Catching Up

The next round of dog training classes begin next weekend--I realized this is my last weekend to finish the France posts and get caught up on recent news. 

Happy dogs chewing on beef bones. The beds were due for a wash so I thought I'd let the dogs chew on their bones in the sun in comfort. 

The biggest news of all is that I got a new car. Yes, the Tata and I had to part ways. It was always a junky little car and I finally decided I couldn't deal with it any longer. It was a good car that got me through my first year here but I wanted a car that was heavier, safer, and more reliable. I think that the Tata is a lemon: it is starting to have some serious transmission problems, the springs/shocks in the rear are going, it sometimes fails to start, especially in the summer; the electric window motors are failing (the driver's window is permanently cracked open now), the tires need aligning--even though the car is only a year old (this may not be the case; I had no way to verify the age of the car when I bought it), any of these would not necessarily be a crisis if I had access to a mechanic that could work on it. But I can't just hop in the car and take it to a garage. I did have Mohammed my private driver take it to the dealer to look into the tire alignment and they said, everything is fine. Well, I'm not stupid and everything is not fine. So I'm dumping the crappy little car.

I bought a 2010 pale green Honda CRV. The dealer happened to have one in their warehouse so I was able to get the car in a week. The Saudi government is currently denying registration applications of women who want to purchase cars (they do this every so often; no reason except that some Wahhabi imam got a bee in his bonnet about the matter and whined to the king; this despite the fact that the Quran says fuck all about women owning cars, or driving for that matter) but I paid a bit under the table and the dealer got my istmarrah (car registration) taken care of via "the tunnel" as he calls it. 

 The dealer tossed in floor mats, the spiffy Honda window shades, and a fire extinguisher.

In fact, the entire purchase experience was a little odd. I of course couldn't test drive any car I was interested in. Here, cars don't have stickers in the windows listing the prices. There isn't a lot with cars lined up for you to view. Reputable dealers have showrooms with one of each model. You have to make your selection of color and such based on options listed in a catalog. And I had to pay cash. I had to have my own manager and a supervisor in the Aramco Treasury department initial a personal check, which I carted off to the bank next to the commissary. They cheerfully handed me a pile of cash and a small brown envelope to put it in. I felt like I was involved in running drugs or something. I then carried that bag of cash to the car dealer that very night--it may be "funny money" but it was still a big wad of cash to be carrying around. And all the toing and froing involved taxis and my private driver, which required an additional layer of scheduling.

Pile of cash. Yes, those are two stacks of 500 riyal notes.

But the end result is a new car.

 

I pulled the Iranian gebbeh carpet out of the Tata, cleaned it, and put it in the new Honda. Nothing but the best for my dogs. The rear seats are completely folded up--plenty of room for dog training class gear and Mimi.

Note: As I was finishing up this post, I got a call from the Honda manager who sold me the car. He was making sure that I got a chance to drive it around today and that I was happy with it. Now that is service!

I tested the first bottle of my own red whine today. Here it is, unlabeled, anonymous (I put do put code and date stickers on the bottles to keep track of things). It has only been in the bottle for 3 months so really is still too young to drink. But I wanted to know if my first efforts were worth saving. If it was awful, I was going to pour it out and start over.

 KDA's own red whine.

I let the wine yeast run its course, then decanted everything into a new container which I let sit for a couple of weeks. Then I bottled it. That was back in October. But the liquid going into the bottles smelled absolutely horrible. And it tasted vile too. I asked around and apparently it does get pretty stinky in those early stages. Patience is the key--I should have let it sit in the second container longer. And it needs to sit in the bottles longer too. To my surprise, it has a high alcohol content, nearing the upper range of what the yeast will tolerate (probably 15-16%) which makes it rather stiff indeed. But for a first effort, it isn't bad.

My friend G in SLC sent us a thoughtful christmas box stuffed full of dog toys. I thought it would be fun to film the dogs playing with their new toys for the first time. Towards the end you'll see Mimi steal a toy from Harry, who rather casually turns around and starts playing with the toy she just dropped. They do this toy switch thing fairly often and it always surprises me. I would expect more typical terrier reactions such as one dog trying to kill the other who took the toy.

But these two terriers seem to have found a harmonious center to their relationship. They frequently curl up to sleep touching each other (not curled together but legs and such will be in contact). They eat within feet of each other. One will honor the other when I have a clicker training session. They actually seem to like being together. None of these behaviors are typical for fox terriers. DSL thinks it is because there are only two of them. There is less competition therefore they are less anxious about the little things. There is probably truth in what she says.

Anyway, I hope you like this video of my happy dogs.