No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Lexie an' I thought we'd give mom a break, last nite. She had a sore tooth...an' I know how that can hurt. So, we didn't even object to her closin' outside an' goin' to bed early.

She checked the doors, turned out all the lites.....gave us each our goodnite hugs an' kisses (she never ever goes to bed w/out doin' this), dad was already asleep, an' then she went into her bathroom to get into her nities an' put that good tastin' stuff on her face (I like it).

Then she turned off that lite an' opened the door to the bedroom to go to bed.

As she smacked into me...luckily we both didn't go splat.....she was able to grab onto me to keep us both upright. Hey...I was just waitin' patiently for her to come out an' give her a nite kiss, make sure she was ok, an' just lay down by her bed.

Whew...we both were glad we escaped goin' splat...me, for her not landin' on me....her for...well not landin' at all.

Then she walks w/me to her side of the bed......

She steps right into the middle of Lexie...who was layin' patiently beside mom's side of the bed. Mom jumped back....Lexie jumped up. An' mom reached down an' hugged an' petted Lexie...makin' sure she was ok. Then mom climbed into bed.

Lexie an' I decided that we tried.....an' we, also, decided that we might be safer goin' to bed ....in the livin' room.

Well, we both had decided to put mom to bed an' wait for her to nod off...givin' her some quality time. This was not how we envisioned it goin' down. It was supposed to be a sweet gesture from us......comfortin' ....lettin' her know we really cared......not a crash n' burn type of moment.

It was the thought that counts, right?

Knock before Enterin'......

AHS-RED ALERT!!!
Mom an' I were out enjoyin' the mornin'. It's warm, balmy feelin'......there's a strong breeze makin' all the crepe myrtle blooms fall like pink snow. (dad don't like this 'cause they're landin' everywhere an' pilin' up on stuff in lil' drifts of brown an' pink).

All of a sudden.....the door bell rang....

I ran inside to the kitchen windows...lettin' out a warnin'! There's a white truck parked in front of our house. (I hate white trucks). Dad opened the door to talk to some man, an' I watched from the kitchen. Then as he left to go back to his truck, I ran up to my tower to make sure he really had intentions to leave.

After I was sure he drove off, I came back downstairs just in time to hear dad tell mom that that guy an' others would be back.....to go in our backyard. That they were here to check that buried pipeline that runs across the yard way in the back.

Well, I was gonna go out w/dad to check stuff out....an' be there for security. He locked me an' Lexie in the house!

I knew somethin' was up as I watched from the backdoor.....dad was out there....an' talkin' to someone!
"They" didn't come back later....."they" jumped over my back fence an' were back there!! 

Dad told 'em that he woulda' opened the gate & made sure me an' Lexie were locked in the house. When they were finished, he took them out that way. An' he told 'em that they were lucky that I wasn't out there, that it mighta' gotten "ugly". One of the guys said that it was ok.....they find it easier to just go over the fences from yard to yard w/no problem...that he likes dogs...an' even has a couple of "weiner dogs".
Dad opened the gate for 'em...an' pointed out where that big hole in the gate had been repaired. Then said that I was a lil' bigger then a "weiner dog"....an' that there were two of us, an' that hole in the gate was us bustin' thru it after just a cat that had gotten in our backyard w/out our permission. An' that he just wasn't sure how fast they could jump a fence an' run.........

He suggested to them that they just might consider comin' to the front door an' lettin' him open the gate & makin' sure we're locked up when they come back......

We'll see.....'cause I'm on alert....an' Lexie's an' my afternoon might just get a lot more excitin'........

Let Sleepin' Dogs Lie?...maybe not.......

Mom so wants to wake Lexie up from her nappin' w/dad in the bedroom. She reallllly does.
Lexie's sleepin' like a log......lookin' all sweet an' innocent. Mom's not feelin' it....




It all started w/the midnite game of ignorin' mom an' not wantin' to come inside. Then when mom got us all asleep..even her....me an' mom were woken up by that banshee howlin' of Lexie. Of course, Lexie didn't even wake up as mom an' I stood over her....she just snuggled down in her bed, smackin' her lips an' sleepin'.

Mom an' I went back to bed. 

Then at 2 am....Lexie's at the back door barkin' her head off....mom had to get up to tell her to knock it off an' go back to bed. Mom went back to bed...again...an' I went up to my tower for some peace an' quiet...an' some sleep. 

4:30 am.....the same thin'....mom gets up, turns on the lite in the livin' room. Lexie looks at her...an' mom yells, "NO!!"...turns off the lite an' goes back to bed. I think Lexie was startled...'cause it worked....she went back an' laid down.

Right at dawn....Lexie starts barkin' at the back door, again. Mom tries to just ignore...her...but Lexie wasn't havin' it. 

Lexie comes into mom's bedroom an' goes up to the side of mom....an' lets out a demandin' bark...right at mom. That was a lil' hard to ignore.....then Lexie goes to the doorway...an' barks some more...then heads to the back door.

Now, mom's thinkin' that maybe....Lexie really needs to go out an' gets up....an' lets her out.
Now....Lexie runnnns out. Mom stands at the door an' watches her......
Is it a potty break? Nooooo!

Lexie puts her nose to the ground an' is goin' helter skelter across the patio, the deck, the yard...by the pond....behind the arbor...down by the greenhouse......as fast as she can......as if she's trackin' somethin'.....

Then......she just comes right back to mom an' goes back in the house an' lays down...all satisfied an' happy like.

Mom's left standin' at the door in her jammies, at dawn....totally dumbfounded, thinkin'...."what was that all about?". It's not like Lexie heard somethin' outside thru the backdoor....she's always puttin' her nose against that crack in the door an' snortin'....but what could she have smelled that got her all up in paws to need to go out after somethin'?
Don't know, don't really care......whatever it was, it's gone, I got a good nite's sleep.......& Lexie's gettin' a good nap, so she'll be fresh for later. Mom...ehhh....maybe not....but who knows what tonite will bring.....

When did I become Lexie's "keeper"?

Midnite....

Lexie talked mom into lettin' her "out"....as if she reallllllly needed to go "out". 
It's been rainin' a lot, again, today...so, we've been locked in....again, most of the day. Only gettin' to go out sporadically. 

So, mom gave in.."just in case", she said, an' she told us "to come RIGHT back!!". An' she tapped Lexie on the nose an' pointed that finger at her, an' Lexie had no choice but to know what mom was sayin'. 
So, mom opened the door an' we literally flashed outside we were movin' so fast. 

I did a quick recon of the fence line...checked out the gate an' that back corner...did my business an' came back inside the house, where I was rewarded w/one of them mongolian cheese thingees. 

Mom went to the backdoor an' looked out.....no Lexie. Everythin' in the backyard is wet, with drippin' drops comin' off the trees an' shinin' in her lite as she moved it across the yard. About then.....mom saw her movin' across the yard...blatantly pretendin' that she didn't see mom's lite. I walked out on the deck, but didn't see her....mom told me to go get her. 

I went as far as the pond, while mom shined her lite that way. (dad got her one of them tactical lites that goes really far). I spotted Lexie...an' she spotted me lookin' at her an' saw mom's lite. She couldn't ignore me....I just looked at her an' turned towards the house. She knew exactly that the game was up an' she had to come inside. But I have to tell you, she came right on in...but she was trudgin' not trottin' down the path, lol. 

Sure hope it don't rain, tomorrow.....I think even mom's gettin' stir crazy.......good thin' I've got my tower......don't know why I'm Lexie's "keeper" all of a sudden....I really don't care if she's out in the wet an' rain.......as long as she keeps her wet self off my bed.....

The Hole......

Another day, another chance to finish what we started last nite before mom an' dad made us abort our latest AHS mission.

It had been rainin' most of the day, so that made thin's a lil' easier as far as Lexie an' I were concerned. That ground was much easier to work with.

Dad was complainin' that he's sure gettin' tired of our late nite missions...but, hey...like we've explained to mom, it's not our fault. It's them critters. They only come out at nite. Believe me, it'd be a whole lot easier to catch 'em if they were out an' about durin' the day, instead of bein' so sneaky like they are.

Anyway, we were makin' some noise...an' it was almost midnite. But it was because we were so close, yet still so frustrated.

Both of us were workin' as fast an' as hard as we could. That critter was way down under mom's bench by the pond. There was only one thin' to do.....get in there an' drag it out.

Lexie an' I both were workin' on doin' that when dad showed up.

He pulled Lexie outa that hole (she was only up to her shoulders) an' dragged her to the house an' presented her to mom.

Admittedly, she looked like one of Wendy Hodgson's mud pups before they are finished.

Mom's eye got big an' she asked dad where we were.

At that moment...Lexie excaped back outside, w/mom...an' dad was right behind her.

I jumped outa mom's reach an' went to the other side of the bench. Lexie was back to tryin' to go into that hole. Mom grabbed her an' pulled her out by her collar. As she handed her off to dad, she could hear some loud growls an' hisses comin' from that hole....beside her foot.

Dad grabbed Lexie's collar an' proceeded to take her back to the house. I ran back around to the backside, mom an' the hole.......

Mom was grabbin' my collar, just as somethin' big an' furry brushed against her leg by the hole.

She let out one of them girly lil' screams an' jumped back w/me. (Boy can she move fast when she wants to).

It was Lexie...sans collar....about to go back down the hole. Mom grabbed her by the nape of her neck an' got her collar from dad an' put it on her....grabbed me by my collar an' dragged both of us outa that garden. She wasn't playin' around.......

She handed Lexie off to dad an' we were all marched to the house. Lexie an' I knew there was no point arguein'.....not when mom was still relivin' that hissin' an Lexie brushin' up against her.....she don't like that kind of stuff. Critters runnin' across her feet at tryin' to get at her in the dark of nite....reallly is her least favorite thin'. An' I kinda think that in the back of her mind, she blames us....not sure why. Plus, she didn't know what that was in that hole. She suspects it was a big big possum.

When we got back in the house, dad started the shower. Yep.....baths at midnite. Well, admittedly, all that mud was startin' to dry an' didn't feel so great.

Lexie had to be shampooed about 3 or 4 times before dad got all the mud off her. When she was finished.....mom just looked at me an' said, "just look at your feet!!...an' the rest of you....!!!" an' then told me to go get washed.

There are sometimes when moms are right....an' I really don't like bein' dirty.....so, I just went right back to the shower on my own an' got inside.

I wasn't quite as bad as Lexie....that's the beauty of bein' CEO......I explain the mission an' have her do all the really dirty work. My feet an' beard were really the worst....'cause I had to keep checkin' the hole to see if she had gotten deep enough, yet.

It was after midnite by the time we were all clean an' dried. Then mom an' dad noticed a lot of blood in Lexie's ear. OMD....you woulda thought her whole ear had been cut off. Mom started gettin' first aid stuff out, they both dragged Lexie into the lil' guest bathroom...an' it was like a triage.

Turned out she had scrapped one of them lil' polyps on her ear (it sticks out like one of them lil' skin tags) an' that was what was bleedin'. But mom checked her all over to make sure nothin' had bit her while she had her whole head down that hole, lol.

This mornin'....dad has us in lockdown, only lettin' us outside w/an escort. Partly 'cause it's rainin'...an' partly 'cause he doesn't want a repeat of last nite. Of course the first thin' both of us did was run to check out that hole. Dad was quick to grab Lexie's tail an' tell her "NO". Which is ok.....'cause that critter is long gone....we checked all around an' he musta figured goin' over the fence was a better idea.

So, we're stuck in the house, all clean....an' gettin' some rest, who knows what tonite will bring. Mom's not happy w/her floors....an' w/the rain, not sure if it's even worth tryin' to clean 'em, an' she's got a big load of towels in the wash (I can't help it if we use more towels to dry off then her an' dad do....fur people, fur!).

Just another page in our AHS log.......I'd like to say it was successful...but it wasn't.....but I can say that wasn't our fault. Unfortunately, mom an' dad aren't always provide the best support when we're tryin' to extract a perp.....but what can you do? Just be patient an' know there'll be another time........mom knows this, an' just shakes her head.