Today was not the best or yesterday for that matter

Newport Beach

Ocean view

Let's begin with the good, which is I got to go surfing this am and took some pictures. The sun was shining and despite the scarcity of surfable waves it was a pretty nice experience. So far so good but then I took the dogs for a walk. Oh my, so the day before I almost lost Sanford, it was partly my fault I took a shortcut after the dogs ran off which is their usual mo as they go romping around in the tall grass. Instead of finding all three dogs, there were none I had confused them and after a bit of name calling I found the two big ones but no sign of the small one. To be fair Sanford is always lagging, there's always a bush that he needs to pee on or something he needs to stick his nose in but there was no sign of him. I should explain that this is a natural habitat, unmaintained use at your own peril kind of thing.

The valley of lost dog

Sanford spreading his love.

We've been there many many times so I started to panic, more so when I remembered he had on one of his non tag on collars. (Rest assured he is micro chipped) The other two were no help looking for him I might add and as time ticked on, my yell's became even louder. At this point we stumble across a man and his two golden retrievers. "Are they friendly ?" he asks referring to the black dogs. "Yes" I reply while simultaneously yelling Sanford's name like a woman possessed. "Are you looking for a little black dog?" he asks. "Yes" I say. " ( Although I would never describe Sanford as black, clearly he's grey but these are details in high stress situations.) "Well I would stop yelling because he won't hear you he's over by that dead tree." Funnily enough I knew exactly where he meant and started sprinting in that direction while also realising that the sweatshirt had been excessive given the heat. i get to the dead tree... and still No bloody sign of Sanford. Excuse my french. I am now wailing and then I spot him standing in the distance looking like the naughty dog he is. I calm down and call him in a normal encouraging way and he sprints towards me and like a good Hollywood movie we embrace and hug. I would like to think that he was just making his way back to the car to wait for us, I can't be sure of course but he's a smart one.

Trouble 1 and 2

Anyway that was earlier in the week and not what I had planned on writing. If you're still with me there's more. So today I take the dogs out, same place. Sanford's on a leash just in case the other two are running free and everybody is enjoying the day until the big dogs go bounding off to the tall grass in search of adventure. I don't take the shortcut and instead call them. One of them has a grey ground squirrel in his MOUTH!!!! I scream he drops it. The other one picks it up. I scream again he drops it. This cannot be happening. Big black dog has blood all over its face. I yank off some big leaves and try and get as much off him as possible tossing them to the ground. At this point I'm thinking it's a squirrel, but on closer inspection when I had stopped hyperventilating I realize he has a cut on his nose which is the source of the flow. I get home and turn on the hose and spray both dogs in the face to clean their mouths. They don't enjoy it. I then call the vet and take bloody nose dog to get him checked out. I must admit I didn't want to tell the vet the whole story about the squirrel but I have to know whether he's at risk of catching anything. Fortunately I get this response. " Squirrel in the day time ok, raccoon or skunk at night not good." She's a very nice vet and glues the cut and sends us back with a week's worth of antibiotics. So, not so Hollywood second story. Talking of unfortunate events while calling the dog Sanford I hit myself in the face and managed to draw blood. Don't even ask, how because I'm still wondering myself. If you think any projects were completed you would be sorely mistaken I've aged a couple of years these last two days.