Oh Where, oh where has my little dog gone?

Here it is...the story of the weekend:



Sunday was a very nice day. I went with my parents to visit the farm house that my dad's dad built and they lived in. It's currently for sale for $450,000, so even though it would be so cool to live on those 40 acres, that's a tad out of my price range. But a lot of the furniture his parents sold with the house was still in there! Nice stuff too! I thought we should have been able to get it back, myself. Dad managed to get his boy scout oar from a canoing trip he took. Apparently the thing has been sitting in his old bedroom for about 40 years, undisturbed.



Anyway, later, we had dinner and Danny joined us with Harrison. We left for home to do some tree trimming in our backyard...which had gotten a bit overgrown this summer (another reason why we shouldn't be responsible for 40 acres of land-we don't do a good enough job with less than 1).



We trimmed the hell out of our yard. Took out an entire tree (small one), branches, a bush, and lots of weeds along the back fence. It looks tons better. Harrison helped the whole time, though she wasn't sure about the lawn mower noise or the electric hedge trimmer. She did help chew up sticks and branches, however.



So we get done and go inside and wash up. Danny has to go run an errand quickly and as he leaves, I begin making his lunch for work (coincidentally, he is home sick today, so this wasn't even necessary!). I notice the kitchen has become oh-so-quiet and no one is standing at my feet waiting for cheese. Where was Harrison? Had she left the kitchen already? I called her, nothing. This didn't concern me as she doesn't always come when called. I got her treat bag down from the top of the fridge and shook it and called. Still nothing. Well that's odd, she usually comes for treats. I better go looking for her through the house. Hey guess what? She is nowhere in the house. ?!? Where in the heck is the dog?



I call Danny's cell phone...no answer. Did he take her with him? Possibly. Did he say he was taking her? I don't think so, but I really have no idea. Call again. No answer. ! . Call his parents house (he was heading there). No, Danny has been here and gone. Did he have the dog? Yes. Whew! Danny said you told him to take her...what? (At this point I was walking our street looking for her while on the phone...I had turned to walk home upon this phone call).



I certainly don't remember telling him to take her just now. I did tell him to take her when we were leaving Mom and Dad's and he did stop by his parents' house then too. Hmm...



Danny calls. Do you have the dog? No.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I. FREAKED. OUT.



SHE IS GONE! SHE IS NOT IN THE HOUSE, OH MY GOD, SHE IS TOTALLY GONE, ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T HAVE HER? uh, no, rechecking the car here, no. OH MY GOD!

I'm on my way home.



So now I'm frantically running around my street, calling the dog, teary (trying to not cry, as neighbors are starting to look my way).



All I could think was, my dog is gone. Her collar was on, but the tag wasn't on it, she has no chip, she is a pure bred golden retriever. She has been nabbed. She is gone forever. Puke!



A neighbor at the end of the street asks me if I'm okay as I stand in the middle of the road just staring around me. Have you seen a golden retriever puppy with a green collar?!!!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?! No dogs have been down this way, we've been out here for about 20 minutes. Okay thanks. So I turn and start running back down the other way, past our house and I notice the motion light is on. Did I set that off? I ran into our backyard...no dog. Then, something made me go back in the house. Why? I had checked the bedrooms, I had looked in the basement, the little bathroom off the kitchen, front porch, everywhere! I ran into the kitchen and as I ran by the pantry, I flung the door open...





Harrison came running out...you found me!



She had been just sitting, SITTING in the pantry and not making ANY NOISE WHATSOEVER!



Danny runs in the house..



Um, she was in the pantry.



Then I cried...all the adrenaline came rushing out of me.



And Harrison promptly fell asleep on the kitchen floor.



I called Mom and proceeded to laugh until I cried even more for about 30 minutes.



Moral of the story: when in doubt, check your pantry!



erin