Home again, home again, jiggedy-jig!

Good gawd but it feels good to sit at my own kitchen table with a cup of decaf that I didn't have to fight anyone for and type on my blog without hiding anything from anyone. Ahhhh. I even took off my bra. Life is good. There is no longer any need to hunker down behind the gym.

So we were up and out at a reasonable hour. L, bless her, packed the car while I was showering and getting ready. As it turns out, she was able to pack nearly everything into the trunk so we could have Quinn's soft-sided, zip-together doggie crate in the back seat with room to spare. I was very impressed.

Father L had given us each gift cards at a local grocery store chain on Christmas eve, so we had to spend them on our way north. Cool enough. We stopped in New Hampshire and picked up some nice stuff - wicked cheap prosciutto, some nice pancetta, a beautiful sirloin roast, some steak tips and some shaved steak for steak bomb sandwiches later this week. Oh, and we got some doughnuts too. Sticky yummy goodness!

So we uncrated Quinn for the ride and sequestered her while we were out of the vehicle. Seems like a good plan. Keep her out of the prosciutto and all. She hates it, but at least it is not as harsh as the wire cage she lived in back in the puppy mill. I mean she has her piglet blankie and a chewie toy, so it could certainly be worse.

We met our friends S and M (how much fun is that?!?!) for lunch in Portland and we lingered over the Thai noodles for nearly two hours. Time to go. M says he'll come say hello to Quinn (they're best buddies, after all) and get an auxiliary tin of cookies for his parents. As we approach the car, I notice that the little pooch is sitting in her favorite perch - atop the back of the front seat on the arm rest. She can see all around the car that way and thinks she's pretty special.

Uh-oh.

She was in the cage when we went in for lunch. Oh shit.

We get to the car to find our near hysterical pup (afraid we'd abandoned her) and a collapsed cage. It appears that she got her nails into the space between the zipper bits and simply unzipped the thing until it came apart and freed her. Well I'll be damned. What a clever little beastie she is!

And then I noticed the yellow Styrofoam tray lying face down on the upholstery. The plastic was peeled back in a fashion that indicated that whatever the contents had been, they no longer lived in the safe confines of polystyrene and Saran Wrap. Oh dear.

L flipped the tray over to reveal one fairly long piece of sirloin steak tip.

Only there had been two in the package, and the package held a pound of beef.

That means our little dog ate on half-pound of raw steak while sitting on the burgundy crushed velour upholstery of the back seat (hey, the car came with the shit and it is -or was- in mint condition).

Oh dear indeed.

I called Quinn's foster mom, the one we got her from back in March, and explained the situation. She was far more amused than panicked and explained that our job at this point was to wait, administer water as much and as often as she'd like it, and to walk her as soon as the half-pound of beef begins to indicate that it has made its way through her guts.

I can hardly wait.

It's been about eight hours now - I expect something pretty soon. I think that's going to be L's job when it happens. Ewie.

In other news on the way home, I met up with two of my half-sisters whom I have not seen in nearly a decade. We found each other on facebook, and it was good to sit and talk with them today. We tried to get in touch years ago, but life intervened, and now we're back, older, a little wiser, more mature, and probably a little more sane. Let's hope at least.

My blog buddy Robin (the Jewish girl in Israel, mind you) reminded me of the Dar Williams song the Christians and the Pagans after reading of our adventures over the holiday.



And you know what? I can't watch it without crying. Even now. There is so much there that rings true - family strains and feuds, hate, rejection, acceptance in unexpected places, all of it.

Happy Boxing Day to all, and to all a good night!