Leaving Austin

Josh is already in Dublin and says he loves it. He says it's pretty cold, but that the people are fantastic and that it's beautiful. He's working really hard, and thinks he may have found us a house! We'll know more soon...

I'm in my final days in Austin, the movers come Friday and Saturday, then Harp and i will take off for the drive to Colorado after we have everything packed up. We will spend the week with my parents, getting Harp situated for his extended stay with the McElderry's until he can make his own trip over in May.

Getting an animal over to Dublin is an enormous process that takes a really long time and is fairly intricate. The very short version is that they don't care about my immaculate records on the dog, we either jump thru the many hoops they put out or they quarantine him in their public facility for 6 months over there at our expense. The many hoops consist of getting him chipped with an int'l chip, re-vaccinating after the chip is in, then having blood tests conducted at an EU approved lab after the vaccination. 6 months AFTER the date of the blood work that came back the way you want it, he can enter the country on an approved airline and accompanied by a Veterinary Certificate that will include USDA health vouchers, a certificate of acclimation, flea and tick meds administered and signed off on within 48 hours of travel...on and on. He has to fly Aer Lingus, who requires you use a pet move service, and that is a very expensive production. It's not a pleasant process, but Harp can come over May 13th, so his grandparents are graciously allowing him to visit for a few months, which is immensely appreciated by Josh and me. Sandy will be taking him to Chicago in May so he can catch a direct flight which will hopefully minimize his trauma, then he'll go into the Lissenhall facility there for 2 days, then, in theory, i should have my baby back.

We're putting up a calender so that all of our visitors can figure out when the spare bedroom will be available. It's going to be embedded in this blog, so as soon as i get that done, you'll see it. Laura is our first guest, and i can't think of anyone more fun to explore Dublin with.

So i am wrapping up my last days at work, then will handle the movers! I will miss Austin, we have such good friends here, we loved this city and had a great 3 years here, but i am so excited to get to Dublin...