Baxter Complaint: Fill & Download for Free

A little history. I grew up as a foster child, with one crazy, violent foster Mother. Special needs kids back in the 1960's weren't adopted. My twin and I were passed around in a number of foster homes until we landed in a Minister's family. Preacher's wife, “Mommy Dearest's" EVIL sister.My sister and I have a rare genetic abnormally called oculocutaneous albinism. White hair, white skin, and purple/red eyes, depending on the lighting in a given environment.Now, when you grow up the way I did, you had better be intelligent, quick witted, funny, strong willed, keenly aware of people's intent/mood and have lightening fast reflexes.I've spent my 31 year career as a band director in two Texas school districts. Though legally “blind" I've never made much fuss about it because I have always been this way. Around my 8th year of teaching, growing weary of people thinking I was VERY OLD, simply because they couldn't see past the white hair, brows and lashes, I began coloring my hair ash blond, and my lashes/brows dark brown. So to the unsuspecting casual observer, I seem to be a pale completed blonde. But albinism carries another gift more difficult to disguise, nystagmus.In year 14, my school district got a new head band director. I'd heard about the guy through the grapevine, and the news wasn't good. He was in his 3rd year of teaching, and was known to be full of himself. I taught beginners in 6th grade, so figured I would be out of range should he turn out to be as bad as I had heard. The 2 remaining high school directors promptly jumped ship. The middle school duo stayed.New head director turned out to be far worse than his billing. He was a terrible director! He hadn't a clue how to teach or run a band program. He hired 2 high school assistant directors who were more inexpensive and inept than he was. They were quite the trio.I got a bit of distant static from him at first, but I let it roll off to begin with. In February of that first year, as a band staff, we all flew together to the state music educators’ convention. The guy made crude sexist jokes in the van on the way to the airport. Once on the shuttle, the cracks became racist. He made disparaging remarks about his 2 Hispanic assistants. He called them racial epithets to their faces. I caught the eye of the head middle school guy. We both raised our eyebrows, and looked at our feet. As the trip wore on, he only got worse. I really am not one to rock the boat, but it got pretty bad.On the flight home, we were scattered throughout a full flight. When we arrived at our airport, we were standing around the baggage claim area awaiting our checked bags. New boy wonder introduced me to a pretty woman saying he had met her on the flight. It turned out, the airlines had lost one of my bags, and one of this other woman's bags.The women seemed oddly interested in me. She stepped away from our group when I went to ask about the missing bag. Then she kept kind of sticking to me, making what seemed idle chat. I'm a magnet for needy people, so wrote her odd conduct off as someone looking for a leader to follow. It didn't matter. It wasn't like I would have any further interactions with her ever, so I played along.In late April, of that same school year, a fellow band director came to me. I was asked if I remembered the lady I'd met that night at the airport. I said yes. Turned out, the woman was a friend of this friend. My friend told me, new head director had sat down next to the woman on our flight home, and began to make fun of my disability. I was stunned. I was also livid.SPOILER ALERT: This is where you figure out that I was the “wrong person“ to mess with for this workplace bully.I filed a formal grievance with the school district. The woman from the flight wrote a statement, and provided the school district contract information. The district said they would investigate and promised they wouldn't allow the guy to retaliate. I wasn't told what actions, if any, were taken. I figured he got a slap on the wrist, and sensitivity training. The next school year rolled around bringing a new middle school band director. The other guy took a job with school tech support.In August the new junior high director called me wanting to get together for lunch in order to discuss the upcoming school year and get acquainted. We met in a local eatery and visited for a couple hours. Much to my horror and dismay, in our conversation I learned that idiot head director had yet again made fun (explicitly) of my disability, even going so far as to mock me to this new junior high guy.Yup, that was it. I filed a formal complaint with the school district, the EEOC, and state employment regulatory agencies. Head jerk-off harassed me for the entirety of that year.EEOC does not play! They jumped on it with both feet. I learned from a friend at the high school that boy wonder was sending out resumes beginning in December. How did I find out? He asked my friend to proof his resume. He had no clue who his enemies were. He asked someone who was my friend and knew what he'd done to me, to proofread his resume. He went bye bye. I retired from the district 17 years later at the end of the 2019–2020 school year.Revenge is indeed a dish best served cold!I received an inadvertent gift from that twerp. He gave me the opportunity to fully own and use my power. As a child, I was helpless to defend myself when beaten. All I could do was bear the stripes in stoic silence, refusing to cry out in pain. In the above referenced instance, I defended myself thoroughly! I had never before taken an opportunity for self defense with such intensity. His unintentional gift has served me well.Edit: Dattatri Anche, thanks for the edits!

Two tales here, both connected in a weird way.We lived on a farm and had a filthy pond. It only had a tiny spring feeding it, and it was heavily polluted by the previous owners. We'd occasionally see beavers or herons looking for frogs, but we mostly left it alone because it would cost so much money to clean it up.One day, a big black dog was swimming in it. We didn't know anyone with a dog of that description and we rang the neighbours to see if they knew whose dog it was. No one knew.The dog was friendly, but not ours so we told it to, “Go home!”. He left, but he was back in a day or two, swimming in the pond and playing with us kids.After a week or two of this dog coming to swim, my dad got fed up. My dad is not a hunter, he's normally very meek and mild, but he was finished with this dog. He wanted it to go home and stay home. So while we kids were at school, my dad took out a pellet gun and started shooting at the dog. The dog ran off. Finding out my very quiet dad, who was anti hunting, pointed and shot at a very friendly dog was the first jaw dropping moment. Never in a million years did I think he'd do something like that and it really upset me when I find out that he had.But the dog came back. His visits were getting longer and he hesitated when we'd tell him to go home now. My parents kept asking everyone in the area if they knew whose dog it was. Finally someone said, “I think this farmer named Baxter has a couple of black dogs. Ask him.” So they tracked him down and asked. Apparently one of his black dogs was chewing through the rope he'd been tied with almost every day and escaping. He'd started tying him because he wasn't good at staying home. Obviously the dog didn't appreciate being tied up, either. My parents explained that he kept coming to our place to swim and play with the kids. The farmer, Baxter, said, “I'm getting fed up of him always running off. If you want him, he's yours.”And that is how we got our beautiful, loyal family member, Baxter, named for the farmer that gave him away. (Note: if anyone sees the name Baxter and thinks, “That's a swell name for a dog” let me advise you. When you shout, “BAXTER!” to get their attention, it sounds to all those listening from afar that you're shouting, “BASTARD!” We had numerous complaints about our 'inappropriate naming’. Just giving you fair warning. Lol)Here he is:So we had our Baxter through most of his life, and many of our childhood years. He was a fabulous dog - he was a black Labrador, Chesapeake bay retriever cross - hence his obsession with swimming. Even when he was old and arthritic, if he saw water, he was going for a swim and there was no stopping him. When he'd come out of the water, we'd have to carry him to the car because he'd overdone it enjoying the water. And he never ran away from home.One day, when he was about 13, Baxter couldn't get up. It was clear he was in a lot of pain, even with his medication from the vet that we gave him daily. It was that awful time that comes with owning a pet. He couldn't walk, he couldn't control his bodily functions, today was the day to put him down.So my parents made an urgent appointment with the nearest vet. They lived pretty far away, so along the way they stopped at a few places Baxter loved and carried him gently out of the car so he could sniff his favourite places one last time.When they arrived at the vet and he was examined, the vet agreed that putting him to sleep was the right move. But they said they'd need to make another appointment to do so. My parents pleaded with them. He was obviously suffering, please help him now. They told them to make another appointment.My parents went to the receptionist and pleaded for another appointment that day and the receptionist told them the earliest they could get him an appointment was the following week.He was in pain and dying, but they wanted him to suffer for a week.My parents (the rest of us were at University away from home) were devastated by this.They decided they needed to try to find another vet. They finally found one about 30 minutes away, but he was a livestock vet. They spoke to him on the phone and he said he'd see our dog.When they arrived, the vet came out to the truck, agreed that Baxter was telling us that it's time, and he produced a syringe and gently put our beautiful dog to sleep.On their way home to bury Baxter, my parents had to go by the vet that wouldn't help them for a week. My dad pulled in, grabbed a dirty shovel out of the back, marched into the vet's office and loudly announced, “You know I was in here earlier to have my dog put to sleep and you told us to wait a week? Well you can cancel the appointment because I took care of it myself!” And he marched out. He 100% made it look like our dog had met a cruel fate in the hopes that they would never put a family through that again.When my mom told me, it was truly jaw dropping. I was so angry at what they had been put through but I've never been so fucking proud of my dad. It made up a little for the fact he did that for a dog he once tried to chase off with a gun.In tearful and joyful memory of my best boy, Baxter.

“Lest We Forget.”European royals have chosen Canada as their country of exile - and even birth - in the past, going back to WW II.Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, the youngest daughter of Tsar Alexander III and Maria Fyodorovna, youngest sister of Nicholas II, last of the Russian Tsars, was given asylum in Canada in 1948 and was buried in the North York Cemetery (!960), Toronto.Click: Shabby Toronto apartment was once home to Russia's Grand Duchess Olga | The Star, The Toronto Star, November 25, 2014Lots of info “out there” about her, including this little-known but amazingly interesting clip about her life, including her lunch with Queen Elizabeth II aboard the Britannia in Toronto, 1959:Click: Janet Davison · CBC News · Posted: Apr 29, 2013 5:18 AM ET | Last Updated: April 30, 2013: Abdicating Dutch queen was a wartime Ottawa schoolgirl: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/abdicating-dutch-queen-was-a-wartime-ottawa-schoolgirl-1.1315871Canadians have to get over the “glitz factor” or the cachet they think this now not-so-royal couple might add to the country. See the January 19, 2020, BBC News article below: they will no longer represent the Queen.Keep in mind that Canada is the attraction for the Sussex family who have chosen to be here, not the reverse: they plan to be here because Canada exists. Canada is not here because they exist.Is it a coincidence that they have chosen a residence in British Columbia, Canada’s closest province to Hollywood?The following is some of the reality surrounding the welcome couple.Click: Harry and Meghan drop royal duties and HRH titles, BBC News, January 19, 2020 -“Prince Harry and Meghan will no longer use their HRH titles and will not receive public funds for royal duties, Buckingham Palace has announced.The couple will also no longer formally represent the Queen.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex intend to repay £2.4m of taxpayer money for the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, which will remain their UK family home, the statement added.The new arrangement comes into effect in spring this year, the palace said.”( . . . )“Earlier this month, Harry and Meghan said they wanted to create a ‘progressive new role’ within the institution, where they would be financially independent and divide their time between the UK and North America.”Click: Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) tool: skilled immigrants (Express Entry), Government of Canada websiteWithout a post-secondary education, the Duke of Sussex will apparently lose a considerable number of points on the Express Entry system. However, money talks…As for Canadian taxpayers picking up the tab for their security, the couple has a combined net worth of around CAD 60 million (see source below), he’ll still collect 95% of his usual income, apparently, and he’s not really next in line to the throne.Private citizens in Canada pay for their own private protection and, as such, they should also take on that responsibility themselves to be as Canadian as everyone else.Click: Why Security Costs Are the Last Sticking Point in Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Royal Exit, by Erin Vanderhoof, Vanity Fair, January 20, 2020“On Wednesday, the Telegraph reported that the couple had come up with a solution to the woes: they will eventually pay for some of their own security costs, with a twist.”( . . . )“On Monday, that point was emphasized by a photograph of Meghan hiking in a Vancouver Island park with her son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and her two dogs. In the background, two protection officers were photographed—one a royal protection officer and the other a Canadian Mountie.In the days that followed, more than 80,000 Canadians signed a petition demanding that the couple pay for their own security.The next day, Meghan’s legal team issued a complaint about the paparazzi who photographed her, claiming that they were hiding in the bushes to capture their images. Though it sparked outrage, the photograph inadvertently made an argument for why the Sussexes do need some level of security.”Click: What is the combined wealth of Meghan and Harry?, ES Insider Magazine, January 20, 2020“According to the Sussex Royal website, they will still receive 95% of funding for their office expenditure from ‘income allocated by HRH The Prince of Wales, generated through the Duchy of Cornwall.’ The remaining 5% of their funding, which was received from the government's Sovereign Grant, Harry and Meghan will relinquish.”( . . . )“Meghan was previously a successful actress, pulling in an estimated six-figure salary for her role in Suits, while Prince Harry has both earned and inherited wealth.Meghan and Harry lived in Kensington Palace before moving into Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. Royal accounts revealed that £2.4 million of taxpayer money was used to renovate the home, with remaining costs privately funded by the couple.”( . . . )“Meghan Markle had a pretty healthy set of finances before joining The Firm. According to The Independent, the Duchess of Sussex previously had a personal fortune of around £3.8 million.“( . . . )“Prince Harry’s net worth is estimated to be around £30 million, which is reportedly the same as his brother Prince William’s £30 million fortune.Where does Prince Harry’s money come from?The Duke of Sussex inherited most of his money from his mother, Princess Diana, and from the Queen Mother. According to the BBC, the Queen Mother put the bulk of her estimated £70 million fortune into a trust fund for her great-grandchildren in 1994.”Click: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle want to become 'financially independent,' but they're already worth about $30 million — and none of that money belongs to the crown, by Tanza Loudenback and Taylor Borden, The Business Insider, January 9, 2020“Prince Harry’s net worth is at least $25 million, which is made up of an inheritance from Princess Diana and an annual allowance from Prince Charles.Markle, a former TV actress, has a net worth around $5 million.”“Financial independence” includes providing for one’s own security and protection, not expecting hard-working taxpayers in a country where they’ve never lived before, nor contributed to in any way, to subsidize their comfort in any way.Please let go of the notion that they’ll add any glitz, glamour or cachet to a country which already must have enough to attract them here in the first place.It will be interesting to find out if they will be subject to paying - or probably not - any ‘income tax’ to Ottawa every year like the rest of Canadians.And if they’ve looked into earthquake insurance:Vancouver Island homeowners buy more earthquake insurance than the rest of B.C. - Victoria News, October 18, 2018Let us all know if you get an invitation to their house-warming party.