Our drive to Albuquerque from Boise was happily uneventful. It was nice to have two drivers. Also Biska was by now fully house trained, which makes everything so much easier.
Originally I was only going to stay in Albuquerque for a day or two, just long enough to get my booster shot before heading on to Tucson. John needed to stay and work, but I didn’t need to stay. We were going to have to drive two vehicles back to Tucson anyway because we had ended up with an extra in Albuquerque. I could leave at any time, and I was anxious to get home and be done traveling for awhile.
But I ended up with a fever from the booster shot. And then several days of migraines. That could have been because of the booster shot, but I’ve noticed a few times recently that I seem to be getting migraines whenever I go to Albuquerque. I am probably no longer acclimated to the elevation, which is higher than Denver – and certainly quite a lot higher than Tucson.
I spent the first week resting, and by that weekend I felt well enough to get out and do some low key, local fun things with John.
Coffee and croissants at the Sawmill Market:
We looked at building supplies:
Yes, we are going to start remodeling the house in Tucson soon. During our first year in Tucson we only did a few things; installed a pool heater, installed new closet doors, and a lot of painting. We didn’t want to do anything too expensive until we had been there a year and decided that we really do like Tucson, the neighborhood, and the house. Now we have some larger projects to tackle, starting after the holidays.
Meanwhile, we had a nice, empty, work-free weekend in Albuquerque. One day we went for a walk around the UNM campus. We usually go to the biopark, so the university was a nice change.
We went to the biopark too, but I didn’t take many photos because we already have so many.
We went to an art store downtown. It was the first time I’d noticed back-in parking, although I’ve noticed it since then in Tucson too. Apparently it’s for bicycle safety.
Next we ordered take-out at a well-regarded café near downtown. There was a long wait. We went on a walk in a nearby neighborhood, which made the wait a blessing in disguise. We were very hungry by the time our food was ready. It took over an hour and they had not estimated that long!
The next day we discovered something like a smaller version of the Sawmill Market, called Tin Can Alley, up in northern Albuquerque on Alameda Blvd. It had several food options, lots of good light and views.
I don’t know why no one was outside. The weather was very nice.
There weren’t very many people indoors either. We haven’t tried all the cafés yet, but we thought our tacos were only ok. And it’s possible to get excellent tacos in Albuquerque, so a taco place with only ok tacos isn’t going to do very well.
I’m guessing this place needs better food. City views and cool ambience is only going to get you so far.
That’s John down there waiting for our food while I took pictures. Our only so-so tacos took awhile too.
We always have such a nice time in Albuquerque. I know we could have a nice time in Tucson too, except we are usually working on the house. Even though we are not doing the major remodel yet, there is still a long list of handyman items that keeps us running to the hardware store and banging around in the house and yard on the weekends that we are there. We rarely take the time to do anything fun.
The house in Albuquerque is done, so we have our weekends free. Someday the house in Tucson will be done too – just not anytime soon.
Finally the day came when the sheriff would forcibly evict Callan’s roommates. Our attorney said it almost never comes to that. People always manage to leave before the sheriff actually shows up to physically remove them. But not in this case. When the sheriffs arrived, the roommates were still trying to load a small u-haul.
One of the roommates was so drunk that the sheriff wouldn’t let her drive. So they left the u-haul in the street and drove off in their car with the one sober roommate driving. They later came back for the u-haul.
The roommates left the house in a huge mess. Sorry for the poor photo quality, but you get the idea.
They had taken whatever they wanted, including almost everything in the kitchen, as well as anything portable and valuable. But the roommates did not do any vindictive property damage, other than two holes in the drywall in one of the bedrooms.
There’s a weird story about those holes. Once upon a time some time ago, Callan had knocked holes in those places in that wall (with a chair, I think) while banging around doing who knows what, alone in their room. Callan has always been a little hard on their possessions, lol, you should see their car. Let’s just say that poor car hasn’t aged well. Anyway, Callan and Chirstina patched the holes in the wall, good as new.
Then, in order to continue to try to blackmail Callan with threats about the battery case (in hopes of not being evicted), the roommates unpatched the holes to take a photo of them, which they then claimed proved that Callan is a violent person. Is that nuts or what? So now Callan and Chirstina are going to need to patch the holes – for the second time.
The roommates even admitted to the reason behind their crazy-brained scheme, saying “the point that is proof of his violence toward people”.
Heidi says she didn’t do it (presumably because Kylie did it) and then explains that it’s to show that Callan is violent. Also notice her asking to have until October 26th to vacate, which we granted to them, but they were not out until the Sheriff removed them on November 9. Also notice the promise of not leaving it a mess. Sigh. It was an absolute disaster. It looked like a hurricane hit. And they had smoked in the house. It stunk!
The roommates hadn’t finished moving out or even prioritized. They stole Callan’s dishes and cheap silverware but left an expensive KitchenAid mixer behind. They were clearly trying to take everything they could, but hadn’t gotten their act together in time to pull it off. They had several weeks to strip that house of anything they wanted to take, and yet they still didn’t manage to get all their stuff. It was really rather sad. I couldn’t help feeling bad for them even though they’ve cost us so much money and heartache.
Callan and Chirstina are now safe in their own home again, and are slowly getting it cleaned and put back together. The whole thing was very expensive and very sad.
And it’s not over. We had hoped that the misdemeanor battery charges against Callan would be dropped, but the prosecutors are asking for a guilty plea, 5 days in jail, fines, anger management class and a year probation. And all Callan did was put their hands up, in a defensive gesture and maybe pushed one of the roommate’s shoulders slightly while asking her to back off. She wasn’t threatened, attacked or remotely hurt.
Once we found out that the prosecution has decided to take a tough stance, our attorney requested a continuation (postponement) of the November hearing to give him more time to build a case and negotiate with the prosecution attorneys.
Our attorney says it was self-defense and Callan would win in a trial. Of course we don’t want to go to trial. So we’re hoping that our attorney can talk some sense into the prosecutors and reduce their demands to something more reasonable. The hearing (if it’s not postponed again) will be in mid-December.
I think we have a good defense attorney and I think it will turn out fine. I’m so grateful Chirstina told me what was going on in time for us to get an attorney.
So that’s the story for now. I wanted all of you to know what was going on. For those of you who found out things by reading my posts that you would have rather I told you directly, please accept my apologies. It was just too hard to try to keep everyone up to date. For awhile there, even John didn’t really know what was going on. But now you know why!
I’m hoping to have some cheerful holiday posts up for you soon. And I’ll let you know how the hearing goes.
By the beginning of November, John had completed a major task at work and was able to fly up. It was good to have him there. After doing nothing but work and worry for weeks, we actually managed to get out a bit and enjoy fall in Boise.
We had the outdoor patio completely to ourselves. In Boise people don’t seem to worry about covid. Very few people wear masks and most people eat indoors, even though it was a beautiful day. It was cool in the shade and we had jackets on, but there were gas heaters on the patio and we were plenty toasty.
Plus it’s nice to be able to eat with our dog!
You may have seen this one already; I’ve posted it elsewhere. Great shot, John!
The original plan was for John to help the kids change their locks and get their house in order after the roommates left, and then help me drive back to Tucson. But the eviction was dragging on much longer than our attorney had originally indicated, so John was not able to stay to see the completion of the eviction process. He needed to be back in Albuquerque. I could have stayed but I wasn’t looking forward to driving back to Tucson alone and wanted to go to Albuquerque with John.
By this time, Laura also needed to head back home. Thankfully the kid’s dad, my ex-husband Dave, came down to Boise to lend a hand. John and I were then free to drive home, and Dave would stay with Tim and Jen (Tim is Dave’s brother) until the roommates were safely out. As we passed the figurative baton, Dave handed me a much-appreciated and very large check, generously covering about half of the huge attorney fees, airbnb charges, and other expenses that John and I had incurred.
It was really gratifying how the whole family came together to face this situation and support each other. Yay to my ex and ex-in-laws!
What was supposed to take 2 weeks morphed into 3, going on 4 weeks. The roommates did not go quickly or quietly. Despite the fact that they owed over $7,000 in rent and had promised to be out by July 1, they still just didn’t quite leave.
They kept claiming to have a new place, only to have it evaporate at the last minute. Then then would message us again, begging for one more day, or two more days, claiming to have keys, claiming they can be gone if only they had another 24 hours.
In between begging, they threatened to sue us and threatened us with the misdemeanor battery charge, threatening to send Callan to jail and telling Callan that they would make sure Callan would lose their job.
By this time we were all very weary of living in an airbnb. Laura needed to go back home, and John flew out in order to help me drive home. But meanwhile, there was not much to do except wait.
Finally it was time to have the court hearing for the eviction. Despite repeated extensions and offers to dismiss the hearing, the roommates still occupied the house. We didn’t expect them to appear at the hearing, and sure enough they didn’t. The judge ruled in our favor and went on to the next case. We signed off (the hearing was taking place by video). What a relief. One step done.
But a few minutes later our attorney called us. The roommates had shown up after all! Late, but the court admitted them. Now we needed to go to mandatory mediation. Apparently state law mandates mediation, but in addition to that, there must be something in the Idaho court systems that rewards attorneys for coming up with a mediation agreement (and not just going to mediation and failing to come to an agreement), because we were completely strong-armed by our own attorney into coming to some sort of compromise.
By this time we were at the end of our patience, but we were essentially being forced to acquiesce somehow. So we gave the roommates another 24 hours. We knew it wouldn’t help anything – they would miss that deadline too. But it appeased the court. And what was one more day after all those days, weeks and months of waiting for these deadbeats to finally leave?
With John and I readying to head home, the kid’s dad, Dave, had arrived to provide back-up. One of the things Dave was doing was checking on the house once a day to see if the roommates had moved out yet, because the rest of us weren’t up for running the risk of having a confrontation with the roommates. Dave would stop by briefly, and leave as soon as he verified that the roommates, or their stuff, was still occupying the house.
Sure enough, by the next day the roommates were still not out, even after being given yet another extra 24 hours. Their final 72-hour countdown started.
Callan was still getting depressing messages from the roommates:
Unfortunately, when the roommates took the game cabinet she references, they also stole all of Callan’s games; board games and role-playing games, and decks of carefully curated speciality cards like magic cards. Those are sort of like trading cards – it takes years to build up good decks and Callan will never have those specific decks again. It would have driven me out of my mind to have people in my house, stealing my stuff, unable to do anything about it. Callan was remarkably patient.
Also the roommates continued their threats about the misdemeanor battery charge. We believe the “family lawyer” is a piece of fiction. The roommates may not even understand that they have no say how the charges turn out unless it goes to trial. If it goes to trial, either the prosecution or the defense might decide to call them to testify. No family lawyer is involved. It’s the State of Idaho against Callan.
Meanwhile there was light at the end of the tunnel regarding the eviction process. Only 72 more hours before the Sheriff came to physically remove them. Our main concern at this point was the possibility that the roommates would retaliate by damaging the house. It doesn’t take very long to do hundreds of thousands of dollars damage to a house. They had already done some damage, plus stolen some things, so it was a very real possibility.
A recent post left us guessing what kind of puppy we have. The rescue group told us she was a poodle, but Biska doesn’t look anything like a poodle. She looks like a golden retriever or a Labrador retriever.
For example, here’s Murphy, Laura’s coworker’s 17-week-old “English Cream Golden Retriever”.
And here’s Biska in approximately the same pose at approximately the same age:
Right? Everybody who sees her says retriever. I said yellow lab (Labrador retriever). Most of my friends said golden retriever. Yellow labs have slightly shorter coats than goldens, but they are similar dogs.
So we got her DNA tested. Now, as a caveate, these tests may not be particularly accurate (although they’re much better nowadays than years past). These results aren’t guaranteed but…
Pit Bull! OMG. PIT BULL?!? It’s true I had guessed…“Most mutts around here contain at least some pit bull and some chihuahua.” But still, I really thought she was part retriever. The rescue group told me that both Biska’s mom, and Biska’s mom’s sister, arrived at the same time, both pregnant. That sounded to me like a puppy mill raid, so I figured they were attempting to breed golden doodles. I figured I had a designer dog (albeit potentially poorly bred).
But if the dad is a pit bull, it wasn’t a puppy mill. It was just someone with a couple of miniature poodles who failed to spay them, and failed to keep them away from what could have been a 60 pound pit bull.
She doesn’t look anything like a pit bull! Pits have really wide heads and faces, and are stocky with broad shoulders. Biska is long and thin, with a narrow face, narrow shoulders and long, long legs. She can squeeze through the thinnest gap like a cat. She does NOT resemble a pit bull. She looks less like a pit bull than she does a poodle!
Maybe pit bull mixed with gazelle.
Who knows, maybe she really is a pit-poodle-shepherd-kitchen-sink mix. I googled it and sure enough, there’s a name for a poodle-pit mix. It’s called a Pit Boodle. A German shepherd mixed with a poodle is called a Shepadoodle, so if we include her potential 10% German shepherd, that would make her “Biscochito the Pit Boodle Shepadoodle Supermutt.” Say that three times fast, lol.
Here’s the question. We travel a lot. When we declare our dog to the airbnb owners, what do we say she is? If we tell them that she’s a poodle mix, and then they see her, they’re going to look at us like, “Quit trying to scam us, that’s no poodle.” But I can’t say she’s a pit mix because nobody allows pits. Even places that claim to be large-dog friendly have fine print (or unwritten rules) saying no pit bulls. I know this because I had a pit bull once. He was the most calm and gentle dog I’ve ever owned. Unfortunately he died at a young age of a heart defect.
Pit bulls have a bad reputation because they were originally bred to be fighting dogs, and even though it’s now illegal, many are still trained to fight. So a disproportionate number of serious dog bites are from pit bulls. But they’re not biters if properly trained, and in fact, most dogs bite out of anxiety, and larger dogs tend to be calmer and less anxious than smaller ones.
Nonetheless, many landlords, apartment complexes, airbnb’s and hotels ban pit bulls even when they accept other kinds of large dogs. Also some homeowners insurance policies view pit bulls as liabilities and charge higher rates. So I probably shouldn’t even be posting this!
Biska is a bit “mouthy” as a puppy, but most dogs are, especially golden retrievers (and some poodles). According to the internet, “The Golden retriever is hands down the number one breed when it comes to being mouthy. For many breeds out there, nipping, biting, and licking often ceases after the puppy stage. However, for a Golden retriever, the behavior is highly likely to go on into adulthood. Part of the reason for this is that this breed was bred to “retrieve” small game without hurting or killing them. Doing this taught him to explore his world with his mouth. Thankfully, proper training can alleviate the behavior once and for all.” Well, we’re working on it!
Poodles were also bred to retrieve small game; specifically they are water retrievers – bred in Europe to retrieve waterfowl shot down over wetlands. So if that internet article is true, the same idea would apply to poodles too. Of the three previous poodles we’ve owned, Kai was always very mouthy and spent the majority of his time chewing on chew toys. Rosie wasn’t mouthy at all, and Kira is – only in the sense that she is a true retrieving dog. All she cares about in life is playing fetch!
Anyway, Biska doesn’t look anything like a pit bull. Or a poodle. So what label should I attach to this beautiful supermutt, to help people make sense of who she is? I think what I’ll say is she’s a medium-sized mixed breed who looks like a small golden retriever. Because that’s 100% true. And it’s a more meaningful description than a Pit Boodle!
Next question – how big will she get? Don’t know! They always say to look at the size of the puppy’s feet to predict their adult size, but I thought her feet were relatively small when we first got her. Her feet have since grown a lot! So maybe that’s a myth.
I’m not sure if she’ll stay thin or if that’s just a teenager stage and she’ll fill out. She eats an enormous amount of food. No, I’m not tracking how much she’s eating. She’s so thin, I just fill her bowl every time I notice it’s empty.
At first I guessed she would be 20-25 pounds because her mom’s only 11 pounds. John guessed 25-30 pounds. Good thing there’s nothing but my reputation riding on that bet, because we’re now both guessing at least 30 pounds. She’s already 15 pounds at 4 months old!
Me and my faux poodle:
And uh, yeah, as you might have guessed, that’s not Tucson or Albuquerque. That picture was taken somewhere in or near Boise, Idaho. More on that soon!
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