We came home from our RV trip with the plants on my porches looking even better than before I left them. It sure is odd how I can baby them each and every day while we’re in town, yet they never look as full and as lush as they do when we leave. I think it has to do with my friend, Kelly, who takes care of them while we’re away. She can just walk past my plants and they perk up. I think it could have something to do with her horticulture degree or something, but I’m just guessing.

I marveled over how great the plants looked, stopping by to admire each one of them when we got back and then something hit me, there were pillows missing off of my porch. I looked inside to see if they’d been moved in and then when I didn’t find anything I checked the bushes to see if they’d blown off the porch in some weird wind that just liked to snatch two pillows and nothing more.

That’s when I remembered my Mama calling me while we were away to tell me that for some reason, Ranger just wasn’t feeling himself. He’d been whining, not eating much, and just staying in our garage instead of his normal roaming around.

She’d taken him to the vet where they said they thought he had a mild case of gastroenteritis (I’m sorry to have to share that), most likely from eating something that didn’t agree with him. They prescribed him medicine for a week and checked back in on his progress every few days.

 

Now, before I go any further with this story. Hearing that information from the vet really didn’t shock me. You see, Ranger loves to hang out in my garden most of the day eating herbs like rosemary and basil, tomatoes from time to time, and he’s even been known to chow down on my squash.

We finally put his invisible fence collar back on just to keep him from destroying what little bit of garden the weeds, lack of water, and deer hadn’t already seen fit to take care of for me.

When Mama told me the news from the vet, I just assumed his collar had gone on the blink and he’d found a way into the garden to gorge himself while we were away.

But when I couldn’t find my new porch pillows to save my life, after searching again behind the bushes where Ranger is known to carry balls, bats, newspapers, UPS deliveries, shoes, jackets, and any other item he deems as his, I knew what happened.

Ranger ate my pillows.

 

But as I looked into his big brown eyes, I realized I couldn’t stay upset with him. I needed to get busy washing the windows on my doors where he’d been licking them for the last two weeks.

Life with a dog is never boring. I think we should have named him Swiper.