Brief Bliss

Most sunny afternoons, my neighbor Carol can be found on a chair in her front yard with her two Shiatzus, Petunia and Peanut, on leashes, snuffling around in the grass.   

     Today’s weather was so glorious I decided to take a page from her book. Golden leaves drifted to the ground while 70 degree breezes blew in the sunshine.  I grabbed a folding chair from the garage, yesterday’s crossword from the house, and Mamie.

          No need for a leash since Mamie rarely strays more than ten feet from my side. I settled into my chair in our side yard, she next to me in the lush grass. I looked down as she nosed a few leaves aside. “Now don’t eat dirt, Mame,” something she does sometimes for no apparent reason.

          I completed 4 down, enact, and 15 across, sonata. I glanced over – Mamie was rolling ecstatically in the grass. What cutie, I thought. Then she stopped and beamed up at me with a huge smile. A deep brown streak striped her entire left side. Uh oh.

          In a complex where everyone religiously picks up after their dog, she managed to find the only spot with poop. I ran to the garage, grabbed a towel, wrapped her up and carted her odiferous little self to the sink for a bath.

Mamie drying out under the bed.

 

     The only other explanation is that she’d found a deposit from something undomesticated, not impossible considering the number of times the three bachelor turkeys march through our yard.

       Another more exciting possibility could be the bobcat – yes, bobcat – I saw only yesterday coming out of the woods in back.