Feels like Summer

We’re currently staring down the end of July, and it has been a difficult month. 

It started with Cirrus getting a grass seed in his ear that had to be removed while he was under anesthesia. Followed by two weeks of holding him down to apply antibiotics to his ear. It did not work, and he had to have a 30-day antibiotic applied at the vet, and we have to go in every 10 days for a vet check to make sure it’s going well. During this he developed hot spots on each foot, which we’re now treating with a cone and a twice-daily cortisol spray. He’s had a hard month.

This month has also been hot, Europe is having an unprecedented heat wave. Croatia hasn’t been as hot as some of the other countries near us, mostly staying under 100℉ (37℃). But it’s been too hot to enjoy our morning routine outside with the pups. We’ve mostly been waiting until dusk for our long walks, and missing the Vitamin D from the sunlight we love so much has been difficult on our moods. 

Right after the 4th our landlord contacted us and said a mouse had been spotted in the neighborhood so they were going to come by with exterminators. At this news, we started checking the house for signs, and we did find them. Turns out mediterranean mice prefer rice to sugar, chips, or dog food. The kitchen got a thorough cleaning, and we moved everything to cabinets with no signs of visitors. The exterminators came and put out poison and we seem to be mouse free now. We have yet to move things back. We will do one more deep clean before we do, and we want to be sure we’re free of rodents. This is the first sign of rodents we’ve had, I guess it’s too hot for the neighborhood cats to hunt.

We have taken some beautiful dusk and night walks, and we’ve made some friends that visit the dog park the same time as we do. They and their pups recognize us and seem happy to see us when we go almost every day. One of my favorite things about Croatia is how kind the people are and how safe it is here. We can walk without any fear at any time of night. Last week a 3 kilo (6+ pound) chihuahua named Brutus was missing in the neighborhood. We heard about it first because we had arrived to the dog park first. We told our dog park friends and soon everyone was on the phone letting the entire neighborhood know. While we were at the park at least 3 groups of people came by looking for Brutus, some still carrying their drinks, having obviously stopped what they were doing to help. They found poor Brutus the next day, unharmed, but very thirsty. 

We are still each working a lot more than we’d like, trying to finish up a side project and I’m trying to get all my companies' websites updated to a new design. Hopefully by the time the weather is nice again, we will be free to enjoy it more often. 

We have some exciting news on the front of our residential permits. We have heard that we have a good chance of having them around the end of July. That means we will be able to travel freely across the EU soon. We want to check out Germany, Greece, Spain, and spend some more time in Italy. We have friends planning trips in Europe and we are planning to meet up with them in coming months. And we have a W3C TPAC conference in Spain we have been invited to for my company in September. 

I have always been an advocate for accessibility on the web and in real life, and attending a W3C conference is a dream of mine. I’m super excited to represent the Real Estate industry at this conference. Back in Nashville I gave several talks about accessibility at meetups, and was considered the resident expert on the matter at several jobs. I haven’t been in the weeds programming in a long time, but I’m super excited about what I’ve missed in the accessibility world since moving to my current role. 

We did find a new restaurant this month too, Submarine Burger. They have amazing California style burgers that we’ve both found ourselves craving since the discovery. They are sloppy and piled with toppings, which we are usually not fans of. But the toppings, bun, meat quality, and flavor are absolutely amazing.