Tales from Chez Clark

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
- Helen Keller

This morning I was too far gone on the walk when I realized I had on my pink gardening slippers (old crocs) and my fuzzy slipper socks instead of my tennis shoes.  Earl has gotten me so mixed up by his antics that I am out too early to think straight.

Earl has met up with a tramp, a regular scamp of sorts.  He has been spotted with one of two friends or hobo dogs as Jackson calls them.  They don't have collars or tags so God knows where they come from.  Earl seems to like to hang with the bad boys or dogs free to roam as they please. 

The dogs are let out in the morning to potty and Earl just stopped coming back on certain days.  They've always been allowed their morning romp to the creek because they go, we know where they are, they play a bit and come back.  Now Earl can't be trusted to even do that so he gets out to pee with supervision and I have to move my walk up so that he can poop.  I did early walks in the summer but with the cooler temps I'd moved them up until the afternoon when it was more pleasant.  But those pleasant walks lately have only consisted of me and the better dog, Eudora. 

I caught Earl one day coming back from town around lunch.  Crossing our wooded drive with a black and white mutt.  Earl's little face aglow with happiness.  He was excited for me to meet his friend and then followed me home.

Eudora and I caught him last Friday with yet another buddy on a walk down to the creek.  He came running like he'd heard me but then hid behind a tree when we spotted him.  He peeped around the tree and I'm not sure if he was happy to see us or not.  He came running to us and finished the walk home but his new friend came too.  The cats were not too happy about a strange dog in their yard and I ended up with a cut elbow from Darius. 

Normally on the days of his disappearance he comes in around 3:30 or 4:00, gobbles down breakfast (unless he is full of deer parts) and passes out into a snore.  Last night he didn't come in until way after dark.  Leaving Eudora and I to drive around the area in case he'd gone further than I suspected and gotten into the highway. 

Toonces has ordered a GPS tracking device for him.

But the part that is worse for me is that he doesn't want to be here with us.  What have I done to make my dog prefer scamps and thieves to me and his sister?  With the great life he has, why doesn't he want to stay home?  The dog has it better than most kids and it irks me that he prefers those mutts to us.  I can almost here him giving me the "it's not you, it's me" speech.   He makes me feel inadequate the sorry rat!

   

As I walked this morning think about the nothingness of November other than Caleb's birthday and Thanksgiving...plus REK for us this month...I thought as much as I dislike winter and crave flowers blooming in the yard, is it wrong to be looking forward to wearing boots and tights?  Or the snuggling by the fireplace?  Yummy smells rolling out of the kitchen?  Christmas?

There are a few good things associated with winter right?

 

 

 

(Jackson and Seth exercising)

Seth went with me to Wally world to pick up some dog treats when I picked him up from pre-school yesterday.  They turned out to be some pricey dog treats.  Seth got to pick out a game and he picked out a stuffed duck for me to take Eudora.  (the only dog with us).  She loves it.  And as four year olds can he told me this great story of how much he loves the smell of watermelon and needed some more watermelon shampoo and bubble bath for kids. 

Later he came out and told me to make his picture, he had the point and shoot in his hand.  amazing how he finds things.  When I rolled back through them I found a nice shot of my fridge, my dining room and me with my head cut off. 

Happy day!  Hair day for me so I'm guessing it will be a rainy day here, never fails!

I have no idea where the black on his face came from.

 

Comments

[colleen]

Earl reminds me of Peter Rabbit, the mischievous rabbit who disobeyed his mother. I just read it to Bryce and he was very excited by the drama. I posted a picture of Bryce last week in a dragon costume and his face had black marks too. They were black and blues from being so "rambunctious," my new word for him. He now has little "end zone" dance, which I haven't been able to capture on film yet.

[joeinvegas]

Be careful - he might take off with the guys and never come back. But with winter cold and free food perhaps he will show up again some day.

[Utenzi]

You make it sound like Earl's having an affair, Deanna. Don't worry---his heart will always belong to you. Still, the GPS sounds like a good idea since he's got wandering paws.

[Utenzi]

Oops. Forgot to thank you for your Neptune/Pluto reminder, Deana. I made the correction.

[Carolyn]

He sounds just like my Ginger! She used to do the same thing when we lived in the country. All vagabonds and thieves were her friends and she'd take off w/them at a moments notice. I'd drive down the road and find her in a cow pasture usually wallowing with them in a pile of you know what. And the hiding behind trees, fences, tall grass... yep, that too! But when she was home, even after a good talking to, she was the sweetest most loving thing! I never understood it. Now she's inside the invisi fence or I'd never find her again in this town.