April 2018 – regroup
I became unsure of my decision that I made 6 months prior. Literally I was a mess. To have a man hound you for money daily for work that I did not agree to including knocking on my door. I started to get scared. I started to sell things to lighten my load. I was seeking a ride to the border and then a ride to Canada. Not an easy feat with 2 dogs under my wing. I flatly refuse to put them in a crate and in the bellows of an airplane. As we all know, dogs can read your emotions and they too were feeling the fear, the unknown. I was lost in paradise.
Then one day while in tears, my friend sat me down and told me not to runaway. Told me I was a warrior (not in the literal sense) with what I had done and been through and I should not let any man stop me from living my dream. With new gained confidence I stopped everything and began looking for a new place to live. The wonderful little house I had was now a bad omen, I hated it. Bad for my new addition, Stella too. Sadly I had to have her chained as she was an escape artist. But she still managed to escape at least once a week. We were getting desperate.
Looking for a new placed became my focus. One would think being April when all the snowbirds have left it would be easy but that was far from the truth. Many people have taken to Airbnb because they make more money which sucks for people looking for long term rentals. And prices were going up which is one thing I could not afford. Even started looking at other towns but in reality it would have been silly at that point. I was asking everyone I knew. I saw some great places and some damn awful ones. Almost took one that was out of town. It was perfect. Price was right surrounded by fields. But I declined. Flies can be a big problem and with a horse paddock right behind my back door, I and my dogs would be bothered by more than flies!! Also the landlords uncle next door bred bulls for the ring and the guy next door bred fighting cocks. There was no way I could deal with that. If you know anything about bull and cock fights you will understand. Animals bred to fight for human entertainment is cruel and I did not want to live next to that.
As luck would have it I asked a friend who had a lovely cheese shop if she knew of any house that was vacant. Without missing a beat, she said I could have her place as she was leaving the country. One draw back, it would not be available til the end of June. No problem. I felt we could stick it out in the house of doom for a couple more months. But first I must look at the house and be vetted by the landlord. More on that soon but my god it sounded perfect.
I went home and curled up with Seven and Stella. Told them, things are looking up, hang in there, all will be good soon.