Today began like any other day -kids up and out the door to school. Today Kevin had to be at a conference all day so he left early. I had a lot of work to do but took my time doing some housework and catching up on Facebook.

At just before noon I decided to have some lunch and my dogs wanted to go out so I put them out in the yard. What I recall was letting just the three boys out and not Lemon. She has been having issues with Pierce so she doesn’t always go outside with him. I thought she was in my bedroom on the bed. It was a beautiful balmy day and the dogs were romping on the deck and I heard them barking in the yard. I ate my lunch and tended to some business. I got up a bit later to take my plates to our small kitchen area to put in the dishwasher. As I lifted my head up from leaning toward the washer I looked out our window in our dining area.  That window looks out onto my side yard that is not fenced. But out that window I saw my dog Rudy sniffing around the yard.  I had that weird feeling that I was seeing something wrong but it took a second to click in. CRAp! Rudy is out of the fenced yard. I ran to the front door (happy that the house is small) and called Rudy in calmly. He has great recall thankfully and he came right to me and we came in.

My next concern was if Pierce and Reese were still in the yard. Though I had seen Pierce on the deck a minute before I saw Rudy. I ran to the sliding door to the back yard and both dogs were still in the yard over by my garden probably trying to find a way out (I was thinking this) bc Rudy disappeared from their view. I called them in and gave them all a treat. They all seemed riled up and they all had their turns at the water bowl.

I had to find the breach in the fence because Rudy never leaves me and I was so shocked to see him on the wrong side. Nothing added up. So I took Rudy back out into the backyard and watched where he might go. He stayed near me as usual but I glanced up and saw the problem. Like a giant flashing “here is the problem” sign the double gate to our yard was wide open! Double crap. “What kid left this open?” was my first thought. They had been in the yard using that gate over the weekend. But today is Wednesday. Could the gate have blown open bc they didn’t close it properly? The wind was awful on Saturday. Maybe a kid went in looking for a soccer ball that got kicked in there. I don’t know. That’s a mystery to solve later. Anyway, Rudy looked at me looking at the gate and he went trotting toward it. Thank Gosh he has good recall bc I calmly said “come on roo lets go back in and get another treat.”  He followed me right into the house.

I left the dogs inside and ran back out and took a picture of the open gate to send my husband at his meeting (yeah I’m nice like that). Then I closed the gate. Patted my horse who came over to investigate the scene and then I went around the perimeter to check it out. All seemed secure. Crisis averted.

I came back in then house and told the dogs how happy I was they were ok. I asked them to settle but they seemed riled up still. Settle settle. All is ok. Ding dong!! Goes the doorbell. Ugh -dogs bark and Pierce does his mad jump up to the window as he barks willing the bad person to leave. I was hoping it was just UPS making a delivery. No truck in the driveway that I could see and the dogs were going mad. So I went to check the door (we have a window in the door which is a good and bad thing). As I walked over I saw a woman I didn’t know. She did not look like she was selling anything so I got closer and she pointed down and I looked down through the window and who do I see? Lemon! Holy cow I let her out too and I didn’t even remember it -so I wasn’t looking for her. What a dummy I am! I put Rudy and Reese out (Pierce wouldn’t leave his post ) and got the door open to let Lemon slide in. Now I know why the dogs were so riled up.

I stepped outside to speak with the nice neighbor who I hadn’t met before who lives on the street across from me and behind my neighbors house. We are so lucky that Lemon got safely across our road out front bc the cars travel fast there. Any later in the day and it might not have been good. And I’m thankful she came right up to the neighbor and her dog and she went right home with her. I’m thankful I had an ID on Lemon. I am thankful that  Rudy and my other two dogs didn’t follow her across the road. I am so thankful that the neighbor cared so much. She had called me and I had seen an unknown number pop up on my cell phone when I was dealing with the gate but ignored it. I am thankful she walked Lemon -who is horrible on leash- right to our home. So many things went right when they could have gone very wrong. (I had a friend who lost two dogs together last year due to a car hitting them. Their gate had gotten open and there was a tragic ending. )

I feel terribly that I didn’t recall letting Lemon out. We get so used to being on auto-pilot that I just assumed that she stayed in as she often does. Maybe my not realizing saved me from some sheer panic. But that neighbor must have thought I was nutty! She was very understanding said it happened to her before a bunch of times. I think she meant her dogs getting out. She probably didn’t forget about one entirely. My brain! I assured her that I keep better track of my teens. She smiled and said “and they are much harder to keep track of!”  She left her address on my voicemail. I’m going to send her a card or something. What an Angel.

And don’t you know right after all that the mailman came to give me some special mail. Ding dong goes the door!  Pandemonium all over again. I squeezed myself out the door. Of course I had to tell him what happened and he had his own story too. I didn’t tell him I forgot about Lemon. Too embarrassing!

The Angels were working hard for me today and thankfully my dogs are fine and the gates are all closed and I keep checking them bc the dogs have pent up energy from the happenings today and they want to go out. I will have to have a chat with my kids about gates – and see if we can’t make that gate latch even easier to close. I am assuming it was my kids but I might never know what happened.

Never a dull moment here. I’m so very thankful I am writing this story and not another version. My nerves are rattled – I think I’ll take a walk.

Thanks for reading….

And pandemonium continues with my horse running his big body against the white fencing(I did not choose white plastic fencing for horses it was here when we moved in) it is creaking and I hope he doesn’t crack it. Rudy is stealing my socks and everyone is just acting little nutty. Damn this horse. I have to go and take care of this he must need brushing. It’s shedding season. Thanks again for reading!!