Sunday January 6th and Monday the 7th

Isnt he just the cutest lil guy you've seen? This lil doggy's name is Pepper and he showed up Sunday morning on our back patio. Hubby checked him for tags and found 2. One had lil man's name on it with a phone number and one was his rabies innoculation tag with the vet's number. One would think this would make getting it easier to get him home right? Nope, this little visitor cost us 2 hours of packing and organizing time because the phone number on the one tag was disconnected and the other number...well vets are generally not open on Sundays. Well hubby fed and watered Pepper. Pepper didnt seem to need much though as he looked well fed and clean so there wasnt any case of neglect. He was shaking a bit even though it wasnt all that chilly out so he was probably just scared. Pepper stood head and shoulders above Katy (our chihuahua) and could have easily been agressive with her. However, he was the sweetest and most polite dog you could ask for and was extremely respectful that he was on Katy's turf. Not a growl or snarl came out of him. Hubby and I discussed what we were going to do with Pepper since the one number didnt work and were pretty much set to keep him over night until the vet's office opened the next day if necessary when hubby got the brainstorm to run the phone number through 411.com to see what came up. Personally, if we werent moving I would have been really happy to just keep him as he was that sweet. Well hubby got a hit on 411.com and were we ever surprised that the address that belonged to the phone number was located in Plano....several miles to our north. It isnt a long drive but for a mid-sized dog like this to walk it and there are lots of busy roads between us and Plano. Hubby wrote down the addy and took a couple pix of Pepper on the digital camera to bring with him. He was simply going to go and ask the neighbors in that area if they knew who he belonged to. As he was headed for the truck, Pepper seemed to know what hubby was up to and followed him. Ok, well then...stick a leash on him and take with you....it'll save us gas if he does belong up there.

When hubby got to the address there was a gentleman in the yard and so he asked this man if he knew " Ms. so and so" (the name that was listed with the address on 411.com). Sure enough he did. This man was that woman's father. Good deal! Well looks like the gal had moved to finish schooling and had relocated to Austin. Meanwhile, Pepper had been left in the care of the gal's mother...who lives in Garland. In fact she's right around the corner from our house. Go figure. The guy said he'd call the mother (they're divorced) and let her know Pepper was in one piece. There had been some panic as Pepper is 14 yrs old and takes medicine for a congenative heart problem. We were to find out a couple days later that the poor lil man had been let out to go to the bathroom at 1am Saturday morning (so there had been no meds for over 24 hrs for him) and he'd simply wandered off. The family was profusely thankful (well the father was and a few days later the mother was as well) that the time was taken to return Pepper to them. Seems like someone really was watching out for that darling little guy. Like hubby said, we'd want someone to take the time to find us if either of our little girls got loose.

We didnt get much more done after that. Not sure why though...more than likely errands were run. As I didnt put them in the notes I'd guess I didnt feel they were overly important.

Monday the packers showed up. Between hubby and myself, we'd gotten the lion's share of things packed. Well at least the lion's share of my stuff.....he still had quite a bit to go. They arrived at 9am and Dharma immediately went under the bed. Poor kitty. So much activity lately and now strangers in the house!!! There were 3 of them and they were in and back out by 1230pm. If it wasnt nailed down or closely guarded, it got packed. The running joke was that if I hadnt gotten up they woulda rolled me in paper and tossed me in a box. LOL. They even packed a box of plastic bowls I'd set aside for donation (not their fault though as they asked if everything on the table was to go and I said yes....a day and a half later I remembered that the box had been on the table...oh well). The inside of my house looked like the inside of a storage unit, only not quite so neat. Piles of boxes everywhere. I woulda been so much happier if they'd moved all the boxes to the guest room and out of my sight. Like I said in the notes....Alice woulda hated it...shit I hated it. Friggin slalom course getting through my home.

After they left, we relaxed for a few minutes and watched tv. Around 430pm I got myself into the shower to clean up for supper. We'd had plans to meet a few of our friends out at Cheddars. My TxSis showed up early and for the first time since we were in the house did she catch me totally unprepared for a visit. The standing rule's always been ...call FIRST. Why? Because I tend to dress comfortably, not necessarily appropriately for company (ok, so...*covers iggy's eyes* Im a closet streaker especially when hubby's home...*uncovers iggy's eyes with instruction not to read previous sentence*). Anyhow, imagine my surprise when I heard someone else's voice in my house and how thankful I was they took the conversation back outside. When I was finally fit for company, she came in and we spent a little time together. She had a pressy for me and I had a gift bag for her and one for Kiddo. Her bag contained her Christmas gift (she'd been out of country during the holidays and I'd been too busy before them), and a couple other items. The Christmas gift was one of the 2 lighthouses I'd painted months ago. They were supposed to be for hubby's aunt and mom but we changed our minds and did something else. Anyhow, I'd sent TxSis a pic of them when done and she'd gone gaga over them so I told hubby that one would be hers for Christmas (the other went to my godfather and his wife in June as thanks for getting funeral arrangements done for us in May). The other little items were a couple fairy magnets I had painted and a set of my windchimes for her patio (what the heck, I have too many to begin with and I wont be able to put them ALL up in the new digs anyhow). Kiddo's gift was a nice bath set....supposed to smell like clean linens or something. I was told a couple days ago that it was very much appreciated and it smelled really nice too!

Anyhow, TxSis joined us and one other couple for supper. Another couple and one other person weren't able to join us which is a real shame. We all went to Cheddars and had a great time. I know TxSis was worried about how things went, but all went well considering that she knew no one besides me and hubby. I had a feeling they'd all get along really well anyways.