Monday, July 30, 2007

Feral Kingdom

Well, it's been wild around here, and not just talking about the numerous cats that have taken up residence in my kiln shed but because the summer has been long and busy, without getting much pottery done.
Example:
4th of July the kids and spouses came over for some good grilled food, fireworks on the levee and celebration of my son's 21st birthday. Well, the food ended up being "not grilled" but instead a nice greek restaurant in town and the "fireworks on the levee" ended up being fireworks in the driveway. And as much as I dislike fireworks, I hate to admit, they were amazing.

All the kids decided they were gonna make the front yard "fireworks show" the best anyone has ever seen. ( I say kids loosely because the ages were 13, 21, 29 and 45) but all Men become kids when playing with something so lethal. So, they drove to the fireworks stand and proceeded to max out their credit and debit cards. Once home, they all were tripping over each other in a frenzy to light the first "big" firecracker. After a few near misses of property (cars, neighbors fence, etc) and body (anyone that was breathing within a 5 mile radius) they had put on a fireworks show second to none. They had did it. Every person in Denham Springs, I am sure, saw the show and it was beautiful!!! But, as the "supply of ammunition" dwindled down and the "good ones" were already spent, they decided they had done enough damage. So with the extreme high and excitement of men returning from a hard won battle, and with lots of "back slapping" and "high fives" they called it a night and started to go inside.
Much to my relief.

But once everything had settled and we were doing our nightly chores before laying down, we looked around for our little "winni" and couldn't find her.

Winni is our "pet rescued, adopted Chihuahua" with only 1 eye. She always follows my husband, Steve, around like his shadow, but now she was no where in site.
We formed search parties equipped with every flashlight we could find, and started circling the property. It was cloudy so the night was even darker and Winni is only about 6 inches high and about the same in length...very small...and because of her 1 eye she's not very good with direction. We called, we searched, we worried. Couldn't find her. So unusual for a dog that never gets further than 10 feet from people. And to make matters WORSE we noticed that my 2 Peking ducks (named Tweedle dee and tweedle dum) were missing. They have free reign of my back property and always stay near a little pond with a cypress tree. But they weren't there either. Okay, now we are really worried. 1 dog and 2 ducks were missing.
QUICK.... Call "Ace Ventura" the pet detective!

Well we gave up the search around midnight and figured they got scared from all the firework noise and left. So needless to say, we all went to bed, downtrodden and weary.
But, the next morning, Steve went to feed the all the feral felines and the chickens, and then he came running excitedly back in the house yelling "THE DUCKS ARE BACK!!"

Well, there was MUCH rejoicing! My babies are home and happily swimming around their cypress tree.
But still no sign of the "1 eyed wonder dog".

A few hours later, I was throwing some pots and I kept hearing this weird sound near my studios back door. Finally I decided to get up from the wheel and check it out. Much to my amazement there was Winni!!! Sopping wet, shaking, but otherwise healthy as can be! She was so excited about seeing all of us. We brought her inside and dried her off and then she ran to her food bowl and ate and ate until it was licked clean. She then waddled over to her little bed in front of the tv and snuggled down in it and slept all day.
No telling what all happened to her that night, but all I know is she was pooped and so far she has not wandered off any further than a few feet away. She's now a trip hazard.
Sometimes I don't know if I'm a potter, or a zoo keeper or a farmer. Or maybe a little of each in my very on Wild kingdom.

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