Headache, headache go away...

I've officially had a headache for 1 week. I take some meds, it settles down but is just there simmering below the surface until the meds wear off and it comes back. Just had my eyes checked, saw the chiropractor, tried sleeping, watching my diet, not wearing my contacts, massage, sex-it keeps coming back. I'm dreading next week because it will be time to put in my new aligners for my clear braces. (I probably never mentioned that I started braces 3 months ago and have 3 months to go.) Then I will have an incredible pressure in my head for 2-3 days until I adjust.

Thursday I stayed home from work. No, I wasn't playing hooky; my schedule was just slow so I decided to take the day off. I was actually feeling better this morning and had the dogs out in the yard playing and trying to get some video of the newbies for Petfinder. The neighborhood was quiet; no one around, just the way I like it. I stepped in the back door to grab my water bottle and the dogs start barking and race to the gate next to my house that faces the street. I figured maybe they were just barking at the mail woman and hurried back out to calm them down. There stands 2 census workers counting my dogs. A and I completed our census stuff months ago so we wouldn't have to deal with anyone knocking on our door but now they've showed up to question me about the empty house next door. Right away she's saying "whoa, are all those yours?! what kind of dog are they? are they for sale?"  I'm in panic mode and quickly muttering about rescue and fosters while sending my crew into the house and gathering up the newbies (they don't know any commands yet) and telling them the house next door was foreclosed on 2 years ago and trying to get away as quickly as possible. The census workers had no longer left my yard and I felt the vise on the back of my neck and the stabbing pain coming back into my head. At that moment I realized the headache started when I received the call last Friday about one of our foster homes getting busted for being over the city's 4 dog limit.

My city's limit is actually 3 dogs, so when we adopted Sia we knew we were over the limit. Then came a foster and that added up to 5 and then these 2 emergency fosters which brings my number to 7. Some cities/counties offer hobby kennel licenses or other special circumstances permits but this city doesn't. We've talked about and planned to move out into the country but that's not happening right away. We know our neighbors fairly well and they know that A and I are involved in rescue and fostering. Some of our neighbors even come over to see the pups and I've always considered it good since it exposes them to more people and goes a long way to rehabilitate them. Now I feel I have to be secretive and protective of my area. A talked to our closest neighbor earlier this week, introduced him to the newbies, told him how they came to be here, and expressed our fears of the same thing happening to us. He told us not to worry, we do good work and some people should mind their own damn business. The foster that was busted was purely accidental. A complaint had been filed against one of her neighbors so a cop was going door-to-door questioning people and came across her house and her dogs. This woman is not a hoarder-she actually shows Japanese Chins and now has her own champion showdogs on the line.

So now I have pinned down the cause of my headache/anxiety/stress and need to find a way to deal. I'm sure I will calm down in another week or so. Maybe A and I will go and pay a visit to more of our neighbors. All I do know is that someone telling me that I had to give up any of my "fur-kids" would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me. It doesn't matter how well fed and cared for they are or how clean I keep my home and yard-I'm breaking the law. And the sad truth that keeps running though my head is the fact I could sit in this house and have 12 babies and no one would say a word.