since les has a long history of escaping over the fence (he’s not able to do that anymore, finally), and then being gone for hours if we let him roam free, we’ve been limiting his going-out time.  kevin lets him out in the early morning and he comes right back in in about a half hour, and then maybe he gets out one more time, but not so much because sometimes he’s been gone for several hours.  and we don’t let him out in the evening, because once he went out after dinner and didn’t come in and i kept getting out of bed and calling him, and he finally showed up at 4 a.m.  too stressful.

but yesterday morning, after his initial foray outside, kevin let him out about 9:30.  we were sure he’d come back.  but then he didn’t.  i had a busy day, and when i was done with massages at about 3:30, we looked and looked.  and looked and looked.  and called and called and called.  NO LESTER ANYWHERE.

amy was really concerned, in part because poor noodle just passed away, and i understand that something like that makes you even more on edge about our pets.  she kept texting me to MAKE FLYERS and LOOK FOR HIM FARTHER AWAY and kevin was saying CALL APL and CALL ANIMAL CONTROL.

as the evening wore on and darkness was impending, we got more and more frantic.  we slapped up a few posters, i called the places, kevin walked way way down the road in both directions, i knocked on neighbors’ doors…no les anywhere.

as there were finally just a few more moments of light in the sky i was so anxious and didn’t know what else to do, so i finally gave up.

we spent a very tense evening, not watching any tv or even talking much at all.  kevin and i just sat at our computers mindlessly playing computer games, moping and being so sad.

it was too much to think, that les could be gone for good – but really, what predators are out in the middle of the day?  just les!  no coyotes around or anything, and if he’d been hit by a car, we’d have seen him.

we finally went to bed, and each of us got up a few times in the middle of the night to call him again.

i had to get up this morning at six so we could test winnie’s blood, and i went out one more time to call les, then went back inside and texted amy back – she’d sent me a long message in the middle of the night about what she thought the plan for today should be.

and then i looked out the door and THERE HE WAS!!!

just sitting there looking in.  no big deal.

clearly, he’d heard me that last time.

WHERE HAD HE BEEN?  WHAT HAD HE BEEN DOING?

i’d like t install a teeny miny video camera on his collar to keep track of him BUT HE’S NEVER GOING OUT AGAIN.  only on the leash.  maybe he’ll wear the leash inside the house, too.

whew.

today is a good good day.

i hope yours is good, too.

Les Sleeps

ok then,

mrs. happy friday hughes.