Panda ran off yesterday while we were fencing. He was afraid I was going to make him do some work, or something. Last seen he was headed from Donnie's trailer toward McCracken's. I fiured I'd see him at home when I was done. Wrong. Stupid Dog. Did a quick search of the neighborhood. No Dog. Fed the cows. Still no dog. Mom and I searched through the evening. Mom went out, one last time, desperate, at 7:30. About to give up, she turned into Adam's Farm and there was Panda, sitting in our parking space, dirty and trembling.
Stupid Dog.
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Here's the description I wrote and tried to post last night, only it wouldn't: This afternoon at about 4:30 I called home to discuss plans for taking the car to be inspected, only to have Dad tell me that Panda had been missing for about an hour. Dad took him out to the fields to do some fencing, but after a while Panda snuck off toward McCrackens'. Dad tried to call him back, but he wouldn't come. After working a bit longer, Dad went looking for him, but he wasn't at the house, and there was no sign of him anywhere else.
I got home at 5:30 and met Dad out looking for him on the South Cross Road. We both spent the next couple of hours hunting for him. At first, Dad and I used vehicles to search on the roads. Later, Dad and Jeremy went looking on ATVs, and I hiked back up through the woods behind Laings and Days (which are quite pretty, by the way, though I was too upset to notice much.) Dad drove over to Adams Farm, but found nothing. I spent the evening driving all over the place in the Subaru: Smyrna, Earlville, everywhere I could think of. Anytime I saw anyone outdoors I stopped and asked if they'd seen him . . . but nobody had.
It was around 7:30 and he'd been gone for four hours or more when I took one last tour down our road, partway up the River Road, and then back across the South Cross Road. Since I was all the way over there, I figured I'd take another look at Adams Farm, though I didn't really think it was possible that he had gotten that far from home. Frankly, I thought somebody must have stolen him, or that he was trapped or injured someplace deep in the woods. I turned into Adams Farm -- and there he was! Soaking wet, muddy up to the middle, sitting in the spot where we always park when we go there. He jumped up and stared at the Subaru when I turned in. He was definitely waiting for somebody to come get him. He came running to me and whimpered and trembled all the way home in the car.
We will never know if he went over there on purpose or if he got lost, found his way accidentally into what he realized was a familiar area, and then stayed there. The second seems more likely, but he can't tell us. Whichever, he is going to get a tie-out now for the backyard for times when nobody's free to watch him. He is getting too willing to wander.
Anway, thank goodness I am not spending this evening telling you that we can't find Panda. He is still wet, still pretty muddy even after a hose-off, and sound asleep.
Good lord. I read the first half of dad's post and had my bag packed and the car started before I finished it. OK, not really, but I was ready to.
Our first poodle Shadow disappeared one summer evening. We did all the things you did searching for him. Scott even took a flashlight to look under parked cars, expecting to find a body.
As soon as the sun came up, I was riding my bike around looking for him.
When we saw lights on next door at Raimys I stopped over to ask if they'd seen him -- nope. When Catherine Raimy woke up she found Shadow curled up in bed with her -- while te guys had been packing the car for a fishing trip, he apparently trotted in and up the stairs and made himself at home!
So did Cassie get the car inspected? Understand the DA's office is cracking down on that crime.
TOm got the car inspected. And 10 miles from Anne and Jack's, the check engine light came on again. It's a P0420 code indicating decreased efficiency of the catalytic converter. And now I don't have to worry about it for another year! A small piece of black electrical tape will cover it up. The things you have to put up with when you have a car with 170,000 miles on it.
Laura's has 200,000 miles on it.
Heh.
I still just can't get my head wrapped around that. How the heck did he get to Adam's Farm? If we lost Panda, I would probably drop out of college and cry for the rest of my life.
What do you mean by 'fencing?'
Laura, Panda gets kind of freaked out when I take him out and I'm on a machine. I was on the ATV and he ran on ahead of me, going over to Donnie's trailer. He watched for awhile and then lumbered off toward McCracker's. I figured i'd see him at home, but he figrued something different, I guess. He'll stay with me as long as he's not too far away. But when he gets a certain distance between us, he figures he's out of range and can take off with impunity. Today, he scrambled over the bank as i called to him ( I was on the tractor) and he went to visit the neighbor's dog.
As to why he went to Adam's farm and not home, I'll never know. Stupid dog.
Spongy, maybe that's what was bugging him. We started an assaut, and when I made my attaque, he took off. I think he forgot his lame, and I dont think he liked it that I didn't have my mouche.
What do you mean by 'fencing?'
Didn't I answer that question? And how can you go to a private school in New England and not know what fencing is?
En Guard!
Touche!
Combien de fois?
c'est la vie!
I know what fencing is, but I wasn't aware that you 'fenced.'
Oh, man, Spongy. You've given me visions of me and Panda out in the pasture with swords trying to keep the cows from getting away! It's tempting to keep going with this but here's what I meant by fencing: Installing, repairing and maintaining fence, which in our case is mostly electric.
comprenez-vous?
So, in that sense, I "fence".
Oh. Tee hee.
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