..............: Wave And A Sigh

Bon Savants-Between the Moon and the Ocean

It was successful. All four Blankenships (two being of the canine persuasion) made it home safely from the coast. Which is not what happened in my alternate universe. In that version: the dogs were in a bloody heap in the driveway. And I am grateful that is not how my weekend wrapped. Keith said, "I would've told Merry...'Keep going. There's nothing in that house we need.'"

About 30 seconds after we left to go get ice cream on Saturday afternoon (we were at the coast on vacation, what do you expect?) one or both of the dogs jumped up on the wall and opened the garage door. Yes, two pit bulls were running loose in Lincoln City.

No, but the funny thing was: we were pulling up to the townhouse after ice cream and there were 2 cop cars leaving the complex. We joked, haha They're here to see us.

Well, really. An old scraggly man, VietNam vet, who "knew German Shepherds but didn't know nuthin' about pit bulls" yelled for someone to call animal control after he saw our dogs escape from the garage. And the police showed up and chased Mia and Lazlo around the townhouse a couple of times and eventually corralled them into the garage.

How this happened without Mia biting someone, I really don't know. Lazlo is of no concern. He's about as ferocious as a rabbit and will grind an organ for treats. He's easy to manipulate. But Mia's smart. Clever. She's played the Catch Me game before and also has shown us she hates a) strangers b) men c) men talking to her and d) men coming toward her. So these cops fit 4 out of 4 on Mia's Things I Hate List.

I think these policemen, who did not react as so many others do--out of fear, deserve something special. I'll have to think of what that is. But I have said 1 million Thank Yous that we came home to dogs out of breath instead of not breathing at all. It could have gone so wrong. We are so lucky.

Lesson: Don't just shut the garage door. Latch the garage door.

Everything else was tip top. We took the dogs to run off leash on the beach early in the morning and late in the afternoon when the beach was empty for long stretches. They had, what appeared to be, a fantastic time. We were unsure how Mia would react to the water, with her history of The Hurricane and all. She met the first waves cautiously, but ended up running in the water as much as Lazlo. She's a Rocket Dog. I have some video to put up in the next few days.

We were there for the Kite Festival, by chance. It was pretty cool. I'd never seen anything like that before. People from all over the country with all sizes and shapes of kites.