Jack

The trip to Ohio for Christmas was incredible. I was overwhelmed with the welcome I received from the Carter family. This being my first Christmas away from home, it was a wonderful treat to be with such incredible folks. We also imposed a little more than expected on their hospitality. Here's how it happened:

On the 22nd, Tiff and I were watching a movie at home. She was checking out dogs on web sites and stumbled, like you do online, into an area she wasn't trying to. She found a site where they gave a countdown to euthanasia. I know, horrible, right? Somehow she found Jack, Jack Frost. He is a Lab/Scottie mix and was scheduled to be put down on Christmas Eve. He was part of a pair from the same litter. He and his sister, Candy Cane were not going to see Christmas. We had discussed getting a dog when the time was right. This was not that time, but we also were having trouble letting this one go.

I went to work on the 23rd and Tiff was going to look into the dog's fate. By the time I got home, he was here. We agreed to support each other's decisions, as they would potentially need to be made quickly. We brought home Jack and promptly took him to Ohio. The little guy didn't know which way was up for a few days for sure.

On to the dilemna before us now. We have a lease that says no pets without written permission. We contacted our landlord and requested said permission. We were denied and rudely so. The conversation went so badly from their end, that I was all but sworn at. My intent was to keep the conversation civil and seek to find a solution. The two options I was given were the dog goes or we go. He would discuss it no further.

Tiff and I have been exploring both of those options over the last day or so. We have a couple folks that are interested in Jack. We have even more options on new apartments. We would be responsible for subletting our place through the end of April when our lease is up. There absolutely no intent to stay here beyond that point, even without Jack. There had been some issues here wqe were unhappy about, but we also had wanted a place to call home for a couple years too. This stint of rudeness (and hypocracy, they have a yappy dog themselves upstairs) has us ready to go.

So here we are. As the clash said, "should we stay or should we go now?" Tiff and I await a clear sign.