Last Night I Rescued Taz

Bear worked the late shift yesterday and when he came home the weather was awful. Rain and sleet and the temperature was falling. I fed him and he took his shower and we settled in for the night with him watching T.V. and me working Sudoku.

About two hours later the wind really kicked up and we could hear it wailing and blowing. That's when he remembered he hadn't ever carried our trash can back from the curb. (Three days.) He wasn't dressed, but I still had on my sweats. So I told him to stay put and I went out to find the trash can.

About the time I stepped off the back porch it dawned on me that the last time I went out in the dark to retrieve a trash receptacle was the night I fell on a raised sidewalk corner and broke both bones in my wrist and smeared up my face on concrete and ruined a pair of glasses. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

So I was going slow and being careful. The wind and sleet wasn't making it easier. And Bear was at the back door calling out advice. (Let's not mention what I was thinking about that.)

I found the trash can easily enough. It was caught on a bush and wedged in tight. I don't think it could have gone any farther and could have stayed there all night. Then something else caught my eye. Our neighbor across the street had already put up Christmas decorations, and this looked like one of their inflatables in the hedge further down the street. So I went after it. Can't you picture me, in the dark, fighting the wind and weather, going after some formless inflatable something that wasn't even mine? Pat me on the back, good neighbor. When I grabbed it, the rain slick plastic slipped out of my hands and I had to lunge for it before the wind caught it. No big deal. Since it was somewhere around 1 a.m., I couldn't return it then. So I carried it to our porch and wedged it into a corner out of the wind. Now I could see it in our porch light. Taz.

In the middle of the night, in a storm, I'd been braving the elements for a trash can and Taz. There must be some moral to a story like this, but I'd rather not investigate it.

AAHHH! But, it doesn't end there. This morning I took Taz over to the neighbor. I didn't want them to see him over here and think I was stealing their Taz. (This time I was standing in a snowfall.) The man of the house opened the door and saw me standing there with his inflatable Taz and his expression was quite confused. I quickly explained, and he told me........"OH That. We left it out for someone to carry off free." He threw it back out toward the street, thanked me and shut his door!!!!

Call me Charlie Brown. Why does everything always happen to me????

(But, on the positive side......I did get some exercise.)