Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Dilemma in the mountains..

We have a peaceful bit of heaven here. We bought the property in 1993 and have 13 acres of beautiful mountain land. We built the cabin in 1996 and have spent many happy, quiet weekends here the last few years. There are a few cabin homes sprinkled around the area. Nice log homes-everybody seems to be here either weekends or fulltime minding their own business. Well, you can imagine how thrilled we were when the new place next to our property placed a huge wooden Miller Beer bottle on the road at their property-I assume their name is either Miller or they own the brewing company. Never-the-less, it certainly has spoiled our nice quaint view coming up the road to our place. Although now we can say "oh we are the next driveway after the Miller bottle" I guess that the one positive is that it is a landmark of some kind. BUT-that is not the worst. A couple of months later a very old trailer arrived, sitting almost on the road, by this home and along with it a man, who I may describe as "non-traditional" I am trying not to be judgemental here but the guy has no teeth, long greasy hair and looks like someone from "Deliverance" Oh, and he has 2 pit bulls tied up to a line on a tree next to his "home" he also built an amazing (sarcastic tone) lean-to of blue canvas which looks a bit like one of those shanties in the homeless part of town. WELL, I thought when one of the scary pit bulls got off his chain this past Fall and tried to attack our very old dog right outside our cabin, I would take the high road and go meet this fellow. Hartley followed since he was afraid I would be killed. Well it turns out "Chuck" seemed fairly rational, was actually nice, got his dog back, apologized, said he was living there full time (we were thrilled) and waiting for his disability check..OK so he didn't' seem like a serial killer and he knows we are nice folks and all, right? Something about loving our enemies, or attracting something with honey comes to mind here.
That is not the worst of it...the drama continues..fast forward 3 months and here we are. "Chuck" is no where to be found but his dogs continue to be tied up to the trailer and god knows if or how often he comes back to feed them. They were outside all night in these minus 14 degree nights we have had, howling, barking. We are scared to get near them because they sound like they would kill Mocha, our dog and probably us if we did. Oh and "Chuck" told us one of them had put someone in a hospital with an attack (he felt bad about that). Hartley saw "Chuck's" vehicle there a couple of days ago so he must come back intermittently to feed them or they would be dead. NOW-one of the dogs is loose and running wild. This means we cannot run, walk our dog or generally walk anywhere for fear of attack. What are we to do? We are afraid if we call the sheriff or Animal Humane and they pick the dogs up, "Chuck" may stop taking his meds or whatever and burn down our cabin. Otherwise we are prisoners in our own home...Geez, I hate this..the other neighbors don't seem to be around for the past 8 days. So i think it would be obvious if we were the ones that called. Hartley just said he is calling the sheriff tomorrow if the dog is still loose. If anything happens to us, there is a guy named "Chuck" that I would suspect...Stay tuned for chapter 2 of the drama of the trailer guy and his pit bulls. The eventful life of mountain living is overwhelming!!

Oh, and I got to experience the "La Clinica" in Tierra Amarilla this AM. I have some female issues which were addressed there. i was actually impressed with the level of medical facility and care they have here in Chama Valley. The only annoying thing was the Nurse Practitioner's questions which had nothing to do with my problem. Oh well, hopefully problem solved with prescribed medication..They even have a pharmacy in Chama. Goodness-I guess we could actually live up here now-medical care and all! That is if we can get rid of the pit bulls.

5 comments:

Redd said...

Wow! That sounds really scary - and places you two in quite a pickle!
I would agree with Dad to call the Sheriff. Your safety is of number one importance. I suggest to also mention to the Sheriff that you are concerned how "Chuck(y)" will react to the possibility of loosing his dogs. Make them aware of your predicament, so they will be available in any worst case scenarios.
Hopefully Chuck really is a sincere guy who will understand that his neglect and abuse towards his dogs has made them dangerous to their surroundings...
Good luck and BE CAREFUL!

Anonymous said...

That sounds awful...especially since your cabin is a place of quiet relaxation....and, you can't go outside to run!

Good luck...I hope it gets worked out for you and Hartley!

Bones said...

Hope you get the dog situation straightened out, that a tough spot to be in. Wonder if the sheriff would haul you in if you had to kill the dog?

Have you tried talking to the other neighbors about Chuck? Maybe the Millers can set some beer out for the dogs & get them drunk enough to take to animal control? :)

Good luck & let us know how it turns out

becoloradogirl said...

I do feel really bad for you guys, but I also feel just awful for those poor dogs! Killer dogs or not, those poor little guys are freezing at night! I would call the sheriff today if you haven't already, you can always tell Chuck you were concerned since you knew the dogs had injured someone before so you didn't know what else to do - good luck ;-)

21stCenturyMom said...

What a horrible way to treat dogs. You really had to call animal control and I'm glad you did. Honestly - if those dogs are not taken care of it is better to have them put down. Pitt bulls, through no fault of their own, are dangerous animals when they aren't cared for properly. Plus those poor beats must be miserable. Hopefully they will be taken away from that guy and picked up by a rescue group which would be a very happy ending, indeed. I hope your problem goes away soon.