This last weekend pretty much stunk. What a mess.
So first off, Hotness’ dog pushed through the closed gate at our back yard and got out. She had done this before, and it hadn’t been much of a problem. She plays in the front yard and Hotness retrieves her and puts her back in the back yard and bungees the gate.
We were pretty much finished dinner on Friday night, about to fire up Family Movie Night, when our neighbor called. Her husband had just gotten home and had noticed a dog in our front yard. Hotness was outside in seconds, but our pooch, named Shinobu, was gone. We checked the back yard. Gone. Hotness and Bill and Spasmo hurriedly searched around the block.
Nothing.
We spent the rest of the evening looking for her. We searched the nearby park, all of the nearby streets. We asked people who were outside, and they were all very kind and helpful and three college girls even set out to find Shinobu. Such lovely people.
I was out until about midnight looking for the dog, as was Hotness. We got word that someone had probably seen Shinobu playing in the park at around 10PM.
We still haven’t found her. We canvassed the neighborhood, posting and handing out flyers. My 3 older boys and I went house to house around the park, talking to people and handing out our number.
There is much sadness about this dog being lost. Much self-recrimination about the gate not being bungeed. She’s not my dog– I am done with pets– but I love my family and they love the dog. We have high hopes that she will turn up soon, maybe at the pound.
She is medium-sized, looks a lot like a lab but isn’t a lab, has black, slightly long hair and a white patch on her chest. She is wearing a red collar with a green rabies tag on it. She somehow got her name tag off the collar a week ago.
We’ve prayed extensively for her safe return. My kids have great faith; she will be home soon.
After being up so late on Friday, I got up at 5:20AM on Saturday for a scouting activity. Tiredness! But no need for more specifics; that trip was fine.
Then, last night, as Hotness was coming home from a visit to family in Pleasant Grove, a very teeny, minor fender bender happened. It’s so minor it won’t even be reported to the state by the police that the other person called. There is no damage to our van and the police that showed up were apparently confused as to why they’d been called, since there appeared to be zero damage to the other car.
But the fellow in the other car seemed bound and determined to bring the insurance company into it. Which is a bad idea, since both his and our companies will raise our rates, despite the lack of damage.
I was in a not-at-fault, serious accident three years ago. My car was totaled, I was injured, and it was a major headache. Allstate raised my rate.
So now we are probably about to have our insurance rates go up. Hooray.
It’s weird to think that the weekend was so bad that I really ought to be angry and frustrated and sad and all-around miserable. The truth is that I don’t feel any of those things right now.
I’m generally a happy guy, pretty much because I am living a life right out of my dreams. The dog will come home, somehow. My children’s faith is vibrant; it will come out right. And if the other fellow really does bring the insurance company into a situation where nothing at all needs to be done because no damage occurred, then it’s his mistake. And we will just go to a different company.
So it was a crummy weekend. But why let it get me down?
How was your weekend?
Update: The dog is home. She was at the pound in Spanish Fork. Thanks to all for your kind wishes and help.