Special Delivery

If you've followed my blog you know a little about my part lab, part blue-tick hounddog, Thunder. He is what he is--an ADHD furry kid.

Thunder has a little friend. She is glossy black and obviously has some lab in her. She loves to bring Thunder assorted gifts, such as: boots, empty dog food bags, and my all time not-so-favorite, dirty diapers. She is also very hyper.

Little girl likes to wander. She likes to wander fast. Thunder likes to go with her.

The other day my pup had been cooped up for too long, and by the time he got to go play with Little Girl, it was late in the afternoon. After a while, Little Girl showed up half covered with mud, but Thunder was not with her. Pretty soon it was dark. We called and called.

Thunder did not come home.

I told myself not to worry. If he was stuck somewhere he would get unstuck. And if he got into a fight with another critter he'd probably win. Dogs were part wolf, right? I'd seen him beat a pit bull before. Never mind that he acted like it was a game the whole time and likely was too, well, let's say 'inexperienced' to know it was a fight. If he was lost he'd make his way back. I mean, dogs find their way home from hundreds of miles away all the time. Like in Homeward Bound.

Did I mention before that Thunder is scared of the dark?

We called and called, yelling, "Treat!" about every five minutes. At 11:00 p.m. or so I told the kids he must have found a nice place to sleep and couldn't hear us. We would try again in the morning.

Thunder did not come home.

I assured my daughter that he would return. The day dragged on. Periodically we would holler for him. Little Girl, with tailed tucked and mournful eyes, haunted our back door.

The we heard a familiar honk in the driveway. Our mail lady always honked if she had a package for us. She was early. My son went out to get the mail, but this was a special delivery. Thunder! He had ended up at some nice lady's house a couple of roads over. The nice lady had met the mail carrier and asked her if she knew who this dog belonged to. The answer was yes! Thunder hopped into the back of the mail lady's jeep and she brought him to us.

And so, Thunder came home.

Some people say my dog is really dumb, what with him not being able to find his way home from two streets down and being scared of the dark. But, he was smart enough to find a human friend who fed him meat pies before he caught a taxi ride home.

Something New Every Morning

I stepped out the back door this morning to feed Princess. Princess is a beautiful, but rather sickly, hound dog that adopted us. She came and laid down on the front porch one day several months ago and would not leave. I told her we have allergies, but she didn't listen. I am even more allergic to cats.

A while after Princess decided to make this her home, a gray shadow of a cat could be seen slipping around in the back. After numerous sightings I decided we better worm and flea her. I was also influenced by the repetitive pleading of my daughter.

We named her Minnie. Worming her was not a problem, just mix the medicine in a little tuna. She has finally started to hang out near the house now and has overcome her skittishness. We were about to treat her for fleas. Yesterday when I woke up I walked into my daughter's room. I was sitting on her bed trying to get her to wake up when I found a flea on my ankle. That was yesterday.

It was a lovely morning when I went outside today. The sun was shining, I could hear the birds chirping, and . . . .something else.

A new discovery. We have been invaded with mini Minnies. Anyone want a kitten?