Two blogs in one. . .

Okay, so my plan for this blog has already been spoiled because I could not find the pictures I was looking for. Perhaps I deleted them when I changed over to the new laptop--I don't know, they're just gone!!!

What I wanted to talk about in this blog was our relationship with our "step-dogs". Why, you might ask, would I post a picture of something I recently knit in a blog about the escapee, roaming, neighborhood dogs? Becuase, my loyal readers, you tell me that you like the posts that have pictures the best. So here you go. A picture. You didn't say anything about it having to do with what I was posting. . . This is a shawl, by the way, that I really like. It's on the www.lionbrand.com website and is SUPER fast and easy. I use it in the morning when I'm meditating and praying and pretty much all throughout the day. This is the most-used item I have used to date! Ha!

Okay, so back to our step-dogs: Toby and Maggie. These two dogs first made my acquaintance back in January of 2006. I had come home from the grocery store and two little dogs were totally harassing a man who used to walk in our neighborhood with his two dogs (he no longer walks in our neighborhood--perhaps because of this incident). My neighbor was outside so between the two of us we corralled the two Houdinis into my back yard. This was when we had all three dogs, so my back yard became the dog part momentarily. But getting them off the street was necessary, I thought, and so in the back yard they went. They got along great with our dogs, so that was good. I took pictures, printed up some flyers, asked some kids on our street and learned of their identity. They are Toby and Maggie--Margaret when you mean business. I returned them to their owner and thought I had washed my hands of them. ..

Not so fast.

We were walking the evening of John's birthday and they were out roaming. We scooped up Maggie, a beagle, and walked her home. Do you have any idea how much beagles weigh over the course of a quarter mile? Toby--a sort of deer chihuahua/min pin mix--was still too skittish at that time to let us reign him in.

But now he is.

One day I was walking the boys when we saw the dynamic duo running between houses. "Margaret" listened to me as I steered them in the direction of their home. Toby is a whole different story. Finally I carried him to their house (he weighs maybe 12 lbs). No one was home! So I carted him back to my house. Keep in mind that I have my two dogs' leashes, Toby, AND the discipline stick (half of a fishing pole for when a little switch is needed) in my hands. Whew!!! But from then on Toby LOVES me. He LOVES being carried. He LOVES to try to give me kisses. He comes when I call him. This kind of devotion really tugs at your heart strings!!

So starting last week we learned that our dogs have a particular bark that means "Toby's here!!!" He came by on Thursday. Then on Friday. He's made it here with Maggie Monday and Tuesday of this week.

(As a bit of explanation: the fence at the house where they live has some damage and they can get out easily. The homeowner is a senior citizen who uses a scooter and had limited mobility; i.e, she can't get out there and hammer up a new fence herself.)

Anyway. . . it's great when Toby sees me through the window because his whole body starts wagging. Now that's some love!!!

Well, this has sure been a longer post than I imagined. I guess I had wanted to write this many days ago and every day they come by the blog gets a little longer. . . They really are the sweetest dogs. And our boys sure love them. Perhaps they will find what they are looking for some day!