Paying It Forward and Painting It Red

About two years ago, Megan's dog Sophie freaked out during a thunderstorm and went missing while we were out for dinner. We spent many hours upset and searching our neighborhood for our sweet pet. The happy ending was that someone found her that evening, and used her tags to get her to our vet and eventually returned to us. We don't know who to thank for caring enough to take that time, but we are still grateful. At the time, I told myself that I would do the same for someone else if the situation presented itself.

Well, it did.

Last week, I was taking Megan to ballet - in a downpour - and we saw a soaked and stressed out dog darting in and out of the street. Weather and traffic conditions did not make it safe for me to stop, but also made it especially dangerous for the dog. I dropped off Megan and promised her I would look for the dog on my way home. No dog to be seen my first pass back down the street. So I circled the block, and this time I caught a glimpse of the dog running frantically. I pulled into the closest driveway, and coaxed the dog to come to me. I'd like to note it is still raining buckets, and now I'm in it. I'm petting a soaked and dirty mess of a dog with no tags or collar. Does she live at this house? No way to lead her, so I scoop her up under my arm and head to the front door. I'd also like to note I'm wearing a white sundress that is now totally wet and dirty like the dog. No answer when I ring the bell. OK - taking the dog home to figure out next steps.

We take a picture and post a found dog on Craig's List. I submit a found dog ad to our local paper (but it wouldn't print for 2 more days? Free but not timely.) No response, so we have a sleepover with the dog and call a well known vet in the area to see if the dog is chipped the next day. As John describes that we have found a Wheaten Terrier and where, the gal already knows who we are taking care of and links us up with the dog's owner who is grateful for their reunion.

Side story that Megan loves - once dry and clean, we realized the dog we found was a purebred Wheaten Terrier. She was well groomed so she obviously had a family. Our former neighbor also had a Wheaten Terrier named Bella that we would look after when she was gone. Since they looked so similar, we called our found dog Bella too. Megan was thrilled and amazed to learn that our found dog was really named Bella as well.

Finally, I found cool chair at the thrift store recently. I loved the style and lines, and painted it red so that it was special and found I loved it even more... What do you think? Do you have any transformations you would like to share?

I have some lovely flower photos to post, but this one is long enough...