Encouraging Germans and what about Molly

Fortunately for me, I personally know a few upbeat Germans who know something about Hamburg. I also know some royal pessimists who also claim to know something about Hamburg, but I largely ignore them. Anyway, the German optimists continue to tell me that Hamburg is the shiznit - great public transportation, fairly inexpensive for a city, lots of fun stuff to do and, for a German city, a decent selection of meat free eating establishments.

It also appears that Germans just love their dogs. So much, in fact, that you can take your dog on the train, in many cafes and in just about any other kind of non-food related retail establishment that you can think of. Molly is going to love that; Stella will be terrified. I've been trying to walk Stella by the elementary school near our house to get her used to crowds of people, albeit small ones in this case. She hates it. The kids mostly leave her alone, but once in a while one of the little duffers wants to pet Stella, who does her best to bond at the atomic level with the back of my legs.

We have also moved the dog crates into the living room so Stella can get used to being in a confined space. We are starting slowly - we put her bed in the crate. So, unless she wants to lay on the hardwood floor, Stella has to go in the crate. This is working really well except that Molly (of course) has a penchant for Stella's digs, which is larger than her own. The problem is that Stella doesn't really fit in Molly's crate, so I am constantly evicting my geriatric and slightly dazed Basset hound so Stella can lay down. At this stage, the crates don't have doors. In a couple of weeks, we are going to try putting on the doors and driving Stella around town in the crate. We'll see. The last time I penned her up in this fashion, she resorted to self-mutilation which included huge quantities of saliva and tufts of fur all over her doggy jail. One step at a time.

The people whom David will be working for have undertaken the task of finding us an apartment (wonderful them). We have received information on a couple of "flats," one of which is great except it has tan carpeting. I am a little hesitant to take on that responsibility, especially with one aging, lazy dog and one anxious, semi-stubborn dog. I'll have to price replacement carpeting in Germany. The admin assistant who is looking for us has also placed an ad in the paper, so we'll see if we can find something with wood or tile. I feel a little sorry for the poor woman who is trying to accommodate our housing needs - reasonably priced, close to the train or bus, in a walking neighborhood, allows dogs, is furnished with appliances and has wood floors. My impression (based on her comments) is that this type of place is a hot commodity (duh) and we better just take the best thing we find.

I'll know more on this housing business Wednesday. I've got my fingers crossed. Still no decision on who will move our stuff. I've really go to get with the program on that one. Ok, back to dissertating - ugh.