Don't offer me a better rate when I call to cancel.

I recently discovered that the car insurance I can get through my credit union is half what I was paying to another well-known insurance company.

My former insurance company kept raising the premiums slightly for collision-only insurance on my 15 year old car.

So I was thrilled to get the same coverage for a year from the new insurer.

After the new policy was in place, I called to cancel my former insurance.

"May I ask why you are cancelling?"

"Well, I've found other insurance that is half what I was paying you."

"Let me see if I can get you a better deal with us."

I politely said No, thank you.  But what I was thinking was, Really?

So you are telling me that the price you have been billing me, the price I have been paying, was negotiable?

That if I had complained and threatened to cancel before this, you would have given me a better price?

I had been happy with my former insurer, but now I feel like I was being scammed.

Thanks a lot.

Why should I?

While I am making progress with resisting “should” by ignoring my crazy aunt, I've realized I need more help. 

I've decided I could take it one step farther just by asking Why?

I should take Bogie for a walk.  Why?  Because the exercise is healthy for both of us.  Okay, that’s legitimate. 

I should clean the house.  Why?  It’s dirty.  Really dirty?  Well, it's dusty and there is dog hair on the floor.  So?  So someone will see it and think I am a slob. Am I a slob?  No.  Is anyone going to see the house?  No.  Not legitimate.

I should go to the gym.  Why?  I paid for the membership.  Have I gotten value out of my membership?  Yes.  Do I have other things I’ve paid for and not used.  Yes.  But people will think I am lazy.  Am I lazy?  No.  Do I exercise at home?  Yes.  Not legitimate.

This supplements the crazy aunt theory by helping to pinpoint where the "should" came from.  

Is it logical, like I should get the oil changed in my car.  

Or is it the crazy aunt spouting off saying I should have rock hard abs and be able to dance like the pros on Dancing with the Stars. 

I think this may work for me. 

I want to be more like my dogs.

There are some personality traits that my dogs have that I would like to have.

Angel is sweet and loving and never holds a grudge.  If she wakes me too early in the morning and I growl at her, "Go away!", she does.

She doesn't sulk.  She doesn't analyze what she might have done to deserve being yelled at.  She just goes and lies down.

When I am ready to wake up, she comes over to be petted, thrilled that I am awake, with no resentment from earlier.

She doesn't let my mood affect her mood.

Bogie is laid-back, accepting of whatever happens.  If I take him for a walk in the morning, he's happy and excited to go.  If instead of the walk, we go for a ride, that's cool.

If we do neither?  Well, that's okay, too.  His day isn't ruined because his routine has been changed.

He rolls with what happens and finds the good in every situation.

My dogs.  My role models.

Just chillin'

So well-behaved!

It appears that all of the training and all of the work I have put in with Bogie has paid off.

We were all all the vet the other day.  We sat in the lobby waiting for our turn.

Bogie sat close by me.  Well, actually he sat right on my foot.

Angel laid on the tile floor next to him.

There was no barking.  No pulling on leashes.  No whining.

From the exam room, each dog had to be taken to the back to have blood drawn and toenails trimmed.  The tech said they had behaved very well.

When our visit was over and we cashed out, the clerk said to me. "Your dogs are always so well-behaved."

What pet parent doesn't like to hear that!

Bogie at the vet

I would rather not move again.

My friend just left Arizona to move to Florida.  I helped her pack.  I gave her a hug.  And I sent her on her way, happy that it wasn't me.

I'm not sure I would willingly move again.

I know some people think of it as an adventure.  I have a friend who travels from furnished room to furnished room from city to city with only a back pack containing his belongings.

Me, I like my stuff.  I like my dogs and my books and my comfy bed and my desk.  My glass studio.  My sewing machine.  My tools and work bench.  My stuff.  

I like knowing where to shop and having a doctor I trust.  I like knowing how to get where I am going without getting lost.

I don't want to have to worry about which of my belongings will fit in a van, truck, or pod destined for another location.  I try to keep the accumulation down, but closets and cupboards seem to spontaneously create more things to fill them.

I wasn't born in this house.  I wasn't even born in this state.  I've moved 11 times in my adult life.

But I have been in this house for 16 years.

Eventually, I'll have to move again. I suspect that at some point I will be unable to navigate the stairs.

But until then, I am staying put.

Dogs and free catch urine samples

I've had dogs all my adult life.  So yes, I've had dogs that have had to donate a urine sample.  But every time the urine was extracted in the back of the clinic, with a catheter.

Yesterday was my first experience with a "free catch" urine sample.

This was apparently not the first “free catch” urine sample the vet tech had tried to get today.  While I paid my bill, the tech and the cashier were talking about how they hoped this sample was successful.  None of the others yesterday morning had been. 

When I left, she had me walk Bogie over in the bare area where he would be inclined to mark.  She had an open sample bottle and was wearing a rubber glove.  

She asked me to keep him close by me so she wouldn't have to run to him if he marked.  

Being the macho boy that he is, Bogie found a bush that needed his personal touch.  While he marked, the tech quickly squatted down by him, thrust her arm under him, and caught the urine.  

She was actually pleased that it worked. 

Me, too.  If it hadn't worked for her, I would have had to try at home.