A stray and dwindling days

Sunday night. 9:30 pm.  Fresh from the dreaded Walmart for dog food and Chobani - minimum sustenance to get us through the last three days before the big move.  Large, all black dog running around our neighborhood, narrowly missed by cars, no collar on.

I coaxed it over to me and gave it food and water, and then waited outside with it for a half hour or so, expecting some frantic owner to be running down the street with a collar and leash in hand. Because, let's be honest, if Pierre were missing, anyone who saw me in public would probably try to Baker Act me.  But...nothing.  Ordinarily, I would have no qualms about putting this dog up in my garage for the night...but our garage is full of STUFF due to our impending move. But what else do I do? She was super friendly (although scared), well trained, and well fed. Someone's pet.  I couldn't just LEAVE her out.

I managed to get one of Pierre's collars and a leash on her and took her for a walk to see if she would lead me to her home.  I ran into a neighbor who said they recognized the dog and knew where she lived. Thank goodness.

So I walk up to the door, knock, ask the owner if this is his dog. I was expecting, an OH MY GOODNESS, I'm so glad you found her!!! Nope. Nothing. Didn't even know the poor thing was missing.  I had to ask to even get my leash and collar back. He took the dog in as I blubbered on about needing to make sure she didn't get out again because the dog was going to get hit by a car. Oh well. Good deed for the day done. But seriously, WHY do these people own animals?! Riddle me that.

Anywho. Moving on.

Eric and I took one more trip down memory lane on Sunday and went back to the beach that we got married on. Ate breakfast at our favorite hole-in-the-wall beach diner (I love any place where the waitress calls me "baby" when taking my order), and I scooped up some sand from where our ceremony was to take with us.  The weather was pretty windy and stormy - the Gulf is normally waveless.

Where our ceremony was...down on the end by the rock jetty. On a day much prettier than this, thank goodness!

My "aisle."

Ah, the memories.

We're obviously super excited about moving...it's been a long time planned. But it IS hard to leave this place in particular.

Monday I took Pierre to the dog beach with my friend G, who was sweet enough to invite him along.  He's been moping around lately.  I'm not sure what he thinks is going on, but he knows it's something abnormal.  I'm trying not to leave him at home in a pretty much empty house at this point to avoid stressing him out any more than he already is. 

It was a lovely day. Sunny, breezy, and my ideal temperature - the one where you can wear shorts, but need long sleeves. Pierre had an absolute blast playing with pup friends, rolling in the sand, and barking at the wind.  The water was too cold still for him to swim, but he dipped his chunky paws in a bit.

Note: This is what the water on the Gulf NORMALLY looks like, as compared to my photo above from Sunday.

Pierre was so exhausted when we got home, that he fell asleep with his head propped up on the edge of the tub while I was giving him a bath. I truly wish I had a photo of that, ha! I washed the cover for his bed last night, but he just couldn't wait. Fell asleep in the middle of the kitchen on the insert while I was doing some packing.

Meanwhile, I'm finishing up the last of our packing and cleaning so we leave the new owners with a fresh start to their new place. And cooking some really random, interesting meals to use up the contents of the fridge/freezer.   Good music and a pot of coffee are keeping me going! Any new Pandora recommendations? Send them along :)