Election Day Thoughts

It's Election Day here in Virginia where we have a Gubernatorial Race happening. We've endured endless political propaganda on TV and have had many canvassers come to our home reminding us to  go vote and sharing their candidates' platforms. I always give them my time and attention and never rush them because I used to do Get Out the Vote (GOTV) work and know how hard it can be. 

Yangkyu and I go to the polls every year together - it's sort of become our thing. We used to take Piri and Bartles with us and one of us would wait in the car while the other goes votes. Yangkyu also had the option of remote work for a while and so it was always easy for him to opt to work from home on Election Day so we could always make it a family affair. 

This year it took a bit more coordination with his new job and him no longer having the option of remote work. Yangkyu also has night class today which means he needed to get into work earlier so that he could fill his hours to leave early to go to class, which just made everything more complicated.  Normally leave for work at 6 am today but that's when polls would open. 

Yangkyu does, I believe, qualify to apply for absentee voting but I don't. Which still puts us in a predicament because I have a guest dog today and we have a policy of never leaving the dogs unsupervised, not even for a short while. 

We couldn't go after Yangkyu comes home after class (polls would close by then) and we couldn't go separately (my guest dogs) and so we ended up getting up at the crack of dawn and heading to the polls around 5:45 am with just Hank, our guest dog. Lady ended up waiting at home because we really needed this to be a super quick rushed affair so that Yangkyu could hit the road to go to work by 6:15 am latest.

Thankfully the lines weren't ridiculous and we were done with voting by 6:20 am. It wasn't a pleasant experience. It just felt so hectic and rushed.

You know, when I used to live in California, everyone was eligible to vote by absentee. It was quick and simple and it made sure that people were not deterred from voting - whether it was because they had work or school or because of language or mobility issues.

When I used to live in New York, polls closed much later to accommodate as many people and workers as possible who had to commute long hours or got out of work later than the normal 9-5 schedule.

In Virginia, there is a set of eligibility requirements to vote absentee, none which I qualify for, and polls close by 7 pm. I kept thinking, for us, it was a bit of a pain to make sure we cast our vote today,  but we did it. I mean you gotta vote so jump through hoops right? But I was thinking about other families and students, and workers who were or felt they were deterred to go vote with such limitations, much harsher and difficult than ours. 

Voting should be not hard and complicated. Voting should be accessible and easy. 

PS - I used to volunteer to work as a poll worker (interpreter) in New York on election days and witnessed first hand many voters whose first languages weren't English who were discriminated against (we worked with lawyers from the Department of Justice to monitor these incidents) or had lost their votes because they were given the wrong instructions (NY had these ridiculous big ballot machines which were tricky to use and people would pull on the lever without casting their vote which ultimately lost them the chance to vote for their candidates). I have heard of cases where it was hard for people to even make it out to the polls because it was just too hard (mostly immigrant workers who didn't have flexible work schedules). I also know of many people who don't vote simply because they don't care or are unaware. Meanwhile they have all the privileges to make their voting experience a more comfortable one as they know the language to make informed decisions and ask questions if they don't know how to cast their vote, they have cars, they have flexible schedules. This bothers me to no end. 

Lucketts Holiday Open House and Market

On Saturday, the three of us got in our little hatchback and made an hour drive trip over to the town of Lucketts for the Old Lucketts Holiday Open House and Market. I have been looking forward to this for weeks but was a little nervous that we wouldn't be able to make it. 

Lately we've been having a bit of a schedule change around here, mainly with Yangkyu switching jobs and without the option of remote work it's been early mornings out and late nights coming home, especially on days he has night class. October also was a busy month for me at Piri's Place, having up to 8 dogs at one point. While my schedule got slower once the last of our October guests left, Yangkyu's schedule was still up in the air. Thankfully just a couple of days before the open house and market, Yangkyu's schedule cleared, allowing for a nice day out just the three of us. Something we haven't done in a very long time. 

The last time we came to Lucketts was in February of last year. We came with Piri and perhaps it's because we're currently in the season where he left us and the holidays are coming up, but I've been missing that boy a bit more, which always leads me to miss Bartles just the same. It was a blessing to have them in my life but it's still so very hard sometimes to cope with them no longer being a part of our daily ins and outs. 

I normally always leaving Old Lucketts Store with something but this time around I left empty handed. While I am so very much looking forward to Christmas (already started listening to Christmas music), I don't think I am quite ready to wrap my head around decorations yet. We're definitely looking to switch things up this year and get new decorations but I'm not quite sure what yet. And the open house and market was packed with people that it was hard to take my time and look around. It certainly did give me a lot of ideas though. 

But I do have to admit, I have wreath fever now and want to put one up almost everywhere. A nice big one above our mantle would be pretty. A light up one sounds even nicer. 

We'll definitely do a real tree again this year (last year we opted out because it was hard to celebrate and get into the holiday spirit with Piri gone, and we were going away on a trip to Germany, but Bartles was joining our family and so in an attempt to do something we ended up getting a fake tree, which I regretted afterwards), but a white Christmas tree sounds pretty tempting. 

I have been slowly looking through Pinterest to see if perhaps I can make some of our decorations this year and also making our annual ornament as well for the five of us. An entirely handmade Christmas would be nice -- but maybe another year. I am thinking about making an Advent Calendar for Lady and have little treats hidden inside every day. She goes nuts for treats and so I think it's something she will definitely like. 

Please tell me I'm not the only dog person who thinks of stuff like this. 

Yangkyu and I are still getting used to taking Lady with us to places. She normally does wonderfully on a leash but when she is in a new place with exciting smells everywhere she likes to tug at the leash and go her own way. She also stands her ground and we feel so bad tugging on her leash.

She also has a habit of walking nicely a leash and then pooping almost out of nowhere - no signs  or warnings beforehand (like going around in circles or taking the time to find the right spot, or going on grass, etc.). It catches off guard especially when we're on the sidewalk, or on gravel in this case. 

Lady also doesn't like dogs who get all in her face. She wags her tail and the initial introduction is good but when the dog sniffs too much or gets too close to her face Lady will snap and growl. She doesn't bite - just sends a warning to back off. It's normal behavior but for us we're not used to it and we're also always afraid of how people may react (some people understand, others just judge and I can't deal with people like that - I let them ruin my day). 

Aside from a couple of "I poop anywhere" incidents (lol), Lady did fantastic. We kept away from other dogs (and frankly no one really came up to us to have our dogs mingle) and after a while, Lady kept right at our side and walked beautifully while enjoying sights and smells. She is such a good girl. 

We ended our day around 3 and stopped by Petco to pick up a treat for Lady (as if she needs another bag) and then to The Home Depot to pick up some cleaning products (we're getting ready to say hello to our November guests and stocking up on cleaning supplies) and then at home we gave Lady a nice bath and spent the night catching up on Stranger Things. We just got done with episode 5. 

It's back to busy schedules for us starting Monday - more Yangkyu than me. Our refrigerator is packed with food to cook. Lots of fall comfort meals are on the menu. 

We have a modest number of guests coming in November, but along with this weekend, I'm taking Veterans Day off as well and so our availability is a bit limited. 

I've finally begun knitting Yangkyu's cowel (I've already messed up - yay!) and we're thinking of maybe doing a vegan Thanksgiving this year. We're currently researching recipes.

Any suggestions? 

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Pretty Barktastic

Happy Halloween! 

Can you guess what Lady is? 

Lady is Lady from Lady and the Tramp. Her collar only took about 10 minutes to make. I made the gold tag a bit bigger so that people would (hopefully) get what she's dressed up as.

Did you know that Scooby Doo and Lady's collar are exactly the same except that Scooby Doo has the letters "SD" on it? 

Well, you learn something new every day. 

Have a spooktacular day friends!

Boo

Our Halloween pumpkins this year features the five of us - Yangkyu, me, Piri, Bartles and Lady with our scary faces. 

We have been keeping our channel on AMC and watching the Halloween movie marathon nonstop. We do this every year. 

I did end up buying that big plastic pumpkin from Target and it's filled to the top with lots of candy. 

We're ready for you Halloween!

 // 2016 pumpkins
 // 2015 pumpkins
 // 2014 pumpkins
 // 2013 pumpkins

Dreams

Bartles came out in my dream in the other day. I think it's the second time he's visited me since he crossed but the first dream I didn't really see him. It was not a very pleasant dream where he was taken from me and I couldn't get the words out of my mouth to stop the person from running away with Bartles. I was talking but my mouth moved so slowly and the words came out all jumbled. By the time I was able to scream and call out to Yangkyu the person was long gone with Bartles. It was dark and the whole time I remember feeling so helpless and scared.

My most recent dream of Bartles again wasn't a very good one. He wasn't feeling well and I kept trying to dial the number to the vet's office but my fingers kept pressing the wrong number. I would reach the last couple of digits and press the wrong button and would have to start all over again. I kept doing this over and over again until a vet who I wasn't particularly fond of came to our house. The weird thing was that I never saw this person in my life but in my dream I knew I didn't like her very much. The vet proceeded to tell me that Bartles doesn't have much time left and for us to get ready to say good bye. She gave him a shot and I was so scared that it was something to help him cross over. She reassured me that it was only to take the pain away. The heavy worrying feeling I had was so very real. Just like the day when we rushed him to the ER. 

Just a few minutes after Bartles got his shot he suddenly perked up and was trotting about like there was nothing wrong with him. He had a perfect gait and his tail was wagging. I called out, "Bartles! Bartles!" so that I could see if he was alright but he was too excited to explore his surroundings. I was smiling and was cautiously happy and inside I kept thinking, "See.. I told you so. It wasn't his time."

And then I woke up.

The dream mirrored how I was feeling the entire time after Bartles crossed the rainbow bridge. I thought I haven't been really thinking about that moment but I guess deep inside I always am.

As we start to hit the holidays I am saddened that we will never get the opportunity to dress him up for Halloween, make him turkey meatballs for Thanksgiving, celebrate Christmas by going to see the lights at Bull Run and trimming the tree with him (we have an elf hat that we wanted to pass down to him) and most of all celebrate his gotcha day which falls in December, just a day before my birthday. It's always these nevers that are so hard to accept sometimes.

Today is 117 days since Bartles crossed the rainbow bridge. 

I miss you Mr. B.