A few weeks ago, Burl accused me of throwing away his can of Girl Scout trail mix. The can was about half full and he had left it next to his favorite chair in the den. I denied having anything to do with it but since I’m the only other human in the household, he just knew I had taken it.
I knew better – and I suspected that Mulligan was the culprit. Sure enough, a few days later Burl discovered the can partially buried near our barn. He hadn’t even tried to get to the food – he just buried the can. We both shook our heads over the incident and I was vindicated. I love being right!
That scenario has been followed by some other mysterious disappearances – a bag of dried fruit that Burl snacks on, a ball of yarn from my sewing room (while I was in Des Moines – fortunately he didn’t bury it – just took it onto the deck), and yet another can of trail mix.
We haven’t actually seen him with anything in his mouth so he obviously is doing this while we’re gone. We can only assume he’s lonely, bored or not getting enough attention and so far, we’ve laughed it off as dog antics.
Thursday we spent the day at the Dickerson Park Zoo along with Ralph’s friend Claire and her two children. By time we got home, it was almost too late for Lydia to nap but Ralph definitely wanted her to have some quiet time. Now Lydia is pretty good about napping or going to bed but her one requirement is Care Bear. We gave her this lovable pink stuffed animal for Christmas and as Ralph has commented, Care Bear hasn’t really been pink since shortly after she came out of the box on Christmas morning.
Lydia loves her Care Bear and she is her constant companion some days. So when Ralph put her down for some quiet time, it was a major catastrophe that Care Bear was nowhere to be found. Usually Lydia leaves her in bed but we still scoured the house and car convinced that she had drug Care Bear with her somewhere that day.
We were reaching crisis mode when it dawned on me that Care Bear could be the latest abduction by Mulligan. I grabbed a shovel and began carefully searching the back yard near the barn, house and garden for any signs of earth having been recently excavated. Since it had rained the night before I figured it would be easy to spot any place where he might have buried this pink furry friend.
After about 15 minutes I was convinced Care Bear had escaped Mulligan’s jaws which left me planning trips to Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart or Toys R Us in search of a new best friend for Lydia.
As I was putting the shovel away, I noticed a slight mound in the garden although there were no visible paw prints and the earth really didn’t look disturbed. But it was worth a try.
Sure enough, Care Bear was unearthed! She was covered with black dirt but at least she was still alive.
I took her in the house to show Lydia who was reading in bed with Ralph. It was darling to see her reaction – she just laughed with delight even when she knew Care Bear was heading for the washing machine and wouldn’t be available for hugs for an hour or so.
What was really darling was to hear Lydia recount the entire story to everyone she encountered. Just wish I had recorded it because she could win an award for humorous recitation.
Care Bear and Lydia were happily reunited and we are now keeping an eye on anything that may be where Mulligan can reach it.
Oh, and the 64-count box of Crayolas that was on the kitchen table Wednesday is still missing although a few stray Crayons were found near the pool. My money is on Mulligan but as far as we know, he doesn’t have a coloring book to go with them!
