A few weeks ago we went to the Apple store and got me an iPhone. I must say, all the starry-eyed praise I've heard from other iPhone users - is true. It's an incredibly smart device. Listen, here's how smart this phone is: the iPhone is so smart, it does not find it necessary to make me look stupid to boost its own ego. Anyone who's been made a fool of by some smart thing knows that is an unusual thing in smartness these days. I'm glad I got it! iPhone.
Just a few days after that, the weekend before Father's day weekend, Steve and I were strolling through the Wally and I noticed he had fallen behind - he was there - and then he wasn't. I turned around to see where he was and I saw him standing before a glass counter display in the electronics department. Granted, Steve loves music as much as anyone of our generation, but it is unusual for him to fall out of formation like that, so I rolled back to see what he was looking at.
"See those little things there?" he asked, pointing at some shiny little devices about the size of a Ghirardelli chocolate you sometimes see around the checkout counter at the Walgreen's. "iPod Nano," he said, reading the placard. "When we were at the Apple store the other day, while you were waiting for your new phone, I was looking around the store and I put on a set of headphones - the old-fashioned kind that cover your ears - that was hooked up to one of these little things, and I could hear it! It was the best sound I've heard in a long, long time. And these little things? They hold thousands of songs!"
"Wow," I said, "That's something, isn't it?" In that moment, I could not wait to get back up to the Apple store and get him one.
In the following week, I got exactly that chance between a car-service appointment and a lunch date with a friend. I stopped by the Apple store and got Steve a tidy little iPod Nano, a set of headphones that cover his ears and a dock that he can plug his Nano into and listen without headphones.
On the way home from that day's errands, Apple gift in tow, the thought popped into my head, What if I brought a puppy home? I imagined myself saying, "Look what I got!" But I didn't bring a puppy home with me because that would be a decision we'd need to make together.
When I got home that day, straight out of the blue, Steve asked, "Can I get a puppy? I'd want to go to an animal shelter, interact, and see who resonates." Seems like one of those times we had the same idea.
In the following week it was extraordinarily difficult to keep from giving Steve his gift of music early, but somehow I managed to wait until Father's Day. He was surprised and pleased.
Meanwhile, the idea of getting a dog was still in the air at our house, and then KFOR news ran a thing featuring the Edmond shelter, about how with all the dogs (and cats) they have, they desperately need families to adopt some of those doggies (and kitties). We talked amongst ourselves about it and decided to center our search a little closer to home.
One day rolled into another, and last week I pulled up some information online about various shelters closer to us than Edmond. Last Thursday we decided to go check out some shelters and interview some dogs.
We ended up at the El Reno shelter where their inventory consisted of (1) a disheveled red and white spaniel looking guy who barked constantly, (2+) a little wiry terrier looking mom with a passel of little black pups, (3) their alleged daddy (but I wonder, because he was white, and there was not one light complected pup in the litter), (4) a pit bull (not available for adoption because he had killed a couple dozen of his neighbor's chickens), and (5) a medium sized red shepherd mix.
"This one's a pretty good little dog," Officer McClain said. "She followed some kids home the other day, and has stayed right on their porch for the last two days. I picked her up just today, and she came right over to me, licked my hand. Friendly. Pretty good little dog."
So we brought her home with us, and she is friendly and a good little dog. Here's a picture of her:
We brainstormed a series of names and settled on "Annie."
Called our family vet, Dr. Terry Wood's office, and they could see her on the following Monday (day before yesterday as I write). We took her in on Monday afternoon for a checkup, shots, and to get an appointment to have her spayed.
She's about 35 pounds and change. Doc estimates her to be about 8 months of age. He could not give her any shots, though, because she's expecting. About three weeks along, he figures, so we anticipate we'll be whelping a litter of pups in about six weeks. He said as soon as those are weaned we can have her spayed.
In an interesting twist, Dr. Wood had also picked up a dog for himself at the Mustang animal shelter a few weeks earlier that he figures must be a litter mate of Annnie's. Spittin' image, he said - same coloring, same patterning, appears to be the same age and build - only Doc's dog is a male, and Doc discovered his dog had already been neutered.
I am very curious to know more of the story behind these two dogs, but as smart as Annie is, neither she nor her brother speak English, so we'll just have to guess.
Thanks for reading....
~V
