Well last night was quite an event. As a prelude to this funny story, I walked home across the Hawthorne Bridge after work and had a very humbling experience. I have always been a fast walker and I am also very competitive so I race people (strangers) when I walk. Either I race them across the street if we're going the same direction or I make sure no other walkers pass me. Well, being pregnant, that is just not the case anymore. I was passed by a man with a limp last night. Yes, that is right. He stopped on the bridge, I passed him, then he passed me - he shuffled his feet when he walks so I could hear him behind me yet I couldn't gain anymore speed. Then he slowed down a bit and when I was catching up to him he sped up! It was pretty funny.
Okay, here is where the traumatic events of last night come in:
It all began when I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat for dinner. Sharon is out of town so I had to either cook dinner for myself - not what I wanted to do - or go get something - also not what I wanted to do because I had no idea what I wanted. So about 7:30 I decided that I would go to Burgerville because nothing else sounded good. I walk outside my house and head toward the garbage cans to put something in there and I see this little jack russell terrier running around outside at a house right on the corner of my street and Burnside. I am not one to rescue strange dogs or even help strays but I was concerned because he was very energetic and I didn't want him to get hit on Burnside. So, I call him to me and he comes running right away-super friendly little guy, jumping in my face, licking, etc. He let's me look at his collar and I find a phone number and his address. Well his address says, SE Clinton and SE 40th Street and I thought that was a pretty long way from home. This house he was running around at was just recently rented so my thought was it was the people that lived there and I just so happened to see them leave earlier, walking down Burnside so I knew they weren't home.
So I call the number, no one answers and now am trying to figure out what to do with him. Well in the meantime he runs up to our front porch and finds the porch kitty Maya. This is bad-very very bad. He has a face off with her and she takes off running, well he follows her and chases her up a tree into my neighbors backyard. He is totally obsessed with getting her in that tree. So my neighbor comes out of his house and gives me some good advice, to get a leash and bring him back to my house so I do that, he also makes some comments that totally irk me but at the time I just blew them off. One such comment was, "well you could put him in your garage. Do you have a garage? Oh yeah, well he probably wouldn't fit in your garage." Basically saying that we have too much stuff in our garage or some such thing...I just said, "well I wouldn't put him in the garage because that's not a safe area for him to be in for one thing." He didn't respond.
Okay, so I grab a leash, grab the dog and proceed to stand outside waiting for these people to come home. It's getting later and later, I know I need to eat and I don't know what to do with him. I was going to put him in our kennel so I bring him up to the front porch and tie him up. In the meantime, my dogs are barking because they can hear what's going on. I go inside and now my dogs are barking and this dog is barking out front-barking loud. I decide I can't leave him in the kennel and leave because he'll just keep barking and annoy my neighbors.
I decide to leave to go to Burgerville, my original plan and take him with me. But first, I thought I would drive up to the neighborhood coffee shop and restaurant to see if I could find the two who I think he belongs to. We drive up there, I don't see them and I didn't want to go into the restaurant so we head to Burgerville. Once at Burgerville there is a long drive-up line. I call my friend Cissy in the hopes of getting some advice, I tried Sharon and she didn't answer. Cissy doesn't answer. I call Sharon on her work phone, she answers. I tell her what's going on with this dog, she gives me some advice it's fine. . . .. . . ..THEN, I tell her about our neighbor's comment and I start to cry as I'm spewing expletives about my feelings for this guy. She hears me crying and asks what's wrong. I say, "I'm tired." She says, "yeah" in a understanding tone. Then I say, "I'm tired and I'm in the Burgerville drive-thru and I don't want Burgerville and I have this dog and I don't know what to do with him". Immediately she asks who's in town (of our friends-the majority are currently in Mexico). I say I just called Cissy and she didn't answer. She asks what Connie's number is (another friend) and I give it to her, she says okay and hangs up. I am now crying and ordering my food, still a long line. Connie calls about five minutes later.
In the meantime this dog has warmed the hearts of the workers at Burgerville. Apparently he knows that he gets biscuits at drive-thrus so he's working it. I get my food and call Connie back. She asks if I'm okay, I tell her that I am, just having a hard time, I tell her my cat's in a tree and I haven't told that to Sharon yet. She says she's coming over to hang out and get the cat. I say okay. Sharon calls me back, I say Connie is on her way and as I pull up on my street I see lights on at the house where I think this dog belongs. I then see the two women outside and I wave because I can tell they're looking for this dog. I hang up with Sharon, park the car (still running) and get the dog out. Yep - it's their dog, well actually it's not their dog, but they are watching it. They are so excited to see him, Weabil is his name. I guess he jumped out the window on the second floor came down the eave and jumped onto the ground. Their names are Gillian and Wendy.
He's safe, I can now eat. I scarf down my food and strawberry shake and Connie comes over. Connie gets there I'm still drinking my fresh strawberry shake and she immediately wants to get the cat, I grab a flashlight we head over to the neighbors house. I ring the bell to ask if I can go into their backyard, they say yes we head back there. She's still in the tree, she hasn't moved. We try to call her down she doesn't move. Connie wastes no time and starts climbing the tree. She gets up to where Maya is, grabs her and starts the decent. Maya was stuck which is why she hadn't moved. Maya's now latched onto Connie and purring while Connie is trying to figure out how to get down. The going up was much easier. I try to get Maya from Connie so she can get down, Maya won't let go of Connie. A few minutes later, Connie figures out how to get down and they're both safe and sound. We bring Maya home and go inside, it looks like Maya may be bleeding as Connie has some blood on her shirt. Maya has a little blood on her back claw, she may have scraped her toenails, not sure, I wash it off and keep her inside for the night.
Finally, the trauma is over! Whew, what an eventful night. Connie was saying when Sharon called the first thing Connie thought was where is everyone (our friends) and she remembers, they're all gone, they're all in Mexico..Oh no!
This just goes to show that it takes a village to take care of Pregnant Amanda!! No wonder I need a filler when Sharon's gone.
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