On a slightly happier note, yesterday, I had the privilege of rescuing a lost dog.
At around 10 am, my new bff and I were sitting, admiring our "gutter garden" creation,
when a young black lab wandered by.
It seemed a bit lost, and hungry, so I fed it.
Probably a mistake, as she decided that she loved me after that.
She had no collar, so my bff and I started by asking some of the local neighbors if they recognized her. Nyet!
The neighbor two houses down, has dogs about her size, so she loaned us a leash, as the dog insisted on sitting in the middle of the road.
So we got the leash on her, and she was happy to sit with us, next to the gutter garden.
After about an hour of discussing what we should do with her, my bff and I made a trip with "Missy Lu" to the store, as my bff is a great fan of beer, and I didn't have enough for him.
None of the 20 or so people we passed on the trip recognized her.
She didn't answer to "Missy Lu", so we we assumed that was not her given name. I had originally wanted to call her "Lucy", as I no longer have any goldfish by that name. Bff added the "Missy", and we shortened the whole thing to "Missy Lu".
So we got back home, and Missy Lu took a nap.
I've never had a dog, but I think this means she REALLY trusted us. I thought that was nice.
Fast forward to about 4 pm, and bff and I are both out of beer, so we decided to be more proactive.
Someone had mentioned earlier, that they thought someone 4 houses down, with a white picket fence, had a black lab.
So bff, Missy Lu, and I, went for another walk.
There was no one home, but their next door neighbor said it was their dog, so we opened the gate, and let Missy Lu loose.
Unfortunately, the next door neighbor's mother said it couldn't possibly be their dog, as their dog barked non-stop, and Missy Lu was quiet as a mouse.
(Except for the time on the way to the store when we passed the house with two very excited Rottweilers, who barked like there was no tomorrow, and Missy Lu barked back. I think that might be how some dogs say; "Hi! Nice to meet you!".)
But bff and I would have no part of the debate, so we went back to the gutter garden.
5 minutes later, a lady from the opposite end of the street, with an empty dog leash in her hand, asked if we'd seen a black lab.
Ooops!
So we all went down to the house with the white picket fence, and the dog was gone!
I can only imagine the conversation between the next door neighbor and her mother:
Neighbor lady; "Are you sure it's not their dog"?
Mom; "100% sure. This dog doesn't bark. Their dog barks like a [expletive deleted]".
Neighbor lady; "What are we going to do? We just had that strange man, and his psychotic looking friend, put the dog in their front yard. They are going to kill us!"
Mom; "Let's let it loose. It'll find its way home".
Fortunately, another neighbor had spotted Missy Lu going on an adventure down a cul-de-sac, and pointed us in the right direction.
And Missy Lu, and her rightful owner, were reunited.
As we all got back to the land of the gutter garden, the owner's husband showed up in their SUV.
He had apparently been responsible for watching the dog, and had apparently told his wife that Missy Lu had
just escaped.
I think I may have gotten him in a bit of trouble, as I'd told his wife, that we'd been taking care of the dog for the last 6 hours.
The husband seemed a bit eager to leave, but I told him that he owed me and my bff $3.00, for 6 hours of dog sitting, and 2 weeks worth of cat food, that Missy Lu could not seem to get enough off.
It was my bff friend's idea about the reward, but I was just teasing the gentleman.
So when he handed me a $20 bill, I said I was just teasing, as his dog was probably the most delightful dog I'd ever met in my life, and it had been a real privilege to make her acquaintance.
He refused to take the money back.
I don't know what I'll do today.
Please send a man with the right tool to finish the job and satisfy my wife.
