Thursday, February 15, 2007

An Un-Happy Valentines Day

Milou ran away.

It was very, very cold. Ruth had come over to watch the kids so that Jennie could catch up on some work. I was in town. Jennie put the dog out to go to the bathroom and turned to do something for just a few minutes. When she turned around he was gone.

She immediately donned her winter clothes and went all over the neighborhood hollering his name. Patience called me, crying. I drove all over the neighborhood, Jennie made flyers, I went to the humane society to file a report, etc. The results were negative. The word from the experts was that we would never see him again. He is too cute, did not have his collar, and if he survived the cold more than an hour would be snatched up by somebody glad to have a free, full-blooded poodle.

To say the least, we were devestated. I explained to Patience that reality was that we would most likely never see Milou again. I had two crying girls on my hands. Corban took it like a trooper. Even our church people got involved! It was Wednesday night and so many told me that they were really sad for Patience and Jennie. Somehow I was not all that much of a concern of theirs...

During the night Jennie and I prayed several times.

This morning at 8:30 our octegenarian neighbor lady several houses down feebly made it to our door to tell us that our dog was in her garage. She had seen him yesterday (we knew that much) and had tried to lure him into her garage, but he took off, she though. She left her door open for awhile and apparantly Milous doubled back and found refuge in her garage, curling deep into some tarp and blankets she had in a corner. He would have died otherwise.

She did not know it, shut the door. Today she went out to her garage and found him shivering and weakened. She was afraid he'd bolt so she bundled up and braved the icey sidewalk to bear the happy news to us.

Jennie and Patience cried again. This time happy tears.

Milou is at the stage in his dog years that they are most prone to run away. We have to keep an eye on him. He had such a miserable time. He hadn't gone potty at all in her garage and so when I put him out in the snow to relieve himself he did so, but couldn't move afterwards because he was so cold. I had to pick him up and rub him down. His time was so miserable that he has been sticking to my heels all day long.

Anyway, we had a rough Valentines Day, but there was a happy ending this morning.

Also this morning (and just in time to share our joy with us), the home study lady appeared to do another home study. We learned all about our upcoming court date on the 27th. We're excited.

Happy be-lated Valentines Day from the Rockford Bixbys.

4 comments:

Mom and Dad said...

So now we know why we had no cheery valentine greetings from the rockford regiment! So glad to haer your little one is safe and sound...that is remarkable considering your weather.

joydriven said...

i am sooooo glad! tell patience to give milou a kiss for me! (and trust me, i don't say that about just any dog!) =}

Aunt B said...

Oh wow. I feel so bad for little Milou. I'm so glad that it ended well. :-)

TRBix said...

I didn't read the blog at all earlier today, and so I heard about the Milou scare at 20 Kendal Green this evening from all the rest of the "in-the-know" Bixbys, and they wouldn't tell me the end of the story until they had me fully convinced that Milou was permanently gone! I was greatly surprised and relieved to hear that he has been found! Welcome home, Milou!