About a year and a half after his abduction Rufus made his break again. This time bringing along his friend and roomie Dixie our black lab. The kids had done a good job of watching the dogs after Rufus was "dog napped", but time had passed and so had the fear of losing their dog(s).

On this occasion the dogs had pushed open the back door, probably as the kids were first coming in the house from school. And of course they probably told the other to "get the dogs!" while they each went on their way to do whatever it was they wanted to do.

Who knows how long it took before they realized no one had gone after them, but I got "the call" once again that MOM THE DOGS HAVE RUN OFF!!! I worked an hour away at this time and said for all three of them to get out there and look for them. Of course they were wasting precious time pleading their cases that "it wasn't me"!! I said who cares.... find them before they get hit by a car.

When I got home they were still out searching and I began the drive around looking between the neighbors houses, driving slow past the patch of woods listening for them...nothing. I got back to the house and the kids were there and were ready to give up and go back to watching t.v. and I went off like a wild woman on how I was going to find the dogs new homes and how irresponsible and uncaring they were and how they're just dogs and they needed them to be there for them like I am for everyone when I'm at home. Well that scared them in to braving the cold and they headed back out to search.

About a half an hour later I was walking back behind our property near a small wooded area when I see an unfamiliar truck pull in to our driveway. So I head back towards the house to see my boys getting out of this truck and my oldest running towards me yelling MOM RUFUS GOT HIT BY A CAR! I was SO mad and scared for Rufus that I snapped at him and said OH WELL...yes I said oh well. And then he went off on me on how I don't care and probably wished Rufus was dead. By saying "oh well" I didn't mean I didn't care I meant this is what happens to innocent animals when you don't take care of them. Of course my son didn't take it that way no matter how I tried to explain it.

The dogs had had quite an adventure for a few hours and had ended up somehow on an entrance ramp to I-75. Luckily a nice animal lover had seen them and then noticed my boys "looking" for something and drove them to where she had seen them. When they got there, Rufus was in the median between the north and southbound lanes and Dixie was waiting for him on the side of the road. The boys got out of the truck and got Dixie and then tried to call for Rufus in between traffic whizzing by. Then it happened Rufus made that attempt to cross back over and was hit in the head by a van. It sent him flying a few feet but he bounced right back up and ran to my son.

The dogs were a muddy mess, and I felt badly for the woman who had picked up these muddy bloody stinky animals in her new truck. I never got to thank her for her kindness, she just dropped them off and left.

Whenever Rufus doesn't feel well or is in trouble he heads for our bathroom for whatever reason. And that is where he went as soon as we opened the door. When I got to him he was a little bloody and had a swollen eye and was shaking as if thinking...what the heck hit me?? We gave him a bath and monitored him throughout the night and by morning he was back to himself. This dog is TRULY invincible! After this adventure he tended to stay a little closer to the house whenever we let him out.

The dogs learned their lesson, I wonder if the kids did??

Did anyone see last nights episode of Invasion? Dave who is an avid blogger on the show was kidnapped because of his posts! LOL Got me to thinking...lol..of course I post nothing interestingly vital enough to be kidnapped over. Just made me laugh.
tah tah

Well that just about sums up how I'm doing today. I'm so pmsy hormonal that even commercials selling dumb stuff are making me cry! Sheez! My sinuses are kicking my butt and are so bad I'm also nauseas...sure wish I had a job and medical insurance. Hence...the final word STRESS which I'm sure is adding to my hormonalness and my nausea....on the upside, we're getting a lovely light dusting of snow today and our Christmas decoration will look so pretty tonight...it'll probably make me cry! LOL

Here is how most of my days go...

Monday thru Friday...

*Get up at 6 a.m. to wake my Middle Schoolers up...lay on couch
*Wake up my High Schooler at 7 a.m.... go back to bed (yes I said go back to bed what else is there to do?)

* Get up again whenever my back starts to hurt...somewhere around 10 or 11ish.

* Check email and any new job listings.

* Take shower, do dishes, laundry, and any other menial tasks that need doing.

* This week I'm working on a cool Christmas present for my niece since my sister threatened to hurt me if I bought presents since we're unemployed.

* 2:05 p.m. Middle Schooler son gets home, daughter is now on swim team and stays until 4...before swimming she was a cheerleader (at least she knows how to stay busy)

* 3:00 High School son returns home (now by way of friends or big yellow bus because he had his wheels taken away by yours truly because of continuous bad grades.

* 4:00 if I'm lucky someone will offer to pick up my swimmer so I can watch my favorite show Ellen. Lately I haven't seen her...*boo hoo* no daily Ellen humor makes me sad. This is also the time I tackle the days dinner.

5:00 - 7:00 is either playing online, driving my kids to the ends of the universe, or plopping my butt in front of whatever home improvement show catches my eye.

8:00 - 11:00 Monday - Medium @ 10, Tuesday - Bones @ 8 and House @ 9, Wednesday - Lost @ 9, Invasion @10, Thursday (big night) Survivor @ 8, CSI @ 9, and ER @ 10, Friday - nothing regular since they canceled Joan of Arcadia..grrr Reba is funny.

Saturday & Sunday - During the day I clean and watch HGTV & TLC programs during breaks and at night movie rentals.

Ok, if you stuck through that boring line up, say a prayer that I find a job because I feel as though I'm losing my intelligence being stuck in this rut. Of course I do many important things daily like, feed the dogs, let the dogs out, yell at the dogs to get off furniture, and take pictures of the dogs....lol...yep I've lost it!!
OH YEA...and now I do this to get people involved in my interesting life and hope someone will talk to me..lol

Our dog Rufus is a 5 year old Redbone Coonhound. He has had quite a life for a city dog. We have all decided he is invincible and meant to be our dog. There have been many times I've considered finding him a new home, mostly in the first few years he was with us. Anyone who owns a hound would agree, that although they are smart dogs they rarely show it. They live for scents and in Rufus case food. Redbones are typically thin dogs with a lot of saggy skin...Rufus weighs over 100 pounds and has very few wrinkles. He IS one of the prettiest dogs I've ever seen though and could be a doggie model easy...if you could get him to sit still.

Misadventure #1: The Escape...
We live in the city but our neighborhood has no fences so letting the dogs out to relieve themselves can be quite a task. We now have hunting shock collars to keep them close to home and safe. Before the shock collars we just had to watch them closely and hope they didn't bolt after a squirrel or whatever scent may be in the air. Well the WE included the kids when my husband and I were at work and this particular day whoever let him out failed to do the watching (although no one let him out that day...hmmm see he is smart he can open doors). So I get the frantic call that RUFUS HAS RUN AWAY MOM!!! When my husband and I get home we start the drive around the neighborhood and ask everyone if they've seen him. Of course he had been sleuthy and no one had seen him...even though I yet to see a dog that looks even slightly like him in the 5 years that we've had him around here. I call the dog pound..nothing. We print out Lost posters and put them in a 3 mile radius of our house. I must admit somewhere in the back of my mind I'm doing a little happy dance because even though Rufus is the kids dog who do you think he loves most and follows around and whines to??? you got it ME. And I get to thinking....life with just Dixie our well behaved black lab would be oh so much easier. But at the same time I'm worried because it was December and cold and what if he got hit by a car (that's another misadventure...) so I keep looking for him. After two weeks we're pretty much convinced we'll never see that crazy, annoying, lovable dog again when I get the call from my husband on my way home from work.... Guess who is in my truck??? NO WAY I say to him and in my head I'm screaming NOOOOOO WAY! Seems my very attractive and dumb dog was pretty much dog napped by some unsuspecting dog owners who thought he'd make a nice pet to join their German Shepard. And well after two weeks of him being, ah, Rufus they decided to call the number on a poster that I know they had seen for the past two weeks and give him back aka get rid of him!! So the person who dis-likes him the most and loves him the most at the same time...me, goes directly to a pet store to buy him a new collar, name tag, new comfy dog bed. End of Misadventure #1.......