Fox News Alert!

Today I did something that some would say is impossible... I went (with the boys, mind you) to the local animal shelter and walked out empty-handed. I didn't even fill out an adoption application, thank you very much. Plumberboy was the most relieved--with my parents in a close second nipping at his heels. My in-laws don't even know about the excursion to the pound and as best I can tell, Plumberboy plans to keep it that way. Of course that secret is only safe until they talk to the boys again because it's all they've talked about ever since and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Anyway, it was an overall good first experience. Contrary to popular belief, I am a quite rational person (although the explanation as to why we were there in the first place begs to differ) so I decided early on that we would not adopt a single animal out of guilt. I know I cannot save all the stray animals of the world and should not in any way attempt to do so. I did however pray for the animals as we strolled along that God in His infinite mercy would do with them as He sees fit. I had never been to a shelter before for this very reason but I decided that after actually owning two totally and completely worthless small dogs, I was seasoned enough not to make that sort of decision with my heart. Still, I did play with two dogs I was very fleetingly interested in and allowed each kid to pick out a dog to play with. I think we will go back next week and do it all again but this time we'll take toys. Because dogs in the shelter are crazy hyper. Seriously. The first dog raided my purse and promptly stole the Tag-Along Bear from Ricky Bobby's class... you know, the one that's community property and in pristine condition prior to its stay in our household. (Author's Note to Dad: Stop reading here.) Yeah, it was a pit bull mix (albeit a tiny, friendly female pit bull terrier mix) so it had jaws of steel and I just knew an emergency shopping trip for a replacement Tag-Along Bear was just a tug away. Luckily, the dog was quite obedient (as I suspected, hence its release from its kennel in the first place) and it let go of Tag-Along Bear immediately. Rest assured, Ricky Bobby is documenting the entire ordeal in Tag-Along's journal ("I took Tag Along Bear to the animal shelter today and it was stolen by a pit bull terrier. Then my mom put it on the other side of the fence.") So I recommend a trip to your local animal shelter if you have the time. My kids had a ball and we all got a little bit of dog fever out of our system. Plus, every dog took at least one whiz on its outdoor adventure so hopefully we helped the staff too. And hey, if any of those four get the pink juice tomorrow then at least they got a few minutes of individual attention today, which maybe wouldn't have happened otherwise. So Plumberboy got lucky this time... stay tuned to see if it happens again.