Some Days Are an Adventure

New puppy. Yep, you saw the other posts. Well, today he was going to go to work with me but that got changed -- about 2 miles from the house. I decided to take the day off and renovate the canine accommodations to accommodate the puppy. I worked my tail off.

After making a list of needed items (and checking it twice by the way) I headed to Amarillo to pick them up. It was an uneventful trip and I had no problems getting what I needed. On the way back home I took an alternate route and about 3 miles before I made it home I saw a little old lady standing anxiously beside her car on the shoulder of the road. The hood was up and the doors were open. She was looking back up the road, straining as though she was trying to see something. I pulled over to help.

It seems that her 80 year old husband had trekked down to Palo Duro Creek to try and get some water to refill their radiator that had boiled over. She was worried about him because he had been gone a long time. It was only about 150 yards down a steep embankment, through head high weeds to the creek. I couldn't see him so I headed off to find him. About the time I got to the creek, he came climbing out. No, he hadn't fallen in, he had been hunting for something to get some water in. He had a trash bag with a couple of gallons of water in it. I helped him get up the hill while I carried the water. He was fine but winded and definitely tired from his climb.

We got the water into his radiator and everything seemed to check out but I suggested and he agreed, that he needed a mechanic to look it over. So I led him into town to a mechanic. Everything seemed to be fine when I left him.

So, back to my canine accommodation renovation project. It took all day. About 4:00 I realized that I needed one more item to complete things, so I headed into town to get what I needed. Of course it wasn't to be found, so I headed toward Amarillo.

About a mile north of the Canyon city limits, in heavy traffic northbound to Amarillo, a deer decided to cross the highway. I saw it coming across the southbound lanes and slowed. It bounded over the concrete divider just in front of me and right into the grill of the SUV that was travelling in the right-hand lane. A high school kid was driving. The glass flew, his grill flew, his hood flew up in front of his windshield, the deer flew -- in fact, I thought it was going to land in the back of my pickup. He made it to the side of the road and I pulled over to see how he was. He was shaken up but OK. Another vehicle stopped and checked on him while I called 911. The local police were there in less than 5 minutes followed a few minutes later by a firetruck and emergency vehicle. A little overkill on the response but impressive anyway. The local police officer was concerned about touching the deer without gloves so I drug the little 4-point buck in the velvet out of the highway while he watched. They just took my name and phone number and I headed on to Amarillo to get my part.

Dark-thirty and project virtually completed. One minor detail that must wait until daylight. Tired and worn out, I took young Duke (new puppy) out for his evening stroll and relief. I was leading him on a leash. He decided to run circles around me. I tripped and stepped on his leg. Tomorrow he goes for his cast. I felt sick. Just the thing to top off this day of adventure.