris says Nick is his cousin. An animal control officer told me that Chris was Shamika's brother. This would make Shamika Shirley shacking up with and having kids with her cousin? I don't even want to go there.

New plan. The animal shelter draws up a new proposal to settle that says that the current property owner can keep the dog up until the dog leaves the property then it becomes the City of Decatur's property. BUT. . .

Now I don't understand this and I may have it wrong but my friend called this morning and said that the magistrate made a little clerical error. The case at hand was not listed as a vicious animal case, it was more a case against Shamika Shirley. This means that Trackers new owners could keep him no strings attached and Tracker doesn't get labeled a potentially vicious animal. The difference is, I think, that had this been a vicious animal case, the dog, no matter who claims him (or not), would have been picked up on the court order. Big slip up. Back to square one.

Oh yeah, one last admission from Nick, "Bamboo isn't dead but you'll never find him."

No shit.

The little prince is here!

Our baby was born yesterday! Parker Liam McKillop was born May 1st, 2008. He is 7lbs. and 13 oz., 20 inches long, and perfect in every way. Sarah is doing very well. We are truly blessed.

Parker looks just like Warren!

Sarah and Parker

Laura, Sarah, and Parker

Warren and Sarah

Sarah and Parker

Nana the Great holding Parker

Our beautiful baby

Aunt Laura and Parker

BBAY TOMRORWO!

&*(&*&*! &(*(&)*)*#!!! &(*)*$*)#)&%)*)#$? >!!! "{#@$*)(@*#@_(_%$*@*_)#*@$(%!! &)()$*#)*$#%*&(#)*)~!(&*)(*_(#%_! %$#)(*$#()*@&()$@(!!!! &Y)*)*_#*)(#&%#)($_#@)_ !!! &)*)#(&()$# %)#*$_)#@*$_#% )%#*$)(@!&#_*% %@#)#*@!*#)(!&)(_%*@(&$@ &*(&*&*! &(*(&)*)*#!!! &(*)*$*)#)&%)*)#$? >!!! "{#@$*)(@*#@_(_%$*@*_)#*@$(%!! &)()$*#)*$#%*&(#)*)~!(&*)(*_(#%_! %$#)(*$#()*@&()$@(!!!! &Y)*)*_#*)(#&%#)($_#@)_ !!! &)*)#(&()$# %)#*$_)#@*$_#% )%#*$)(@!&#_*% %@#)#*@!*#)(!&)(_%*@(&$@ &*(&*&*! &(*(&)*)*#!!! &(*)*$*)#)&%)*)#$? >!!! "{#@$*)(@*#@_(_%$*@*_)#*@$(%!! &)()$*#)*$#%*&(#)*)~!(&*)(*_(#%_! %$#)(*$#()*@&()$@(!!!! &Y)*)*_#*)(#&%#)($_#@)_ !!! &)*)#(&()$# %)#*$_)#@*$_#% )%#*$)(@!&#_*% %@#)#*@!*#)(!&)(_%*@(&$@ &*(&*&*! &(*(&)*)*#!!! &(*)*$*)#)&%)*)#$? >!!! "{#@$*)(@*#@_(_%$*@*_)#*@$(%!! &)()$*#)*$#%*&(#)*)~!(&*)(*_(#%_! %$#)(*$#()*@&()$@(!!!! &Y)*)*_#*)(#&%#)($_#@)_ !!! &)*)#(&()$# %)#*$_)#@*$_#% )%#*$)(@!&#_*% %@#)#*@!*#)(!&)(_%*@(&$@

I am so excited I can't form words!

OH! OH! OH! OH!

Oh this is too good! About the dogs next door--A couple of weeks ago my daughter Sarah was returning to the house from an errand. AS she stepped out of her car she over heard a conversation between the little girl next door and a little boy she did not recognize. The little boy was asking to see her daddy's dogs. She told him that they didn't have any dogs any more. The boy asked why and she told him because they had too many. The boy asked where the dogs went and was told that they were at Cousin Chris'.

I let L (my daycare parent/animal control officer) know that when we go to court again and Nick can't remember what he did with the dogs that perhaps she could refresh his memory by inquiring where Cousin Chris lives.

With the May 6th court date right around the corner, L comes in this morning to drop off Joshua with some news on the dog called Tracker. Apparently this dog has been causing some trouble in the SE. He bites through chain link and can't be contained any better there than he could be here and has had some run ins with animal control. The animal control officer that's been dealing with him was not familiar with the dog. He talked to the man at the residence where the dog is being kept and found that he was not the owner of the dog. In fact, he admitted that he didn't know what to do to keep this dog in his yard but he couldn't give it back to his cousin because the court had previously ordered no dogs on his property. The cousin's name, Nick Kennedy. Surprise, surprise.

OH! OH! OH! and Cousin Chris and Tracker live a few houses down the street from one daycare parent and on the street behind another. This is going to get good.

May 6th is going to be very interesting indeed.

Easter!

Warren had a great time hunting Easter eggs this year. He tore through the yard yelling and screaming running right over most of the eggs. Later he finished with a short game of football with his great grandfather.

Weekend in the Smokies

Rick and I spent a long weekend in the Gatlinburg Pigeon Forge area. Last May we purchased a vacation club and gave the names of our friends as referals. A couple of months ago Tylerann told me they were going to visit the Bluegreen Resort and asked if we would come with them. Oh yes! We had not had an opportunity to use out points yet so we scheduled too.

The Mountain Loft Resort in Gatlinburg was full so we settled for Laurel Crest in Pigeon Forge. It was a lovely place. We stayed in a studio room, sort of a glorified motel room. It's the smallest accommodation, using the least amount of points. For allowing Bluegreen to give us a personal owner update (try to sell us more points) we were given three $30 dinner gift certificates. Not a bad hours work. Except that it took two hours and they did indeed sell us more points. Tylerann and Donnie did not buy a vacation club but that's all right. We earned $50 just for them listening to the sales pitch and we had buddies all weekend. They can buy vacation nights from us in the future. We are going to need to sell some just to pay for this!

We spent Thursday night at the Comedy Barn and laughed our faces off! Three rules for the Comedy Barn: 1) No eye liner or mascara, 2) Plenty of Kleenex, 3) Do not volunteer to go on stage, it can not go well.

Friday we road through Cade's Cove and did a little walking. We didn't see any bears but we saw a gazillion deer.

Our friends

On Potty Training

Politically correct or not, My daughter, Sarah has come up with a new, no fail, potty training technique. Yesterday Sarah bought some cloth training pants once deciding it was time to train her two and a half year old son. He did very well yesterday. I put the training pants on him as soon as he got up in the morning and from then until we went out to eat last night he had only wet three pair but had used the potty at least four times successfully. I forgot to put a diaper on him during nap but he woke up dry and went promptly to the potty afterwards. Hurray Warren!

Before going to eat we decided it best to put a diaper on Warren. When we got home he was still dry so Sarah tried to get him to potty then. Nope, he wouldn't do it. A little later Sarah still could not interest him in the potty. Sarah went to the kitchen and got a few cheerios. She started tossing one then two in the potty and asked Warren if he wanted to do it too. Well of course he did. Then my nutty daughter mischievously says, "Now let's pee on them!

"OK!" was Warren's excited little answer. Warren pulled his pants down and proceeded to soak those floating rings of whole grain goodness!

Nobody said potty training couldn't be fun!

SNOW!

Oh look! It snowed! Laura and her new beau constructed a snowman on his deck.

Laura and Dave

Nothing much new here and sometimes that's a good thing. Last Wednesday Sarah's husband was sent to Afghanistan and that night she appeared at my door. I was expecting her but not for a couple of weeks yet. The kid had to sleep on the couch a couple of nights. This morning we are busy (but not too busy obviously) moving furniture around and making a room for Sarah, Warren, and the expected Parker Liam to be comfortable in. I expect they'll be here at least until Christmas if not the whole year that Ricky is gone. Please Keep Ricky and all of our brave soldiers in your prayers. We are already looking forward to his safe return.

MySpace

I just posted my favorite pics or 2007. Check them out at LUVNTHOTS MySpace page.

My favorite pics of 2007.

"PLEASE, just say yes or no!"

A couple of weeks ago my husband switched up from Charter TV and internet service to DirecTV and Bellsouth DSL. My Charter internet almost never went down in the five years we had the service. Bellsouth has been down twice in two weeks now. Tuesday for over 5 hours and you know how that would drive me insane, and again today just for 15 or 20 minutes.

In that 15 or 20 minutes I called Bellsouth to let them know how I felt about the disappointment. I got an automated troubleshooting machine. I was asked if this was about the service connected with line 256-bla-blah? I started to say yes but the machine came back on before I could answer, "PLEASE, just say yes or no!" Did it just yell at me? It repeated the question and I answered yes. It asked a few more questions some of which didn't make sense.

About then I realized that I was standing on the back deck with several preschoolers playing loudly and a baby sitting in the high chair right next to me eating a cookie, trying to tell everyone how good it was. All this was interfering with the computer's ability to decipher my answers.

I was asked another question and the baby yelled out again. On the line there was, " If you need more information, just say "help". I screamed for help. The automated voice says,"I'm sorry, did you say you were having problems with your connectivity, DSL modem, or accessing your account?" My little friend squealed again. By this time I've caught on to the noise problem and I'm just letting the baby do the talking for me. Finally, I hear, "I'm sorry, I can not help you with your problem. Please stay on the line for a technical support expert," or some such thing.

I did indeed get to speak to a real live person. I've been tied up in automated phone help mazes for over an hour before but this child got me there in two minutes. So now you know how to get live help on a line. So easy a baby could do it!

Does anyone out there know if it's normal for Bellsouth to lose service so frequently or is this kind of unusual? I miss Charter.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Today is my 22 anniversary! Whoo hoo! Some of you are amazed aren't you? Ha ha ha. Kisses to everybody!

Check this out!

Did you read this morning's paper? Pit bull attacks, kills woman's Peek-A-Poo.

That's where we are headed. Amazing the similarities between that incident and what's going on with the dogs next door. Tell me, why is it that pit bull owners don't keep their own dogs on their own property? There seems to be a trend. The owners know what's eventually going to happen.

Ok, as for the mess next door, not much to report that I can confirm. I finally decided to call next door's property owner. He wasn't home at the time so I talked to his wife. We had a nice little chat. I told her all about the doggie business over the last two years. She had no idea. I also told her that Mr. Nick K. was living next door, he moved in with her some three or so years ago and hasn't left even to go to work since. At City Hall he was adamant that he did not stay at that address, just his girlfriend and 4 kids lived there. I started to tell Mrs. S. that if Section 8 was paying that rent someone was committing fraud but as soon as I said the word Section 8, Mrs. S. confirmed that I was correct. I told her so now you know about the fraud. She asked if it would be alright for Mr. S. to call me when he got home. I gave my number.

The next morning Mr. S. called me and said that he heard we were having some problems over here. I retold the dog story and informed him that being the property owner and giving permission for the dogs to be there might cause him a little liability if one of those dogs bit somebody while they were out roaming around. He interupted quickly with, "Well, I didn't exactly give permission for them to keep dogs." This was good news. I told him then he can order them gone. Then I braoched the Section 8 fraud issue. His voice lowered a little and he said, "Just between me and you [and everybody who reads this blog] Section 8 has canned them." That's even better news! It takes a while for the eviction to happen but they are so out of here!

Mean while, L at animal services informed me that there was a note attached to the settlement concerning the "dead dog" that said there were to be no other dogs on the property. I'm wondering if this is a mistake because they admitted to having one other dog, they lied about the white puppy repeatedly but they admitted to the brown and white one. Any way, Nick signed it so that's the way it is. Nick also violated it so we are expecting him to be recalled to court about it. This time I'm going to be there. There wont be any dead dog BS again. As for that woman next door who has been harassing my daycare mothers (and there's a plice report to boot), animal services is about tired of her attitude and they are summoning her to court over harassment. Good job, I'm tired of being cussed too.

The neighbors next door have been strangely quiet since the Tuesday incidents two weeks ago. The kids have been outside once or twice riding bikes but not in my driveway like they used to. That's a good thing. It wasn't safe for them to be whipping in and out of my driveway while daycare parents were coming or going. I was always afraid one might not be seen and get hit. And I haven't seen a dog one since that Tuesday. Good.

The Rest of Saturday's Tail . . .

Ok, the story I got on why police showed up Saturday was that the neighbors called the police to report that L and I were harassing them. L stood around and waited for the officers to arrive and -- long story short-- showed them the picture of the dog in my yard and that was that.

Had I known that, I would have wanted to be present for that conversation. I had nothing to contribute, the picture said it all, I just wanted to hear that woman ranting and raving at the officer. I wanted to hear the words that went with all the gesturing and pointing I could see from the window.

I just learned that that wasn't entirely accurate. The animal control officer was the one to call the police after the couple next door approached her and the woman got up in L's face in a threatening manner. The woman next door told the cops we were harassing her but when questioned her story kept changing. The dogs were hers one minute and her brother's the next. Then she'd go on to refer to them as hers all over again. Freak.