Week Eight

We've made some previous references to the reconstruction of our street. Weather has caused them to be a bit behind, and the road crew was working today. As we approached our home, we saw that the street was blocked by a squad car and a fire truck. We drove around the "back" way, and were a bit surprised by the strong smell of natural gas. The "back" route was also blocked by police and the fire department. We found out that the construction crew severed a 4" steel natural gas line. We were a couple of blocks from the break and the sound of the gas escaping was loud!

The fire department said that we could not go to our house, not even on foot. I explained that I had 3 adult dogs in my house, and 9 puppies in my car and I needed to get the big dogs out of the house, and get food for the pups! I finally convinced them and we were escorted by 2 firemen carrying gas detectors to warn us if the gas concentration was approaching the strength where an explosion was possible. They agreed to allow us to drive our other vehicle out and away from our home. We loaded up 2 x-pens, 3 soft crates, our soaked kibble, dry kibble, dog treats, dog bowls, Meg, Kona and Snicker and a couple of jackets for ourselves.

So, at least all of the living members of the family were together! We have a motor home, and store it at an outside storage establishment a few miles away. We decided to head over there, and once we got there we decided to drive to another local park to feed the puppies.

So we pulled into the park and set up camp. Out came the x-pens and the puppies. Here were are with a motor home and 9 puppies in 2 x-pens on the grass. Needless to say, the pups were quite the attraction. We were visited by a mom and dad walking their 9 month old daughter in a stroller, 1 and 4 year old siblings with their mom, a complete U10 girls soccer team and their parents (all 9 puppies were being held and petted), an assortment of other kids and adults walking through the park, a number of guests from a wedding being held in a nearby park pavilion, and at around 7:00pm a police officer that came to tell us that it was OK to go back to our home!

As crazy as it sound, it was actually kind of fun. We had lots of explaining to do, to the "what kind of dogs are these?" questions. Both Linda and I worked hard to make sure everyone understood these were not chocolate and black labs!

We could not have planned a better "socialization" outing for the puppies. They experienced much, and were all very well behaved.

My only regret, no pictures, my battery was still dead (I would have loved a picture of the soccer team each holding one of the puppies). I can guarantee I'll not be without a spare battery from this point on!