Maxie was gone! Rope and all!
10 minutes before: The shimmering frost out in the yard this morning gave away the temperature. Maxie, out for her last hurrah,before settling in for her day long nap, gingerly approached the cold lawn. I turned to finish getting ready for work,& ran out to warm up the car.
Fast forward to my horrible discovery - I ran the outside line of the house and headed east down our street, calling for her. The neighbor dogs alerted by my yelling, came to attention. - I looked thier directions, hoping maybe Maxie had wandered into one of their yards and they were voicing their disapproval at her arrival.
No luck!
I turned and headed west, frantically looking side to side in between houses while jogging down towards the other end of the street..
and then...there she was!
Nose diligently to the ground, nonchantly inspecting whatever it was that had her devoted attention.
She heard me,
She looked up,
She wandered into the middle of the street and stared straight at me,
with, I swear, a look that said,
"What the heck are you doing in the middle of the street?"
I scooped her up. She was shivering. I carried her, 20' rope dragging behind us, back home.
I love that dog.
