I wanted pansies. I ended up with a pomeranian.

I had a simple plan for today:

*Go to chiropractor
*Go to Wal-Mart
*Go to Fred Meyer to get pansies and tomato plants
* Weed "the plot"
*Plant tomatoes and pansies
*Prepare bathroom for painting

My day started off the way it was supposed to. I went the chiropractor. I went to Wal-Mart, which isn't nearly as bad at 9:00 on a Saturday morning as it is pretty much any other time. Then I went to Fred Meyer (aka Peytons, Krogers and Fry's). I got my tomatoes, a strawberry plant and two lemon cucumber plants. After coming to the conclusion that no matter how many times I circled the garden center, they were not going to have pansies I decided to walk through the store to get Starbucks. Stopped in the electronics department. They did not have the 16G iPod Nano in purple, so I straightened the display of items made by the company I work for and mosied to the jewerly department. The earrings I want are no longer on sale, so I will have to wait. Got my coffee, went across the street to Lowe's. No pansies there either, so I must be too late for this season.

So at this point, my day had been very uneventful and on track. And then driving home, traffic was stopped for a pomeranian that was dashing in and out of traffic. She finally went down a side street and being the puppy mom that I am, I followed. I could not let this precious little animal get hit by a car. It took some doing, but she finally let me catch her. I drove around a bit asking the few people I saw if they recognized her. No one did. So, I took her to my vet's office to be scanned. No microchip. So with visions of finally getting my little girl dancing through my head, I took her home. (I did report finding her to the Humane Society).

My boys were not sure what to think of this. They were tolerant, but clearly not happy with the turn of events, especially Charlie. She kept trying to play with him and he would have none of it. It is understandable since he was recently attacked by a boxer, which I had forgotten about when I decided to bring her home. I am sure he was particularly peeved when she started playing with his ball. Charlie loves his ball. He sleeps with it if I don't see it on the bed. He's afraid of the vaccuum but will charge at it if I get too close to the ball.

As the day went on, I felt bad for my boys. They didn't understand that I couldn't just leave her to get run over. How do you explain that to dogs? So, around 7:30, I decided to canvass the area where I found her in hopes of seeing lost dog posters. It's a nice night so here and there people were out and about. No one recognized her. I got discouraged when one gentleman didn't speak English and decided to go home, not sure what I was going to do with her come bedtime. I was about to turn around when I saw someone outside a couple doors down, so I decided to ask him and then go home.

I asked him if he knew anyone who owned a white pomeranian. He said "yes. We do." I made him describe the dog and then happily turned her over. It turns out she snuck out when his wife wasn't looking and tried to follow her as she drove off.

I am so happy I impulsively decided to try to find her home and that I was able to do so. My boys are pretty happy about it too.

Here's a picture of them "helping" with the yard work: