“Go and get the shovel”, I instructed one of my children after they informed me they had found a dead squirrel. I was working in the garage and had our two dogs confined to the back yard so that I could have the front garage doors open.

As if on cue, a lovely neighbor from down the street came walking by with her dog, just as my teen opened the back door to take care of the squirrel. Apparently, my dogs think they are olympic sprinters because they took off like a shot at said neighbor. Now, my dogs really are nice but their behavior at this time was telling otherwise.

Without thinking I took off after Yogi and Linus, sprinting across the street without looking. Thankfully, we live on a gravel road that doesn’t see a lot of traffic throughout the day. Otherwise I might have become a hood ornament.

I called back at my teen, “Go and get the leashes!” Meanwhile I attempted to round up our two boy dogs that had no clue how to impress the girl dog they had gone to visit. No, Yogi, barking is not impressive. No, Linus, your herding dog tendencies are not going to impress a mellow lab.

My child had reappeared with the leashes, just as Yogi decided he was done visiting the other dog, and was going to travel further down the street to explore the neighborhood. My next door neighbor, who knows my dogs well, must have witnessed the circus-like happenings and called out “ Yogi, you want a treat?”

Now, why hadn’t I thought of that? Maybe it was all the adrenaline rushing through my veins! I repeated my neighbors call for treats and sure enough, that was all it took. Briskly, both of my dogs retreated back into the fenced yard.

I apologized repeatedly to my neighbor from down the street, and petted her poor shell-shocked dog. I was embarrassed more than I would like to think, and I’m hoping they will continue to take walks past our house.

Oh, and that dead squirrel… Needless to say, both my teen and I forgot about it after all the commotion. The next day, while walking in my backyard, I was greeted with the reminder of what had been forgotten the day before! And then I went to get a shovel to dispose of the remains…

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Until next month, I hope you enjoy the changing of the leaves, cool crisp air, and maybe a hot chocolate, or two!

Amanda Renée Bishop