Flowerbed in Bloom

Today was a longer day than usual. I was at work by 7 to continue with my ‘mini-course’ on parables for the men’s prayer breakfast. Then, my day was pretty packed including a board meeting late this afternoon so when I was able to get in my car to head home, it didn’t bother me that it was drizzly and grey–I was just glad to be going home.

I pulled into the driveway and marveled at the flowerbed in front of the house–rosebuds are opening, the daises and foxgloves are also in bloom and after weeks of waiting, the clump of amaryllis are also opening up so the bed looks magical.

And then…I saw this brown lab, not a spring chicken to judge by all the grey on his paws and muzzle, stroll into the bed, hike his leg and pee on my flowers.  OOOOOh man I got upset. I flew out of my car ready to bawl the heck out of him except he came running up, tail wagging, and dropped a half-eaten pinecone at my feet and looked up at me expectantly.  Throw it lady, throw it.  I couldn’t help myself. I did.  And saw that along with being old, and playful, he was skinny. He had a collar on but no tag and when I went down the sidewalk to go in the house, he followed me and stood looking in after I closed the door behind me.

Sherod and our two dogs, Mo and Daisy, were in the den, all the doors closed, the Mallowman looking like a veritable thundercloud.  It only got worse when I suggested we might have us a new dog.  A little more back and forth and I’d talked him into letting me feed the old boy and then he jumped in his truck to go looking for the dog’s humans.  To feed the dog, I had to let him into our back yard and the next thing I know, I hear some pretty loud clattering and figure out he’s knocked some stuff out of the way to get to the upstairs deck.  Then I heard some even louder noise I couldn’t quite place until Sherod stormed through the front door and asked “How the hell did that dog get up on the roof?”

Dog On A Cold, Slippery Tin Roof

Yup.  The dog was on the roof and after all the rain of the past couple of days, the roof was slick, the dog was scared and Houston, we have a problem!  Fortunately, our friend Mark, who keeps his horses with us was here and he, Sherod and I were able to get that sweet old dog off the roof and then talk to the neighbors enough to locate his owners.  A short car trip and nap later, the boy is back where he belongs, Sherod is in a better mood and I just keep laughing to myself about how wonderfully bizarre life in the country can be. True, this!