The Dog's Strike Again

With the crazy amount of money that we have put into fortifying our fences with concrete and boards, you would think that there would be no way that our dogs could break out. But just to laugh in the face of our investments (and just our faces), they found a way. Again.

Thus started the dog drama of 08.29.2011. We found out this evening that they got out around 3am...apparently our neighbor girl was sleeping on her trampoline, and they broke out through her yard. She didn't think she should come tell us, since it was 3am. The hours between 3am and 7am are still unaccounted for, so we can only guess what kind of shenanigans they got into. And yes, that word applies perfectly here.

I got a call from Zach at just before 7am (I was already at work) letting me know they were gone. Great. I missed a call from an unknown number at about 8:15am. The dogs were loitering in a parking lot about a mile from our house. I happen to work across town, and thus do not have the freedom to just come and go whenever I want to. So I called Zach, who was going to call them back and see if one of his buddies could pick up the dogs for us. When I called him back (I missed yet another call), he told me the dogs had been returned by someone from the business they were soliciting..er...loitering at. He asked if I could drive home on my lunch to check on them. Which I did, even though I only have a 30 minute lunch. The dogs were very guiltily hanging out in the backyard, refusing to make eye contact. I covered the hole they had made in such a way so that they could no get out- a la putting something large in front of it.

I found a note on the door that read, "I brought back your babies. They were at Labor Ready" with a name and a phone number listed at the bottom. Not sure if I was supposed to pay this person in blood, I mean, coke like last time, I decided to not call them.

The story to my knowledge was over there. At least, until I get home from grocery shopping with the kids. Zach tells me he had just gotten home, and some guy was hanging out by our fence, watching our dogs. Apparently he was the dog-saver. He had just been stopping by to check on the dogs. Again. According to him, he had come by on all of his breaks to make sure they were still ok. Since no one had called him back. *cough*

He made a point of letting us know what nice, sweet dogs they are (yep. we know.) and how glad he is that they are okay. Zach, having been burned before, offered him a Mountain Dew (the closest thing to Coke on hand). The guy accepted it, then said, "Actually, I will get it from you next time."

Which begs the questions....Next Time? We get the feeling that he plans to check up on them daily. Just like our mailman. I was always under the assumption that mailmen and dogs didn't really get along. Apparently, our mailman adores Spartan. He would make a point of knocking on my door when Spartan was missing for a month to check on how the search was going. Daily.

Looks like our dogs have picked up another stalker. Clearly we raised them well.

What has happened to my children?

It has been a long time since I wrote anything here...at least since the tongue clamp incident. Whew. Let me tell ya, some stuff has gone down. Cadence is now an official crawler. Like, officially down the hall, around the corner, and chewing on a shoe before you realize she is gone. Actually, that happened yesterday.

She went from doing the 'rocking' thing, to the 'worm', to the up on her hands and feet...then falling over. And then this weekend she got the whole thing all together. And now she is chasing Bishop around. Which is actually really cute. He was pulling this little dog on wheels around this afternoon as she followed him. They are also amusing each other more. Like yesterday, she followed him into his room, then back into the hall, where he was donkey kicking and she was rolling on the floor laughing at him. I love that they love each other. BUT 2 mobile kids is a whole new ball game. Like having 2 itself wasn't hard enough, but for both of them to disappear while I am doing the dishes? Not a safe feeling.

Which is why I strapped Cadence into her highchair while doing the dishes this afternoon. Purely safety reasons...plus, who doesn't like trying to feed themselves a cut up banana? She happily ate, Bishop played on his own, and the kitchen got cleaned. All is well in the Ivey house. At least until I no longer had a reason to keep her strapped in. Then all bets were off. It was soon after that when Bishop came in the house, with a mouth full. Of dog food. I made him spit it out into my hand (a handful), so, thinking I got it all, I turn and throw it in the trash. Only to turn back to find him chewing what's left in his mouth.

Dog food. Clearly he gets his taste from his father, who happily eats things out of the trash all the time.