Lizzie's Couch

I said I would post about another incident which did involve Liz, and now I have two.  It seems when it rains it pours.  I truly want to hear opinions on this, as it’s possible I’m over reacting, but to me, any incident that threatens the lives of my babies deserves to be met with my wrath.  I am trying to remain calm about this, though I will admit there is a part of my brain that is raging like an angry momma bear, ready to gnaw on some heads.

Incident One:  The Window.
After I left Best Buy with my loaner phone, I came home, greeted the pups, then paused, noticing the blinds covering my sliding glass door were moving.  At first I thought maybe I had imagined it, but then they moved again. I walked over, pulled the blinds aside, and discovered a man-sized hole in my window.  There was a massive pile of tiny glass shards on both the inside and outside of the window, and had my dogs not been smart enough to stay away from it, I could have come home to a massacre.  My stomach turns to think of the damage that could have been done if they had walked through it, or heaven forbid, tried to eat it.  I checked them both over, they were okay, and rushed around checking my apartment for anything missing.  Nothing was out of place.  My first thought was perhaps someone had tried to break in, and the dogs had scared them away.  Or they had looked around, seen nothing of value (the electronics were upstairs) and left.  I called emergency maintenance, they called me back a few minutes later and said they would be there in 20 to 25 minutes.  I spend the next hour and a half sitting there, wild stories of burglars returning with guns or other equally horrifying scenarios running through my head.

When they finally arrive, I am told it was an accident caused by the landscaping company, and that two other windows had been broken that day as well.  Why hadn’t they bothered to tell me this over the phone?  Did they think it necessary to let me stew in terror until they got there?  They board up the window and leave.  They did not clean up the shards of glass, or the remaining glass in the window.  I vacuumed up the shards as best I could, but I didn’t dare try to break the rest of the glass down, it would have only shattered all over me and caused more of a hazard.  This was on Monday night.  The next day I spend all day at work worrying about the rest of that glass falling and killing my dogs, come home, nothing has been repaired.  They tell me that since I wasn’t home they didn’t want to enter with the dogs there.  Fair enough.  So today I asked a neighbor to watch them, and if it isn’t done by tonight someone is going to be in trouble.

Incident Two: The Wires.
The glass I might forgive as an accident.  Though I maintain that it should have been cleaned up the moment it was reported.  This next incident though, this is why I’m angry.
Tuesday night (last night) I took the dogs out to the designated dog area, you know, those areas with grass and a poo pick up station some apartment complexes have?  My neighbor came out to talk to me while I let the dogs do their thing, and we’re just standing there, chatting, when I hear a loud POP and Lizzie, the mellowest dog on the planet, suddenly SCREAMS and starts dancing around, even briefly managing to slip her collar, that was how hard she was struggling.  I’m obviously surprised and scared something had hurt her, and I go to her, put her collar back on, and check her over.  Aside from looking traumatized, she seems to be okay, though she keeps shaking her head for about a minute or two.  My neighbor looks where she had been when we heard the POP, and says ‘she must have tried to lick these wires over here’.  He admits he’d known the wires were there, but had assumed they were dead since they’d been there awhile and no one had come out to remove them.  His son went over and nudged them, and was rewarded with another loud POP and a large spark.
There. Were. Live. Wires. In. The. Dog. Area.
I’ll let that sink in.
I do not have words for the level of rage I felt at that moment.  I consider myself to be a very patient and pleasant person, but at this moment, Nordic Berserkers would have backed off and told me to calm down.  You DO NOT put my animals in danger.  Ever.  I grabbed my phone, called thier office and left a very angry voicemail, since they were closed.  Then I went inside, took a photo of the broken glass, and if the wires are still there when I get home tonight, I’m taking a photo of them too and reporting them to anyone who will listen.  Liz could have DIED.  A smaller breed of dog would have been killed instantly.  Children play in that area.  And when I emailed them about it today?  Not even an apology.  Just a reply asking to clarify where the wires were.  All I have to say?  Someone better get fired for this.

6/09/11 UPDATE

Well, this is special.  I came home last night to MORE glass on my carpet,  and no new window.  I have vacuumed it all up, and I’d like you all to see just how much glass was in my carpet.

Just look at this.  This is a beach bucket.  The glass weighed about 5lbs I’d guess.  Here’s another photo next to a coke can for scale.

Just imagine this on your carpet.  Imagine your children or pets playing with a pile of glass this big nearby.   Imagine coming home to find this on your floor and your kids or pets sitting near it.

They ‘removed’ the wires.  I found the clippings on the ground and the staff tells me the electricity to them was cut.  I think I’m going to go check myself whether they actually shut off the current or just cut them down so no one could spot them easily.  I’ll let you all know the results.