Earthquake story

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Well I suppose you have heard that we had a big shaker out here at 2:45am on

10/16/99. Pat woke me up and got me and the dogs downstairs; however, that

took a little longer than the 45 seconds the quake lasted. We camped out on

the couch so we could get out the door fast in case there was an aftershock.

We dozed off and about an hour later Pat heard a commotion outside--yipping

and yapping. He thought that our neighbor's dog had gotten loose during the

quake so he went out to investigate. Guess what he found ?

There was a rustling around in the bushes by the side of the house. At first

Pat thought it was a possum as it stuck its nose out of the foliage--the

right color and a pointed nose--but it turned out to be a little puppy that

somehow had gotten into our side yard. It was dirty, skinny, hungry, full of

fleas and looked like it had been abandoned--but cute !! So at 3:30am we

gave it a bath, fed it, and watched it go to sleep in Cookie's (the matriarch

Lhasa Apso) bed.

We put a flier out in the neighborhood to see if anyone had lost a dog but

really hoping that nobody would respond For the next couple of days we

didn't hear anything so we started to buy puppy food, toys and FLEA SHAMPOO.

It wasn't hard to fall in love with the little waif.

On Tuesday, to our horror, we got a call from a neighbor who lives about a

block and a half away. Remember, we live in a semi-rural area so that's a

long block and a half. That's a long distance for a little puppy (12 weeks

old we found out) to travel safely !! Anyway, this woman said that she had

bought the puppy a couple of weeks ago and that it got away. We were ready

to give the puppy back but when she came up to get it she sensed, seeing it

curled up in my lap, that I had really formed an attachment to it. She

offered to sell it to us. It took me about a nano-second to accept.

So, we are now the proud owners of a (of all things) Lhasa Apso & something

mix which we named (are you ready for this) QUAKER !!! To appreciate this

further, you have to realize that our other two dogs are purebred Lhasas.

One is 15 years old and the " puppy " is 11 years old. Quaker fits right in--a

kindred personality--cuddly and loveable, though he does have a bit more

energy. He has taken over the house. What he doesn't put in his mouth he

pees on and that has us running around the house doing extemporaneous puppy

proofing. That has us laughing (most of the time) and has the other two dogs

reliving their childhood. Every time I move now, I have to check on, under

and around my wheelchair so I don't wind up rolling over him. That's sure to

keep me young and " on my toes " , too.

So, that's my earthquake story. Fun, HUH ?

(By the way, the attached file is a photo of me and Quaker--cuuute !!)

Hugs and Kisses to all.....

LynnBK