Friday, January 26
“Good morning, cuties! You ready to go outside and greet the day?”
How does one greet the day?
For Reggie and Roger than means lifting one’s hind leg and aiming at a bush or a rock.
Once I’ve dressed the crew in their harnesses, I snap on the red leashes and open the door.
“Well, it looks like another beautiful — AAACCKK!”
Down I go, falling forward. Reflexively, my hand flies out to break my fall, the same hand that was holding the leashes.
“OW, OW, OW!”
I rub my knee, do a mental check of all body parts, and thank God that the only result of my stumble is temporary pain.
“That damn tether, ” I mutter, glaring at the tangle of blue line lying like a snake on the mat. “I knew I’d trip over that thing one day.”
Now where did Reg and Rog go? Oh, good. They’re not running off. I’ll get up in a minute and it’ll be easy to grab the ends of their leashes.
I continue to rub away the pain in my knee.
Suddenly Roger lets out a yip and takes off! Reggie runs tight behind him! I swivel in time to see them flying through a forest of cholla in pursuit of a furry animal.
All three disappear, dropping into a wash.
“OH, NO! A COYOTE!”
Okay, time out.
Generally speaking, I tend not to invent things about which to worry. I don’t let my imagination come up with scary scenarios based on what I conjure up that might happen.
I can do this because at some point in my life the realization hit me and was internalized that most situations fall into one of two categories. There’s the predicament or scary thing that can be prevented or controlled to a manageable level, and there’s that over which one has no control at all and therefore needs to be ignored or accepted. In other words, make adjustments and move on.
This is neither.
This is different.
This is real possibility, even probability, of a catastrophe so horrendous that it cannot be ignored or accepted. And I’m frantically wracking my brain to come up with a way that it can be prevented.
And right away!
I’m aware that a pack of coyotes will send one coyote on reconnaisance to act as a decoy for prey. Then, when the prey makes chase, the decoy leads the prey to the pack whereupon the prey is surrounded.
My heart nearly stops at the mental picture of Reggie and Roger — perhaps at this very moment — surrounded by coyotes who gnash their teeth as they move in for the kill.
What to do!
I rush to the door of the Best Little Trailer. Inside I open a cupboard and pull out an air horn.
There’s no way I can fight coyotes but the noise of an air horn might make them back off.
Dammit, where are those needle-nose pliers! Oh well, this comb with have to do!
I’m out the door in a flash, bearing air horn and comb, and take off in the direction of the chase.
Gee, even if there’s no fight with coyotes and they get away, they’re going to be covered with cholla spines.
Dear God!
I scan the desert landscape.
And then, as quickly as this entire chain of events began, from me tripping and falling to the crew disappearing after a coyote, the crisis ends.
Here they come!
Running through the cholla, leashes dragging, and not limping at all! Reggie reaches me first. I’m overjoyed.
“You’re such a good boy, Reggie! You, too, Roger! Such good boys!”
They wiggle with delight as if to say, “Guess what! We chased off the big, bad coyote and we found our way home again! We made you safe, RVSue! Aren’t we sumpthin?”
Yes, you are . . . .
A quick inspection reveals not one cholla spine stuck in either of them. Not one.
Stunned with amazement and flooded with relief, I pick up the ends of the leashes and follow Reg and Rog as they lead me on a walk.
Good idea. I need a walk to decompress. Sheesh. What a way to start a day . . . .
On the way I pull out three cholla spines from the leashes, picked up while dragged on the ground.
What’s that old saying?
God looks out for fools, small children, and chihuahuas?
rvsue
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG!
If you’d like to browse and shop Amazon and see a few of the products recently purchased by readers, follow these links:
Avocado Oil Mayo
Eastern Texas Recreation Map
Oversize 0-Degree Sleeping Bag
Tire Pressure Monitoring System
Compression Socks – Boost Stamina & Recovery
Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Liquid Soap, Lavender
RVSue and her canine crew is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
