nina's letter

I've started packing--a little--but we still have quite a bit to do. Here is my letter from Nina to prospective landlords who may be hesitant to accept dogs. I figured it couldn't hurt. :)

Hello,

My name is Nina. I am one year and three months old, and I weigh 60 pounds. My mom is a boxer, and I think my dad is too, but I’ve never met him so I don’t know for sure. My human parents rescued me from an animal shelter in Price, Utah when I was 8 weeks old. Somebody abandoned my mom, my siblings, and me on the doorstep of the shelter when we were only a few weeks old. My human parents read about me online, and called the shelter right away. Their good friend was already going to Utah to visit her grandmother, so she picked me up for them and we flew together all the way to Sitka, Alaska!

I love my human parents and they take very good care of me. They go for walks and play with me, pick up after me, take me to play with other dogs, and I even get to go to work with my human mom every day! I love being around people, especially kids. My human parents have taught me how to be nice and have good manners, and I would like to be a therapy dog when I grow up, because I love people so much, and would like to make them feel better when they are feeling lonely or sad.

I am very clean because I have short hair and I don’t like to get dirty. I also don’t bark much, only when somebody comes to our door or I hear a scary noise outside. I know that I am only allowed to chew on my toys (not the furniture), and I ring a bell when I need to go outside.

I am looking forward to finding a nice place to live and meeting lots of new friends in Washington. I know that sometimes people don’t want dogs to live on their property, but I hope that you would consider making an exception for me. My human parents are willing to put down a deposit or fee if you are worried that I might cause any damage, but I promise to be respectful of your property, maintain good manners, and be nice to the neighbors.

I look forward to meeting you soon.

Sincerely,
Nina

time warp

I'm so embarrassed that it's been over two months since I've posted! Thank you for your patience. It's been a busy two months, although I'm sure I could've written at least a few posts. I think part of the problem is that I tend to forget that I have a blog, and there's no visual cue to remind me to write in it (and you are all too polite to hound me about it). :) At least with a real journal you see it laying around and think "Oh, I should write something."

Well, we leave in three weeks! We decided on Bellingham, and I've been printing out craigslist ads by the dozen, but we aren't going to commit to any rentals until we can actually see them in person. Yesterday I reserved two nights at a campground near Bellingham (Larrabee State Park) where we will stay while we are looking at rentals. It's amazing how booked up places get--B&B's and hotels were either too expensive or unavailable for our dates, and even the campground only had a few spots left! But I was pretty thrilled when I found out I could view pictures of the available sites! After staying up way too late and putting far too much thought into it, I decided on site #51. The only negative comment was "above avg. vehicular traffic," but I figured that would be better than "excessive train noise." Here's our site:

Site Description:
Site:51
Type:Standard Campsite
Size:Medium
Maximum Equipment:Van/Camper
Maximum Capacity:8 People
Site Pictures:click here to open in a new window
quality:average
privacy:average
shade/sun:full shade
useable site length (ft):35
useable site width (ft):36
conditions:above avg. vehicular traffic
conditions:corner site
pad location:back in
pad maneuverability:good
pad surface:gravel
campstove/firepit:yes
ground cover:soil
tent area type:restricted
number of tent areas:one
tent area 1 length (ft):10
tent area 1 width (ft):12
tent area 1 surface:soil