Escape to Witch Mountain…

Things were looking pretty bad last Thursday.  It was my first official day back to work and already a hurricane was coming right at us.  I checked my e-mail that afternoon, and my husband asked me if I wanted to get out-of-town.  My first thought was…say what?  Leave?  We never leave.  Why this one?  Well, the projected course was coming straight for us, and the winds were high enough to down the 100 ft pine trees that surround our house or perhaps the sturdy oaks.  There was no need to take a chance when we could have a great weekend with our kids.

When Friday rolled around, we got the news that we had to leave by noon that day.  It was not optional.  As a matter of fact, our boss even told us to leave earlier.  I called my husband and hurriedly gave last-minute directions for the kids to gather all the projectiles from the yard, and went in search of more bungee cord.  The mood in the hardware store was grim determination.  Everyone was buying batteries, flashlights, propane, and other forgotten items.  I made a new friend in line.  We talked about how long we would be without power this time around.  I gave it 3 days.

When I got home, it was a bit chaotic.  Running here and there to tie things together, packing food and ice, hard boiling eggs to take, etc.  By the time we were finally ready to go, the kids were over the whole “storm prep” thing.  We let the dogs out one more time, and poof.  One vanished into thin air.  Has anyone seen Mr. Weenie??  (Not his real name)  Oh Mr. Weeennnnnieee, weenieeee, weeenie where are you?  Dag on it, this is not the time to escape.  I know he overheard the plans about evacuating to the mountains, but I didn’t think it would scare him overmuch.  Okay, about 5 minutes has elapsed at this point, and he is short and couldn’t have gotten far.  As a matter of fact, he looks like a rather large and beautiful long-haired squirrel running along the road.  Please don’t hit my dog people.  I start muttering under my breath that I would appreciate finding him so I could kill him myself.

I jump in the car, and drive down a few streets, and see a car stopped in the middle of the road almost back at my street.  I overhear a lady saying something about a little dog.  Mr. Weeeeenieee.  My tiny one jumps out and runs to get him because of course he sees me and runs off.  I am sure he is just worried about escaping to the mountain at this point, but he is going the wrong way.  I think he has doggie dementia.  Not joking.  Mr. Weenie finally stops and my daughter catches him.  I thank the nice lady for stopping in the road instead of squashing him.

Meanwhile, back at the house, the car is loaded and the other dog is ready to go.  She loves to travel.  Mr. Weenie kind of hates it.  We out him in his crate and for the first time in years, he doesn’t make a peep.  Not at all.  By this time I hear that traffic is backed up at least an hour or so on the route we were going to take, so we go the “scenic route”, but that’s another post.  I have lots more to tell you about this trip.  It was quite fun.

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”  ~Abraham Lincoln