A Close Call

Monday night is yoga class. I love my yoga class at Athabasca Yoga taught by my inspiring friend/neighbour/riding partner Gabi Husch. Not only is it a challenge, it is a great workout and good stretching for everything I neglect and abuse during the week!!!

I was just getting ready to leave for class tonight when the dog yard fired up. I speak fluent 'dog yard', so I knew right away that we had a loose dog.
While a loose dog isn't a crisis in of itself - they are all easily catchable - usually I just have to call and they trot over. My biggest panic when a Siberian is loose around the yard is Mark's Stupid Cats - specifically Bait. Tic is clever and runs AWAY from Siberians. Bait, well I think in previous blogs I've explained how crazy and delusional that cat is.

Bait hanging out in a tree on the edge of the dog yard last week. 

The loose dog was Vader. Now that is a true crisis. While Vader is a sweetheart he has a bit of an obsession with the cats.  I posted a cute photo of him last week perched on my shoulder getting a belly rub.Well, I since figured out that he really doesn't care about belly rubs. He sorted out that if he is perched on my shoulder he can get a better view of the yard and what the cats are up to. (Yes, I felt very used when I figured that out.).

He comes by his small-critter obsession honestly; his Dad Crunchie has always been that way.

I knew Tic was in the house, but I frantically scanned for Bait. He was napping in the outside planter. Before he could fully wake up I snatched him up and tossed him in the house, slamming the door shut behind him.
I was about to head out to collect Vader - who was visiting with Wifi and Todd - when I realized I had no pants or shoes on, just a t-shirt (remember - getting ready for yoga).
I slid the door open to go rectify the problem and Mark's Stupid Cat shot out the door. DAMMITTTT!!!

He sprinted into the middle of the lawn with me - pantless and shoeless - in hot pursuit. Running across our 'lawn' without shoes is never a smart move, as the lawn is really just a blanket of old pine needles - and there are some roofing nails close to the house from our late fall roofing project that haven't been found and picked up yet (I work on that pretty much daily). However I was too focused on catching that Damn Cat and keeping track of my cat-crazy yearling to care.
I was running over different scenarios the whole time of what I'd do if I couldn't catch Bait, if Vader lost interest in the dogs and spotted the cat, etc, etc.


Finally the cat decided to attempt to climb a tree and his fat body stalled half way up the truck. I plucked him off, stuffed him under my arm and ran for the house hoping to get there before Vader figured things out.Trust me - holding onto a cat that a dog is trying to get a hold of is kind of like.... well...trust, me it's bad.
I stuffed Bait back into house, quickly checked on Vader - who was still posturing with the boys, snuck back into the house this time with no escapee, probably 'cause I opened the door making crazy 'get too close to me I'll murder you' noises, put on pants, slipped on flip flops and headed out to catch the thankfully oblivious puppy.
I didn't point out to him that he had just blown the chance he'd been praying for for months - a chance to get that delicious looking cat. I just made a big fuss over him and walked him back to his chain.

I slipped into yoga class with minutes to spare - and thankfully with pants on!

Funny thing I think my favorite part of of the class tonight was the breathing....deep, thankful, relaxing breaths!!!