Our dog, Hank Williams Jr. (no comma in the name) is a very comical fellow and also a very tender fellow. And also a very timid fellow. Today the timidity nearly did me in.
In our neighborhood there is an Ace Hardware, a store I'm very partial to for its eclectic mix of merchandise (like, they sell wine AND really cool leather bags AND nice down vests AND wood chips for barbecuing AND a whole bunch of other neat stuff). Anyway, I digress.
Ace Hardware welcomes well-behaved dogs to come into the store with their owners, so I take Hank with me and we make a nice walk out of it. Today I needed flood light bulbs for the recessed lighting in the kitchen. And I needed chocolate -- did I mention that our Ace also sells candy?
So, off we went to the Ace Hardware store, two blocks over and three blocks down.
Hank, as I mentioned, is very timid. He is nervous around a lot of people he doesn't know and in new situations. And he gets a little nervous when I take him into Ace, even though he's been there before. The staff love him, though, because he's very sweet and he is very gentle when he takes the proffered dog treats from their hands.
I purchased my box of six light bulbs and my candy bar (a Mounds bar today). We left the store and immediately a sharp sound rang through the air. It was just a workman filling in a nearby pothole but you might have thought we were being shot at, given Hank's reaction. He set off at a dead run, tail tucked under, with me being dragged along behind him. Thankfully I was able to keep my feet under me and my merchandise intact, but it involved a good city block of running before I was able to get him to stop.
The rest of the way home, he trotted at a very good clip -- under control, but still moving pretty fast. When we got in the house, he drank every drop in his water bowl and then, with a huge sigh, plunked down on the carpet in my office. And that's where he's been the whole time I've been writing this blog post.
Note to self: check for road repair work before taking Hank back to Ace. Unless I actually WANT another sprint behind a crazed dog, that is.
- Catherine
4 comments:
O wow, you kept the light bulbs from getting smashed? Nicely done!
Our Vermont cousins took us to a wonderful VT store called FarmWay that sounds much like your Ace hardware. I loved that store - saddles and anything for the horseman, snowshoes, handbags, jackets boots, doo-dads. Warm memories, renewed every time we get their mailings, which they still send us, years later!
Glad the light bulbs were saved but I was really worried about the Mounds! :-)
Hang the light bulbs -- whatever happened, the Mounds would have been safe!
Oh my. Now that is a way to get your workout to offset the Mounds bar.
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