Weekend Notes

I'm interrupting my usual Weekend Eye Candy post to bring you a few notes and to tell you a story.

First, my blog surpassed 1000 followers earlier this week and I didn't want to ignore this important landmark.  Welcome to all my new blog followers!  I'm so glad you're here and I hope my blog brings you much enjoyment!

Second, as you probably know, Hurricane Irene is currently moving up the East Coast of the US and is supposed to hit New England tomorrow.  While Irene will probably only be a tropical storm by the time she reaches us, we will probably experience high winds here along the coast.  While our offices are not in danger of flooding, we could lose electricity.  If I'm out of touch for an extended period on Facebook or Twitter, it will probably be because we have no electrical power here at the office.  I have blog posts scheduled to go up automatically for the week, but there may be a short delay in shipping any orders that come in.

Now I have a story to tell you.  This morning, my husband and I decided to take a walk along the beach while our weather was still calm.  The first wisps of the cloud cover to come were starting to appear and the sun was dazzling on the ocean.  It was early enough that the sky still had shades of pale pink, peach and lilac.  Simply beautiful.  As we walked along at a brisk pace listening to our individual tastes in music, we noticed a woman head onto the deserted beach with her American Staffordshire dog. 

The dog (let's call her Lucy) was happy and took off at a run as soon as she was let off leash by the owner.  I laughed as I watched Lucy chase after sticks.  When she got to the stick, she would hit the brakes and slide, just as if she was headed for first base.  She would then run back to her owner with the stick for another throw.  I did notice that as soon as the woman approached Lucy, the dog would skitter away playing Keep-Away with her stick. 

We kept on walking and after a bit turned around to head home.  As we approached, Lucy and her owner were headed toward the opening in the sea wall.  Lucy was still unleased and her owner was calling to her.  Next thing we know, Lucy comes racing towards us along the sidewalk.  Now friends, my husband and I are longtime dog lovers and owners.  My husband is a volunteer dog trainer for the MSPCA here in Boston.  We know what to do and what not to do when greeting a strange dog, especially a large breed like Lucy.  We both turned to the side with our hands down so Lucy could get a sniff.  I was concerned because Lucy was still unleashed, but had no intention of reaching down to grab her collar.....not with those teeth and that jaw so close.  Lucy was obviously friendly, but she doesn't know me and I don't know her.  As Lucy's owner approached, she reached down to grab her and Lucy skittered away...........straight into oncoming traffic in the street.

Lucy was lucky.  She was hit by a car, but did not get run over.  The car's right front fender hit Lucy and she was thrown and rolled over a couple of times, but she walked away from the accident.  She'll probably be badly bruised for awhile, and she may develop a fear of cars, but hopefully she'll be OK.  As dog lovers, this incident was very traumatic, not only for Lucy's owner, bur for my husband and I and for the driver of the car.  Things could have been much worse; much, much worse.  As it was, we all walked away, but I can't stop thinking about Lucy and what could have happened.

Why am I telling you this story?  Just to say this.  Dog owners, I beg you, don't let your dog off leash in an unfenced area no matter how much control you think you may have!  Unleashed is Unloved!