Stranger in the House

The title says it all. We have a stranger staying with us.

Yesterday Achilles was out doing his thing when I heard a lot of dog barking. Ever since the dog incident, we really fly out the door when that happens. I saw a husky running loose, so I brought Achilles in. By the time Caayn was looking, the dog was way down the neighborhood.

An hour or so later, I hear nasty snarling and fierce barking. Being the person I am, I pop out and see which dogs are doing what. It's that husky again, and he's making an awful lot of noise at the neighbor's lab. Both of the neighbors are out, kind of just watching. I grabbed Achilles' leash from in the house and head over to see if I can get a hold of the dog. (Yeah, I realize that I get myself into situations in which it is probably not my best idea, considering I'm big and pregnant, and couldn't run if I needed to.) Of course he becomes a total angel when I get to him. He did have a tag, but the phones were in the house and Caayn was supervising Sully in the shower (new phase--prefers showers over baths). After a lot of silliness, I managed to snag a phone from my purse and get back outside without the dog going in the house or Achilles coming out.

Amazingly enough, his AKC registered tag was for a cat. Named Midnight. The AKC dude said he'd had a call yesterday about the same dog, and that the person had said they would contact the MPs on base. Generally the MPs don't mess around. If the vet is open, they'll attempt to find the owner. If the vet is closed, its off to the pound. Caayn and I surmise that whoever caught him yesterday, just let him go again.

He is a SWEET dog and I feel really bad for whoever lost him. I've got a note up at the shopette (there's a bulletin board there for folks selling things, puppy litters, lost animals, found animals, etc)... Unfortunately the base vet is only open Tuesday through Thursday. So unless I get a phone call today, he'll be staying through until tomorrow. He's well taken care of. Has sparkling white teeth, a nice coat, clear eyes, trimmed nails, doesn't get on furniture... Someone out there has got to be missing him fierce. I've been calling him Big Boy for a lack of anything else to call him by. Surprisingly Artemis did REALLY good meeting him... she's normally a terror. Achilles was okay, but ever since the fight, he can get really tightly wound when meeting a new dog. And it didn't help that he was hurt. (We went to the dog park on Saturday, he was fine until a dog who was fetching balls arrived; then he had to run as much as possible, and ended up opening his front pads again.) And introducing him to the cat was fun. At one point, I swear the cat's tail was as big around as my forearm!

See, this stuff always happens. Caayn thinks its because there are like 7,000 people living in such a small amount of area. I don't think so. Not considering this has been happening to me my whole life (my mom recently came across a kitten who had been hit by a car, took her home and nursed her up--she named the cat Fender, LOL). I think the Kleins must have some sort of animal connection. I like it. It reaffirms my belief that I am a good dog owner, who cares about how dogs are treated and will do what I can to help where its needed. I can't wait until Sully and Mr. L start bringing home animals they've found. My brother was always coming home with things like snakes and rabbits and stuff. Made for an interesting atmosphere, needless to say.

On a side note, we did not get Ziggy. I'm not sure how much the woman paid attention to what I wrote, because she mentioned how he needed to be in a home where someone was around him all the time (uh, I said I was a stay at home mom who pretty much doesn't leave the house, like ever), and also that they don't ship dogs (although I had said we were planning on making the 8 hour drive ourselves, if chosen)... But still. Now its a waiting game. Whippets don't come up for adoption very often, and we are looking at such a small amount of states we could visit (mostly just Minnesota, since the two rescuers in Montana are at the opposite end of the state as us)... She did offer to put me in touch with some breeders she knows who occasionally put up an older dog for sale (older as in, 2 years or so). So at least there is that.

Lastly, Sully has learned about paint. It's his new favorite thing. We're on the hunt for an easel, but damn, they are hard to find. We went to one store yesterday, only to find out that the store is closed on Sundays, "to allow employees family and worship time". Geez. I hate living in a place where things open late or are closed on Sundays to appease Christians. (Our Wal-Mart doesn't even open until noon on Sunday, how lame is that?) But whatever, we'll find one... Or Caayn will build one.

One more thing about Sully. He has started making his own transitions. Yesterday we went to the big neighborhood park up the street from us. After sliding down loads of slides, swinging on the swings, jumping off a tiny thing on the ground, and then sliding some more, he said, "I want to go bye-bye." We were shocked. He also climbed up to the top of his fave slide, then wouldn't slide down because he was scared. I think it has to do with the fact that the slide has curves (it's not a spiral, the curves go side to side) mess him up hardcore. He usually ends up nearly head first and covered in burns. Stupid slide. But yeah. He left the park all on his own. Not a single cry. This ROCKS!

Dang, one more funny thing. When we went to my midwife appt on Friday, the first thing Sully said after the nurse left to get the midwife was, "Take your pants off, Momma!" Over and over. I think it's because at my last appt I had to get a FFN test done, which involves taking the pants off. It was freaking hilarious.