MetaChat - This is the place to come for sad, sorry tales, right?

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04 July 2006

This is the place to come for sad, sorry tales, right? →[More:] Here was my day. My wife, 37 weeks pregnant, is admitted to hospital with a high blood pressure - 145 over 105. When she rushed off to hospital in a taxi, she left the back gate unlatched - she couldn't contact me because I was out working in a swamp, out of cellphone range, so I found out she was in hospital four hours later. I arrive home eight hours later to find an open gate, and two missing dogs. Two hours after that, I get a call from the RSPCA telling me they have my dogs in the pound. Thank "Bob" for microchipping. I will be able to pick them up sometime after 1pm tomorrow, but the pound's website seems to suggest I'm looking at a $200 bill for each to be released, which is probably going to mean crawling to my family for help, or trying to talk my way out of it.

This may be possible. We've just arrived from interstate, and the dogs are registered where we came from - if I can convince the pound that we hadn't got around to registering them here yet, then apparently I might be able to get them released for a bit less.

Wifey is doing okay, though. They're monitoring her overnight, and she's having an ultrasound in the morning.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting back with a bottle of comfort-chardonnay, in an empty house with no dogs and no wife.

It sucks pretty hard.

post by: Jimbob at: 07:13 | 24 comments

/me clinks your bottle with his

yeah, but you'll get the dogs back, your wife will have a kid, and fifteen to eighteen years from now, you'll have a new drinking buddy.

In all seriousness, this is exactly why I quit hanging out in swamps.

posted by trondant 04 July | 07:48

True that ;)

posted by Jimbob 04 July | 07:51

Dude, I mean, YOU'RE GONNA BE A DAD!

posted by trondant 04 July | 07:57

/me retrieves cigar from Space Shuttle thread gives it to Jimbob, flicks out a match

posted by trondant 04 July | 07:58

Yeah, I still haven't got my head around that. Been reading lots of "baby books", but it all seems kinda theoretical at the moment, you know?

posted by Jimbob 04 July | 08:00

Firsthand, no, but you got my best wishes ;)

posted by trondant 04 July | 08:02

Cheers :)

posted by Jimbob 04 July | 08:07

Sorry for the suckage, Jimbob... At least the dogs aren't lost. I hope your wife is well. - And congratulations!

posted by taz 04 July | 08:41

Well, at least the dogs are safe, but they're too pretty for prison.

posted by Jimbob 04 July | 08:44

Mate, I have to say I got to the end of that thread and almost wooped with joy. Not very supportive of me, I know, but I was thinking, "OMG, something's happened to Jimbob's wife!". Then I thought, "OMG, something's happened to the baby!". Then, of course, I thought, "OMG, something's happened to the dogs!".

So, yeah, that's not a good day by anyone's reckoning, but it seems things could be a lot worse. I know what petty officials can be like, so you could well be up for the 200 (400?) bucks. That would suck. But the fact that they're microchipped should let the RSPCA know that you're a responsible owner, and I'd hate to think that the other drama would leave them unmoved.

You could try telling them that the dogs are still registered back home because you didn't realise the Territory had split from SA...

Nah, on second thoughts, best not to try that one.

I hope everything works out well. (And what trondant said). *Makes mental note to ensure there's a cigar in the house in a couple of weeks' time*

(And on preview, cute dogs - I'd fork out the bail without blinking an eyelid).

posted by GeckoDundee 04 July | 08:46

You could try telling them that the dogs are still registered back home because you didn't realise the Territory had split from SA...

Ha, no not a good idea to try that one. My understanding is that the referendum to become a state failed because the locals were worried their fireworks and unlimited-speed zones would be taken away from them :)

posted by Jimbob 04 July | 08:50

That WAS a rough day, man- but I'm glad it looks like all will be well in the end. :)

posted by BoringPostcards 04 July | 08:51

adorable!

Btw, I wonder if you'd have more range with a phone pager? I don't really know how the technology might be different, but if so, you two could use that as emergency contact. Paging you at all = "Come now!"

posted by taz 04 July | 08:53

Well, technically when I go out in the field, I'm supposed to take a satellite phone with me, but up until now I've been in range on my normal phone so I haven't bothered. Except today, I was out further than I usually was. But, as the weeks creep by, it would a smart move to carry a satellite phone with me.

posted by Jimbob 04 July | 08:59

And, unfortunately, sat phones haven't shrunk to the size of my little Nokia yet.

posted by Jimbob 04 July | 09:01

Oh mercy, that black-and-fawn dog - Indy? - is gorgeous.

posted by Wolfdog 04 July | 09:06

Yeah, he's the pretty boy. We call him the male model. Border collie x german shepherd. He likes the taste of vets.

posted by Jimbob 04 July | 09:08

Glad everything's working out... all the best to your beautiful expanding family!

posted by Pips 04 July | 10:45

Dude, don't drink the wine. You don't know when they're gonna call and say your wife's about to drop and you're gonna have to jump in the car and head over to the hospital.

That's the way it was for me, and I barely got there in time. Fell down the stairs and punched a hole in the wall on my way out the door.

posted by PlanetKyoto 04 July | 11:45

Does anyone know who the father is?

posted by trondant 04 July | 12:48

$400 to bail the dogs out of jail? wtf? how much does it cost to liberate a car from the impound yard?

tell them your story -- maybe they will cut you some slack. after all, you've a baby on the way!

best to you and your family.

posted by psho 04 July | 13:11

Five months from now you could be sitting in the same chair listening to the baby crying, the dogs barking, and your wife yelling at them and think, "gee, if I could just get ten minutes of silence I could relax a bit, maybe drink a glass of chardonnay." I guess it's all relative - the good thing is that no one's in any danger and you may be able to talk the pound down from $400. Because you've had the chips put in the dogs, you're obviously a thoughtful dog owner, and this was all a series of unfortunate incidents. Right? :)

posted by Zack_Replica 04 July | 14:19

Better carry that phone at all times-my first was four weeks early and arrived in only four hours. Imagine if you'd missed the birth!
Glad about the dogs, and glad the wife is fine. I'm sure the baby's great,too. Smart to have the dogs microchipped! Now if we could only do that with kids...

posted by redvixen 04 July | 17:21

Wow. Dogs AND a wife? And a kid? Cool!

posted by shane 04 July | 19:17

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