Home, To An Empty House

The week before I left to come, here, to Nova Scotia for Christmas, John had to make a trip to Malaysia. He left on the Sunday and I was to pick him up early on Friday morning. For some reason, on this particular week away the time dragged...usually it doesn't.....but by Thursday I was counting the hours.

Most of the time, when he is away, I'm pretty comfortable in the house despite its dubious past. I keep the doors locked, try to remember to close the curtains when it gets dark, and make sure (when I remember) the phone isn't at the other end of the house. When I heard a noise outside at 6:30 pm on his last night away, my cell phone was hiding in my purse, out in the front porch. I was sitting at my desk in the dining room nook.

The noise was unusual, but....after a little tingle of spidey-senses, I concluded that maybe something had fallen over in the laundry room....until a couple of minutes later when something hit the house very hard.

I looked around for my phone, abandoned the Yahoo conversation I was having with my mother, and made a dash for the front porch and my purse. Kenai, who had been sleeping by my chair, at least stood up and walked over to the kitchen door...wondering, I suppose, what had disturbed his power nap. He didn't go crazy with the barking that he normally uses to warn me of evil invading postmen and flier delivery boys.

With phone in hand, and my thumb on the "1" of "112", I waited for another sound but none came. I relaxed a little and tiptoed to the kitchen door. The curtains were wide open, beyond the window it was pitch black over the driveway, and there was a small stream of water running down the center of the large kitchen window....a small piece of snow at the top. It appeared that someone had thrown a snowball at the window....drilled would be a better description since I actually felt the shudder in my desk chair. My first thought was that the boys next door were out enjoying the fresh snow we had that day and had lobbed one over the hedge and hit the window....except the hedge is 12 feet high and whatever hit the house wasn't lobbed. I thought it was weird that someone would come up our driveway just to throw a snowball at the house. I wished the driveway wasn't as long, nor the house so private, surrounded by those tall hedges.

I turned out the kitchen light and looked down the driveway. Standing in the street, just beyond the end of our drive were 6 guys in dark jackets, all had their hoods pulled up over their heads....some were lighting cigarettes. They looked much older than kids having a snowball fight. I stood there and watched them as they started to walk away, taking their time....stopping....walking a bit....looking around...walking...stopping....and so on and such that it took about 10 minutes for them to completely disappear down the walking path that starts at the end of our cul de sac.

I didn't call the police. Why? Because while I was watching them, I came up with a perfectly reasonable explanation for them being in my driveway. They had come expecting to have a little party with the former ladies of the house and were leaving disappointed, having read the "Business Closed" sign that's still on the front door. Out of frustration, one of them threw a snowball at the window and away they went, slowly. There was a certain air of "so, what are we going to do now, asshole" in their exit. I'm a bit taken aback by the fact that I was able to relax knowing that it was just six guys coming to the door looking for hookers. How did I ever get to that place, I wonder? Funny, how you get used to your situation in life no matter what it happens to be.

At 7:00 the next morning, John was due in at the airport so I loaded Kenai into the backseat of the car at 6:30 am. I decided to check the driveway for footprints before I left, and discovered that there was only one set of prints in the fresh snow...but...that set of prints came only as far as, and turned into, the kitchen window. There was no way that who ever had come up the driveway could have seen the "Business Closed" sign. So....that was creepy!

The only explanation I could come up with was that one of the 6 guys at the end of the driveway had come up scouting the windows for signs of life (beyond the fact that the car was in the driveway) and for some reason, saw something that made him decide there was someone here. It's possible that he saw the dog when he stood up for the thump against the house. I think he was asleep by my chair when that happened but he did get up and go to the kitchen to look.

I collected John at the airport, brought him home, and told him all about the prowlers. He showered and I reluctantly drove him to the office around noon time. When I came back, I began to do some laundry and ironing for my trip home on Sunday. I was filling the iron at the kitchen sink and happened to look out the window to see a police car parked at the end of the driveway. After a minute or so of gawking, I see a policeman come out of the next door neighbor's drive with a man. He stops by the car, asks the man for some ID, and phones in the information on his mobile. All the while, I am peeking out of the window trying not to be seen by the "perp" who is standing facing our house. A few minutes after that, a policeman with a police dog comes up the walking the path....so obviously, something has happened in the neighborhood. I figured someone has been broken into or attacked in their home or something bad!

At this point, I figure I had better tell the police about what happened here the night before....except I want to wait until they have this guy being questioned either in the car or on his way. They let him go and he wanders off down the walking path. Not sure why they let him go....he was found on the neighbor's property...and didn't appear to be there for any reason at all. I pulled on my coat and boots, and headed down the driveway to "file my report" from last night (a day late but whose counting?). Well, I'm a little slow and the driveway's a little long, and by the time I got there....the police car was pulling away.

Well, since I was all suited up for the outdoors and ready to talk, I kept on going.... over to the other next door neighbor's house to ask her if she had seen the police car and to find out if she knew what was going on. As it turns out, the postman had come to her door and asked to call the police because he noticed a suspicious person hanging around my house, her house and the other neighbor's house. Nice....

I told her what had happened at our house the night before. It was one way to finally meet a new neighbor.

John stayed home from the office Christmas party that night and on Saturday morning we went to the post office to have the mail held while we were away. It sure looked like we were being scoped out for a holiday break and enter. Penny and Ulrik volunteered to check on the house while we were away, but we couldn't get hold of Lars, the landlord, whom we hadn't seen for a couple of weeks. When we tried to phone him, his phone was disconnected. He had no idea we were going away, and I was planning to give him a key, and tell him he could hang around if he wanted a break from his parents place. He also might have wanted to make sure his insurance was paid up since most the stuff in here belongs to him. Penny and Ulrik would be taking Kenai while we were gone, and most of that time would be spent with Ulrik's family a couple of hours away in Svendborg. They would check on the house before they left and a week later when they got back.

Oh well...nothing else to be done, except hope that the guy the police found skulking around on Friday was part of the Thursday night group, and that they were smart enough to realize that the cops now had a name and an address if a house did get broken into on the street. At least they would know where to start. I left two days later, relieved that I didn't have to spend anymore days and nights alone in the house for a while. The plan was for John to take the photo negatives and my jewelry box to Penny and Ulrik's, when he went to drop Kenai off, but instead of him going there, they came to the house to pick him up themselves and John forgot to give them the other things. I was pretty sure, despite John's theory that there was no way they would be dumb enough to try and hit our place again, that we would be coming home on New Year's Day to an empty house. A few days after he got to Halifax, he told me that someone was creeping around later on the day that I left.

On Christmas Eve morning we were woken at 7:00 by John's phone. I heard John say, "Ulrik?" and then he asked me if I was awake. In my experience, so far, only bad news comes at 7:00 am, and bad news it was. Penny and Ulrik were at a vet hospital in Svendborg with Kenai. They told us that Kenai was very sick. We knew he'd had a couple of episodes of vomiting the previous afternoon, but they had continued through the night, and he was now so weak that he couldn't walk or stand. The vet wanted to do do some blood tests and x-rays and he came on the phone to discuss what he thought should be done. He suspected liver failure, probably caused by a tumor. He could tell for certain after the tests, but he let us know that Kenai was a very sick dog. If the tests confirmed his suspicions the best thing we could do for him was to put him to sleep. He could have the results very soon. We agreed to the tests, hung up, and then laid back down in bed, stunned, to wait.

We couldn't believe it. Our beautiful, funny, lovable boy, so sick and us so far away. But we knew in our hearts, even before those tests results came back, that we were never going to see him again. We quietly talked about what to do with him after, we felt terrible about our good friends having to deal with such a difficult thing....on Christmas Eve, no less. Penny and Ulrik had so been looking forward having Kenai for the holidays, and since Ulrik is Kenai's best friend in the whole wide world, we kept telling him he was going to have the best Christmas ever when we were gone. He almost did. I bet he didn't know there was a Christmas dinner coming along in about 6 hours time.

When the results came a half hour later, the vet's suspicions were confirmed. There was a large tumor on Kenai's liver and there was no choice of what to do. The liver had shut down and the poisons were going through his system affecting the other organs, causing them to shut down, too. Thank you, Penny and Ulrik for staying with him until the end and saying our goodbyes for us. I am heartbroken that we weren't there to be with him at the end. He was such a big and important part of our family. We are going to miss him so much when we come home, to an empty house. I don't care about any of that other stuff anymore.


R.I.P. Kenai ~ April 8, 1998 - December 24, 2010

Y'all Like Piano Music, Right?

The end of another semester. I'm never going to post anything that I ever did in my Basic Illustration class....even though my instructor was a dear and didn't ask me not to for fear of his job. I was happier with my other class....2D Design. We had to put together a presentation called "My Visual Journey" with samples of our classwork. So here is about 25% of what I did in that course.

Warning....it comes with sound.

My Visual Journey from Karen MacKay on Vimeo.

In a few minutes, I'm going out to tidy the kitchen, figure out where I left my Christmas beer, and when I get back I'm going to write my Basic Illustration exam. Then it's Christmastime!!!!

Time to pack in a few days. Leaving Denmark on Sunday morning and will be in Halifax that night. John is now in Kuala Lumpur but he'll be back before I leave. There is way too much stuff piled on the spare room bed to fit in my suitcase, so I guess I'll have to him bring those things when he comes. Please, please, please let him come back from Malaysia with a big bag of Batiks for moi!

Sunrise/Sunset

For the past couple of months, I've been chasing the sunrise I can see if I'm up early and lean really really far into my kitchen window. If I look way off to the right, down toward the end of the walking path, I can sometimes see what looks to be the most spectacular sunrise. Many Friday and Saturday nights I've told John that we were getting up early, in the dark, to drive the few kilometers to the coast so I could photograph the sun rising over the water of the Oresund. We, somehow, never managed to actually drag ourselves out of bed in time. It seemed pretty hopeless, since we weren't missing the sunrise by a few minutes....it was hours.

But, with the seasons our luck changed. Daylight is coming later every day, and now, we can get up at seven instead of six fifteen. A couple of Saturdays ago that's exactly what we did, crawling out of bed in the dark, throwing on whatever clothes were handy, tossing the dog in the back seat, and remembering to take the camera. (It would have been a good idea to remember to charge the camera battery, I suppose.)

We drove to a parking spot along the beach and waited. I sipped tea from my thermal cup, ready for the big show.....except just like the fireworks when I was a kid in Halifax. The sunrise over the Oresund was a fizzle. The sun came up with a slight tinge of pink over yonder in Sweden. It was the dawn of another overcast Danish fall day. Bummer.

On the up side we were up in time to make it to the dry cleaners before they closed at noon time. The following Tuesday I was up early and stole a peek out the kitchen window. There was the blazing sunrise down at the end of the walking path and John backing out of the driveway on his way to work. I had formulated a Plan B which was that we would make a quick run over there on a weekday since half of us was already up anyway. It looks like if I want this to happen I'm going to have to be in the front seat, waiting, when John gets in the car in the morning because I don't think he's going to volunteer to miss a meeting so I can snap a few pix.

I am still going to chase that sunrise and the pressure is on to get it done before the time changes next week and sunrise falls back another hour. In the meantime, though, I did get another thing on my list of things to do done, last weekend. That was to drive over to Jyllinge to catch the evening sunset over the Roskilde Fjord. We've been talking about that since before summer vacation. We had been out driving around with no particular place to go and were about to turn around and go home.


Instead of going home we turned in the opposite direction and drove to Jyllinge. Turns out it was worth it. The sun was starting to set as we got there, there was a great place to park above the marina, and I took lots of photos.

Look At What I Made In School!!

Last night John came home and told us the next move will be to Abu Dhabi. He doesn't have a date yet, but we're guessing after Christmas because that's kind of a convenient date to imagine. I don't think it has anything to do with what the company might want, though. However....I know how long these things can take and I'm taking late January in the pool....um...not that pool. I guess it's time to make my list of all the things I want to do in northern Europe over the next month and a half.

So, I've been sort of busy. An instructor at Dallas County Community College is attempting to teach me how to draw via the internet. I believe he has met his match! Now the trick to this whole enterprise is to get an A without actually showing any ability what so ever. Let me tell you.....it is taking a lot of time. My only hope is that my willingness to constantly redo, to accept criticism and revise will be enough. I think I've got that part down pat. To accompany the pen and pencil set, I'm also taking something called Visual Design for New Media which lets me use my good old computer. There is something wonderful to be said for "Edit>Undo" and it's cousin "Edit>Undo Delete."

Anyway, this was my first project in VD.... the goal was to portray the concept of transportation with some parameters thrown in, one of which was to generally keep the use of a vehicle to less than 60% of the original image just to make me think harder about how to do it.

Summer Time & The Livin' Is Easy....

The pool is ready!! The water is blue, all the bits and piece are working and none of the floaty chairs have holes in them. Life is good and we realized last night just why it was so important to get that thing done and filled with water again. It looks lovely, and I won't have to go down into it with a can of spray paint to make a decorative yard mural. I've already stuck my feet in....it felt nice and warm.

Or that's what I told John who donned his trunks and actually went in a couple hours after my temp test. He thought it was a little chilly but "Hey!" this is Denmark after all...

Lars never did show up last Sunday to finish the driveway. He eventually turned up on Tuesday and before he got started pressure washing, he went out for the pool chemicals and showed me how to use them. No more Mojitos in the pool, the water is a nice bluish turquoise now. It's had a thorough vacuuming and we are all happy again. John really wanted to have a big party in its honor, but instead we had a few friends over last night for a barbecue. And man it was soooo hot!! It's sweltering here in the land of no-air-conditioning! What's up with that? It's supposed to get up to 32 degrees today.

Lars and his brother left for Thailand yesterday. On one of the many days he was here this week, he took a lot of photos of the backyard and the pool. Doubtless, he is hoping to meet a new girl and he wants to make a good impression by showing her pictures of his house in Denmark....considering his brother showed up one day wanting to show his girlfriend around. Sheesh!

I wish him well but I hope he doesn't give out the address while he's over there.

Here's a little after shot of the pool. What a difference a few weeks and some elbow grease can make.

Mojito Pool

Saturday was our anniversary but we were so tired from yard work that we just stayed home and barbecued some burgers for dinner. Lars came back and almost finished his pressure washing. He just has the driveway left but the pool deck and patio are done. John and I swept it up, got some mulch for the rose beds, finished planting, cleaned the garden furniture and last, but not least, we stuck a full running hose into one end of the pool at 19:20 hours. Woo Hoo!! (Will not think about how fast the water meter is turning as I type this.)

It's almost full. I would say that we'll be able to turn it off early in the morning before I take John to the airport. He's off to Abu Dhabi this week for some meetings. Those of us who guessed 60 hours to fill the pool will be taking home the big prize. I just have to find out where to get the chemicals for it...I think blue water would be much nicer than the green it is now. Does look like a cool refreshing beverage, though.

Dilemmatry

We are less than one day away from our 28th wedding anniversary...and more importantly...less than one day from turning the hose on in the pool. It's finally ready for water!! Well, not officially since the pool guy told Lars that we had to wait 2 weeks for the paint to cure, but Lars figures that since it's been so nice and sunny it should be fine. We're going with his version of the instruction manual.

Guesses as to how long it will take to fill? John's rough calculation of volume and flow rate from the hose (all done in his head) comes out to 31 hours. I think I'll check the flow rate more scientifically and apply a little calculus to the problem to come up with mine....or maybe I won't. I have better things to do.

The backyard is beginning to look spiffy again. We bought plants. Lots of plants for the pots and took advantage of the free compost. Because if there's something for free in Denmark you want to take advantage. I don't care if it is dirt. I want some.

Lars told me the other day that his Dad charged him 1,000 kroner to come with his pressure washer and clean off the patio stones. I guess you can't even get family help for a couple of beers and a barbecued hamburger around here.

A few weeks ago I asked Lars if he was interested in cleaning the grassy bits in between some of the stones. John had bought this special brush for digging it out and I thought maybe, since he wasn't working, Lars would want to do it for some extra cash. He pretty much balked at the idea, saying it was too much work. It was then that he mentioned that his Dad had a pressure washer that he could bring over. The pressure washer, he said would take care of everything (including the dark discoloration of the bricks) with a lot less effort. He did not mention, at that point, that he had ever paid his Dad to do this for him.

Lars never did show up with the pressure washer, so John sent him a text about when he was planning to come. He got a reply that the Dad's pressure washer is broken, so he can't do it.....unless we pay 600 kroner for a new pressure washer. Now, this begs a few questions. 1) Where can you get a pressure washer for 600 kroner? 2) Is this 600 kroner on top of what he wants to be paid for doing the job? 3) Can we take this 600 kroner out of the 1300 kroner he already owes us for the pool paint?

I don't mind paying him to clean the patio bricks but I'm not into buying a lot of equipment I can't use in North America. Since he was only asking for 600 kroner ($100) for a new washer, John was convinced that it wasn't really a new one...maybe a rental...or maybe his Dad's for a fee....suddenly and miraculously repaired. I dunno.

Last night John and I discussed this whole who's paying for what, and when, thing. It came up because he started getting texts from Lars during dinner about buying the pressure washer and how he used to pay his Dad 1,000 kroner to do this. Didn't we think 600 kroner was a good deal. Well....yeah it is....if that's what it's costing including the labor. It's a very good deal. It's just weird.

Trying to pin John down on the details of his agreements can be difficult sometimes. He always figures everything will work out in the end, so he doesn't sweat stuff as it goes along. I wanted to know if I was supposed to pay Lars in cash for cleaning the house this month (he showed up a few times) or was he supposed to be working off the paint money. I never really got a good answer on that one. John said he figured he'd be working off the debt, but I guess what I really wanted to know is what "Lars" thought. Because if he was expecting cash when he got her today, maybe I should have some in the house. John couldn't really tell me what Lars thought.

In the end it was determined that Lars was coming to the house at 3 PM today to collect our share of the pressure washer money. John had a serious of texts with him this morning that determined (in John's mind) that he was coming for 600 kroner. Following John's series of texts, I had my own with Lars and it was determined (in my mind) that he was coming to collect 1500 kroner since the pressure washer cost 1300 kroner.....I guess math isn't his strong suit. This little thumb and finger conversation prompted a phone call to John who was steadfast in his impression that we were paying him 600 kroner. OY!! Confused yet?

Well, Lars shows up a little past three with a brand new pressure washer in 2 boxes. I guess he was able to pay for it up front after all. I have 1000 kroner sitting on the bookcase for him because I've decided to pay him for June's housecleaning and let our share of the pressure washer, which John swears is 600 kroner, come out of the money owed for the paint. (I hope you're keeping track of all this in Excel.) He takes it out back and starts to fiddle with the parts. Before too long, he knocks on the back door and asks me to come out and show him how to connect the hose to it. I take the spray nozzle off the end of the hose, hand it to him and point to the spot on the pressure washer where it attaches. He takes the hose connector off the end of the hose and tries to jam the rubber of the hose onto the nozzle where the pressure washer connects. I start to worry and take over....telling him he has to put the connector back on, showing him how it works.

The hose connector works but the pressure washer doesn't. Lars tries a few things and decides to go back to the store for help. He's gone an hour. When he comes back. it still doesn't work, so he goes back to the store for more help. Eventually, he gets the motor running and he starts on the patio. It isn't very long before he's stopped again. The brushes on the bottom of the patio cleaner aren't rotating, he informs me he'll go back to the (now closed) store in the morning to see what's wrong this time. Before he escapes, John gets home from work, and changes a few parts around so that the brushes turn. Poor Lars has to spend the better part of Friday night working on the patio.

He's coming back tomorrow to finish the job. We're waiting for the mud to dry so we can sweep all that crap up, and Lars didn't take any money...yet. But he sure did a lot a grumbling about how much time he's got invested in this project so far.

Come back tomorrow to see how it all comes out in the wash.....