I used to deal with the difficult, trying, or scary moments in my life by thinking “Well, at least it’ll make a great story on the air tomorrow!” Then KOSY fired me. Now I have no outlet to tell of my harrowing moments. Luckily, I still have my blog and some of you are still checking it.
There’s not a whole lot going on in the life of an unemployed, pregnant gal. I get up, eat breakfast and sit with Ginger. Mark and I take her out for a walk. We sit and eat lunch. Mark goes to work (luckily HE’S still employed). I putz around the house for a bit. Today I walked through WalMart…. (Yes, sadly, that was my entertainment). I check my e-mails, walk Ginger again and wait for Mark to get home. That’s pretty much my day. Sometimes it’s altered by an occasional doctor appointment or an oil change. See?... not a whole lot going on.
But there was a day last week that had me at my wit’s end!
Ginger and I often do our afternoon walk a touch earlier… perhaps 4ish. That way, most people are still at work (what’s it like to work?). That means I can let Ging off her leash to explore and I know we won’t really see anyone. She runs in and out of the brush, sniffing happily, exploring, and usually finds something rank on which to roll. That’s our routine. I’ll also stop and throw rocks in the river while she leaps about trying to catch them.
But this day, I got to our rock-throwing/Ginger-swimming hole and she was nowhere to be found. I figured something caught her attention so I just started heading back. Suddenly I hear some movement in the brush to my right and as I bend down a bit, I can see her white tail just going NUTS!
If you’ve never been to the Jordan River Parkway, it’s a great place to walk. But there are parts where the trees and brush are SO thick, there is no way someone like me: A chick afraid of critters, almost 8 months pregnant and not as light on her feet as she used to be – can push through.
Ginger was in there – DEEP. She was constantly moving, clearly in hot pursuit of something. I called her name, she didn’t come. I called her name in a mean mom-voice, she didn’t come. I clapped, sang, begged, cajoled, yelled, threatened, and anything else I could think of, she still didn’t come. In fact, there were times she’d poke her head out, look me in the eye (from afar, of course) and blatantly turn around and go right back in there.
Finally I saw it. She’d cornered a raccoon! Now I knew there was no way I was leaving any time soon. Once Ginger gets focused, there’s no breaking it.So, I sat. Ging stayed deeply entrenched in the brush, barking continuously at her capture. I watched the sun get a little lower in the sky, folks were coming out to jog and bike, people were wrapping up their dog walks – with their well-behaved dogs – and there I sat. I called Mark in tears. “I don’t know what to do!!!” He had no solution. He was at work and, at the time, was at least an hour away.
2 hours of this went by!!! Did you hear me? 2 hours! I sat there for 2 hours listening to my dog bark at a raccoon, and me going hoarse screaming her name. 2 hours!! I sat there for 2 hours basically in tears. I was stuck.
Down the trail I saw a group of young boys and two older men walking towards me. The one man said “Sounds like she’s got something.” Holding back my tears as best I could “I don’t know what to do. She has a raccoon cornered – she’s been in there for 2 hours and I can’t go in there!... I don’t know what to do.” Turns out they were the Boy Scouts!!!! Yes, this little Scout Troop or 8-10 yols were out on a nature walk and were trying to spot wild animals. Boy did I have a treat for them. A wild raccoon AND Ginger!
The super-nice troop leader put down his camouflage fanny pack and started pushing his way through the thick brush and over to Ginger. The Scouts, who were told to stay on the trail – went nuts! They were trying to spot either the raccoon or Ginger and they’d jump up and down whenever they caught a glimpse of either through the thick foliage. Finally, about 10 minutes later, the Scout leader came working his way out of the brush with Ginger (my 50 pound dog) balanced on his shoulder. He looked triumphant and she looked tense and also innocent at the same time.
I thanked them, again near tears. I was saved by The Boy Scouts!!!!!
Thank you to that troop and to their fabulous troop leader for helping this pregnant, tired (and had to pee!) damsel in distress. My knights in khaki armor!
1 comment:
Erica, if you get bored, I need someone to remodel my kitchen. Ha! Just kidding, of course.
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