Archive for December 2008
And Then There Was (Almost) One
As is family tradition on Slim’s side, we ventured to the Baltimore area the Friday after Thanksgiving for another Thanksgiving with the kin in Maryland. I love that part of the country, and Uncle Mike, Aunt Mary and Anastasia have a beautiful home and property. It’s always great to see everyone, and as usual, there was an abundance of food – including a bushel of Chesapeake Bay Oysters, thanks to Karl & Barb. There is nothing like fresh shucked Oysters !
Mike & Mary have a nicely landscaped back yard that sits on a hillside, and includes a couple of ponds. The yard is mostly fenced in, so we thought we’d leave Roxie & Terra off of their leashes to explore the vast yard. Every now and again I would get a “visual” to make sure that Rox didn’t run off, and that Terra didn’t get abducted by a chupacabra or something. Also, many of us were outside enjoying the sun and some fresh pirozhki – footballs as we call them.
All was going smoothly until I heard a large splash ! Since I knew that Terra – aka Fatty – would be where the food was I yelled for Roxie. “Roxie COME ! ROXIE COME !” – nothing. I ran down the hill to find that she had fallen through the ice on the larger pond ! She was about in the middle, with her top half exposed, nails digging into the ice. I called her but she wouldn’t even look in my direction – she was paralyzed with fear, wimpering lightly. I pulled off my socks and shoes and went in and got her, delivering 45 pounds of wet, shivering canine safely back to shore.
Roxie HATES water, so this was a nightmare scenario for her ! Even bathing her is very traumatic, and she shakes the whole time – tries to escape the tub also. I can only think that because the pond was algae covered and frozen that she thought it was just more of the yard. I am obviously very thankful that we were outside and that I heard what happened, or we might be one dog short today ! I can’t wait to visit again to see if Roxie has a flashback when I take her back to that spot. She may not be smartest dog in the yard, but she’s got the memory of an elephant…
