Now I'm the pied piper of dogs

This past week was the end of the first grading period for one daughter so she had Friday off of school. It was parent/teacher conferences for the other daughter and she had Thursday and Friday off of school. I had to get up on Thursday to see the one daughter off to school and then head over for the other daughter's parent/teacher conference. Sleeping in was not an option for Thursday, but it was for Friday, and I planned a nice, long morning nestled in clean sheets.

At 7:30 AM on Friday morning the phone rang. It woke me from a dead sleep. Tom was in the shower, both girls were sleeping, and dog was at the foot of my bed watching me. I answered the phone, worried it was in regards to my mother, but it turned out to be my neighbor across the street. She told me that she had a stray dog at her house and did I know who might be the dog's owners. Immediately this picture popped into my head:

This is the dog that Tom brought home the morning after I told him no more dogs. This dog lives one street over and is known on that street as the escape artist. One summer a year ago the dog was at our house almost daily. Madison and Darcy would take the dog home and the owners were always very nonchalant. This last time Darcy and I returned the dog and the owners didn't even know the dog, named Hildy, was missing. Apparently she spends a lot of time in the fenced in backyard.

I informed my neighbor of all of this and then gave her detailed instructions on how to get to the neighbor's so that she could return the dog.

"Uh, Cara," she said, "I'm at work."

Oh, yes. Every time my children are home I feel like I'm off of work between the hours of 5:45 and 3:00 and forget that the rest of the world is not. Turns out my neighbor had discovered the dog at 5:45 in her garage, and not wanting the dog to be run over by a car, she put the dog in her house when she left for work at 6:00. The dog had no collar.

"Sorry to do this to you," she said, "but you are the only one with a key to my house."

Needless to say, by the time I hung up I wasn't too happy. There went my morning of snuggling in clean sheets, my brain in sleepyville. I began griping as soon as my husband exited the bathroom.

"What is wrong with these people? I should call the pound and have them take care of this dog. Clearly the owners don't give a damn. How many times is this dog going to escape? I wanted to sleep in this morning!"

Hubby suggested I call the owners. I suggested he call the owners. He did. As predicted, they had no idea the dog was missing.

"Oh," the lady owner said, "You have Hildy? Well, I'm looking around now and I don't see her."

Really? Because she isn't there! Tom explained the situation and how the dog was locked in the neighbor's house, but that we had the key. And the lady owner? Did she apologize and thank us profusely? No. She actually said, "Well, I just got out of the shower, and I have to get ready for work."

It is a good thing that Tom made that call and was listening to this nonsense on the other end because in my mood I might have started a neighborly war. Seriously? She needed to get ready for work? Well I needed to get more sleep, but that certainly wasn't happening.

Tom told her he was leaving for work in fifteen minutes and so she agreed to retrieve her dog. I stormed into the bedroom, ranting and raving, and began changing into my clothes. Then I decided that I wasn't going to change. I was wearing Steelers pajama pants and a black T'shirt so I put on a bra, hooked up Elliotto his leash, and went across the street to join my neighbor buddy, Sid, who was outside sipping coffee in the driveway. He listened to me rant and rave for several minutes, and we discussed all the things I was going to tell this lady owner when she appeared. Eventually my next door neighbor buddy joined us, and we all discussed things we would do if the dog escaped again.

Time passed and no lady owner. The next door neighbor buddy wandered home. I went over to the neighbor's house to make sure she really had Hildy as I suddenly had visions that perhaps I had guessed wrong on the missing dog. I hadn't. Hildy met me at the door, her tail wagging rapidly.

It took the lady owner one hour, ONE HOUR, to finally wander down the street to retrieve her dog. She appeared with a leash and full make-up, dressed in her work clothes and high heeled shoes. I felt great standing next to her in my pajamas. She was sighing as I opened the neighbor's door and let Hildy out. My anger had dissipated, but I did ask how it was that the dog kept escaping. She said something about the dog banging up against a board in the fence, but she just shrugged like "what are you going to do". How about nailing the damn board shut? But I kept my mouth closed and off they trotted down the street.

I went home, called the neighbor who had housed the dog to report it was all taken care of, and then, because I was feeling defiant, I went back to bed and slept until 11:15 AM. Ha!