It is a gorgeous day here in Seattle, sunny and warm, Perfect for gardening and cutting tree branches so our dog will stop getting out of our yard.
Every day for the last 6, Betty has found some way to get out of the back yard. I discover this in the morning, when I go to let her back in the house after Mat has left (he lets her out when he gets up), and she is not there, and in fact generally I can hear the far off tinkle of a dog tag moving at a very high speed. I dash to the front of the house in my pajamas, baby on hip, with some dog treats, and sneak around neighbors' houses trying to corner Betty. Betty is having the time of her life, high on freedom, ears flapping joyously in the wind, tongue lolling out of the side of her open, grinning jaw. After 10 minutes or so of running in giant circles around me, she always gallops amiably up to me to get a treat, thinking we have had a terrific game of chase.
Then I put the baby down for her first nap, and go back to the laurel hedge(all along the back line, and has a fence just behind it.), and patch what I assume is the hole through which she escapes. I let her out back and watch her, and she noses around at the back, but quickly gives up and grabs a bone to chew on in her doghouse.
Rinse and repeat, every day for the last 6. Usually twice a day, pajamas optional. I got so frustrated Friday that I even contemplated not taking her to the new dog park water section opening next weekend, but I would never keep her from her doggy friends. Besides, we are freaky dog people who love stuff like that. Also apparently there will be music, and I am dying to know what kind of band you get to play a dog park opening. Mariachi? Zydeco? Or is this a more formal affair?
Yesterday we spent an hour at Home Depot getting fence reinforcement stuff, and today Mat worked on replacing large sections of the fence for 2 hours while baby played on a blanket and I mulched(I may not be able to grow actual plants, but man oh man can I compost. I am brilliant at composting.) and weeded.
We thought we had it all fixed, so we let Betty out to test it, and after half an hour of watching our little velociraptor, we determined she was trapped, so we walked away. Not TWO MINUTES LATER, I saw the stupid dog zooming around on the street in front of our house.
We are terrible people. I am sure all of our neighbors hate us. Except for Jason and Susie, but they are the Best Neighbors Ever who even gossip with us about the other neighbors. Even they are probably rolling their eyes a little.
We decided that sneaky dog tricks required sneaky human tricks, so Mat went to hide behind the neighbor's shed, while I went inside so Betty would think she was alone. El Annoying-o Pero immediately dove into the hedge and started hiking herself up on the branches(they are pretty thick at the bottom; the laurels are 30 feet high), and jumped the 5 foot fence and trotted over into Jason and Susie's backyard, intent on chasing a neighborhood cat or something.
She doesn't just use a branch as a stepping stone to get to top of the fence. The fence is sheer on either side, and is made of chain link type stuff. She literally climbs 5 feet up into the air,and leaps the fence. Mat is back there right now, scratching his head and poking at things, trying to come up with some way to keep her contained. But what are we supposed to do? I mean, the freaking dog can climb a tree.
Other than that we've had a really nice week. My flu is finally dissipating, and we had a nice, low key dinner party for New Year's Eve with our friends who personify their cats, like, a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment