Good News Thursday

I can't believe that I haven't posted for so long! It feels like I have aged another year since my birthday less than a week ago!

 

First and most importantly... The picture in this post is Lula. Yes, that is right, LULA, not Maisy, my big fat dog. Of course, now I have TWO big fat dogs! When we were in Florida, my parents leave the dog food out in a bowl all the time and Maisy and Lula went to town on it. I didn't think much about it until we got home and my neighbor Tim came to see Lula and said, "Damn, Fatty!" This is her after he left abruptly on Monday night and she didn't get to give him a proper goodbye. She loves him in spite of his teasing! lol

 

Yes, I am working on getting both girls back to a respectable weight now.

 

Saturday, Granma, the dogs and I left my parents' house and began the trek home. My dad said that it would be clear for our drive and we ran into rain within the first couple of hours. (I told Mom to tell Dad not to quit his day job! lol) After a few hours when the rain stopped, I pulled off the highway to stop for gas, lunch and to pee the dogs. There was a 2 lane street with turn lanes, a diesel truck stop and a gas station with a fast food place inside and on the other side of the street was a hotel or something - I never really paid attention to it.

 

Disaster!!!

 

Max and Maisy got loose!! They wriggled out of the zippered crate they were in while I was trying to get them hitched to the leashes and harnesses. Lula was out already and not standing still and distracting me and M&M made a run for it.

 

M&M ran around the gas station that we were parked at and they peed behind the station, but they didn't stay still long enough for me to get close. They took off finishing the circle around the station and running through the drive through, but they didn't stop for food. Lula and I ran after themm but they are fast little boogers and I couldn't keep up.

 

When they got to the front of the gas station, they ran through the parking lot again and then across the driveway for the diesel truck stop and ran right in front of a semi in the process. Thank God, the semi was stopping anyway!!

 

M&M stopped under a sign in front of the truck stop and sniffed, saw me coming and then started to run off again. Of course, I was yelling MAX and several curse words at the top of my lungs as I was stumbling after them so Maisy turned to see what the commotion was and gave up her adventure. I snapped the leash on her quicker than she could process the angry eyes I was wearing and Granma took Lula and Maisy so I could chase after Max.

 

It was about the time that Maisy stopped that I realized if Max kept going on the course that he was on, he would be crossing the exit ramp from the highway and could be in real danger of getting on the highway. I was frantic as I handed the girls off.

 

While I was scanning the area to find Max, I realized that he ran down the hill to the street and was darting across it and my breath caught in my chest as I realized there was also a semi in street coming from the highway. He stopped as did the car behind him and Max got across the street as another car came towards the highway in the opposite direction. The man in the car saw the commotion and Max - although he was running so fast I can't believe that anyone saw anything more than a streak of red! The man pulled his car over, got out and started chasing Max up the driveway of the other building across the street. Just as I was getting ready to run down the hill and across the street, I saw the man coming back towards the street and a streak of red as Max was herded back across the street - both semis still stopped - and straight towards me.

 

I was crouched and ready to catch him and he got a smack on the bum for the trouble he caused, but he was trembling and so scared when I got ahold of him.

 

A woman pulled into the gas station and stopped to make sure they were all OK and wanted to make sure that I knew someone was watching out for them. She said she has 2 doxies and was so happy I got them back safe. It was a miracle that the semis stopped for them and that the man across the street herded Max back to me. I made sure to wave to everyone, but I am not sure I even made eye contact with the semi drivers. I know if they hadn't stopped that I would have a Flat Max right now. Granma said that she waved and mouthed thank you to everyone.

 

I'm not sure that Max slept for the rest of the day. Everytime I turned around, he was in the crate watching me with his ears slicked back and doing the eye thing like the cat Puss-in-Boots on Shrek does.

 

So my good news is that we are all home safe and sound! And with the knowledge that there are dog lovers in this world who will make huge efforts for dog owners. AND! I am not going on any trips with the dogs in the near future so there will be no worries of them getting loose on the road again!

 

Check out Judy's Blog for more good news posts!