November 3, 2007
Peoria, AZ
Yesterday, we thought we did a good thing. We'll see how it works out...
We were walking the pups mid-morning and were about halfway through our normal route when a small dog, about the size of ours (length and height, but not girth), appeared from between two of the houses. He shied away from us, but was very interested in getting to know Merlin and Maya Lynn. Geri rang the bell on the house he came from, thinking he belonged there, but the lady said he'd been roaming around loose for a while. We figured that someone would be looking for him, so continued on our walk. He followed along, and eventually I was able to get a grip on his collar. He had a name tag and a license tag, and Geri called the number but got voicemail.
We let him follow us home, and he walked with me right through the gate into the back yard. I hopped in the car and drove over to the address from the dog's tag, about 6 blocks away, but nobody answered the door. The house was ill-kept, the yard was strewn with debris, and there were two junk cars parked there, so I went home.
A little later, the owner called Geri back and came over to pick the dog up. She had a lame story about how her kids let him out when they went to school and how he was going to the vet to get "fixed" because he was roaming around "looking for love". She put him in the car and off she went.
End of story, good deed for the day done, right? Not so much.
Yesterday afternoon, we headed out to do some grocery shopping. When we got back, I started unloading the stuff from the back of the car. As I got my second load of bags and turned to go inside, there was the same dog standing 10' away looking at me. It seemed like he had just come from the side gate like he was looking for Merlin and Maya Lynn. I tried to grab him, but he trotted off down the street. I alerted Geri, who called the owner again. This time, it was the husband who let him out, but there wasn't anyone to come and get him.
I finished unloading the car and, as I closed the tailgate, I could hear one of the neighbor's dogs barking several doors away (we call him Cujo; that's another story). I saw the little stray (his name's apparently "Morgan") wandering back, crossing the street to "visit" another house. I walked halfway down and called him, which got his attention but not enough to get him to come to me. Doing my best Cesar Millan impression ("dogs want to be followers"), I called him again and started walking home. Within 30', he was walking along behind me and we went right back into our back yard. This time, I called Animal Control. We let Merlin and Maya Lynn out in the back, and we hung out until the officer came.
It was sad to watch him get loaded into the truck, and it's possible that if he's not claimed he'll be put down. On the other hand, it's not fair to let him wander around and become a snack for the coyotes, either. We tried to do a good deed, but who know how it'll work out in the end?
Anyway, the last couple of days have been productive on the project front, as planned. I cut, painted, and mounted the reinforcing joist needed to mount the new HD satellite dish, and removed the old dish and wires. I'll run all new cable and route it in a less visible location. I'll also relocate the ground wire from the dish, which was originally connected to the patio light fixture.
I also cut, assembled and stained the new shelves for the coach cabinet. They're not large, about 6"x8", and will turn one under-utilized cabinet into a better place to store small containers with spices, etc. Today, I'll polyurethane them and they'll be ready to go. We'll probably make another "coach run" tomorrow.
Well, I'd better get going on today's list of things to do...
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