(Originally posted in Facebook on July 29, 2019)
When the phone rang at 9 am Sunday morning, I thought ‘who in the WORLD is calling me at this time of day?’ M and I were sitting there in our pajamas, watching CBS’ “Sunday Morning” as though we’re 85 years old. Turns out, it was someone walking down our street, calling to let me know that our dogs were out there, walking with her.
I said “the dogs are out!” to M as I thanked the woman for calling and ran up the stairs and out the front door (yes, in my pajamas!) M ran around the side of the house to look at the gate and try to figure out how the dogs got out. I yelled at him to focus on the task at hand (getting the dogs back) first and as soon as we called for the dogs, they came running up into the yard, like they were SO SURPRISED to see us. As my grandmother used to say, I should have whipped them all over Jamestown, but I was so happy to see them, I put them in the house and gave them a dog biscuit. It’s no wonder they’re overweight!
After M took care of the gate, I asked him what the problem with it had been. He had mowed the lawn Saturday, so he had been in and out of the gate all day. He said that the gate had been unlocked, but he hadn’t been the one to leave it unlocked because HE KNEW it was locked when he finished mowing.
I guess it was the dogs with their opposable thumbs that unlocked the gate.
Later Sunday morning, he decided he wanted to go out for a bike ride. We have a great sidewalk system in our town and he stays on the sidewalks with his bike and wears a helmet so I sent him on his way while I worked on some spring/summer cleaning. He was gone about an hour before he came back and let me know . . .
he had been hit by a car.
He couldn’t tell me where it had happened, but I finally figured out it was the entrance to a neighborhood on the route he rode. He said he didn’t see the car drive up to the entrance and that the driver of the car didn’t see him coming off the sidewalk to go in front of the car and she hit him. He has some scrapes on his elbow, knee and ankle and he said he didn’t hit his head. An ambulance was called and they checked him over. He’s been taking Ibuprofen and putting ice on his elbow . . . I don’t know.
I talked to him more about it last night and today. I’ve seen him dart in front of cars before and then say it was no big deal. Yesterday when he got home, he said he didn’t see the car, but then today he said he was riding around it when it hit him. I didn’t want to argue with him about it, but it sounds to me as though he didn’t make sure the driver saw him before he rode in front of the car.
And here we have another case of an activity I’m going to have to stop or make sure I’m with him before he can do it again. Sigh.
In the meantime, the photo is of our two escape artists – evidently they have opposable thumbs. And need to go on a diet.