There’s a lot wrong with the world today. Take, for instance, the letter addressed to my daughter that arrived in the mail today. The one that informed her she’s been selected for an exciting opportunity to become a MasterCard card member. Now, I’m not sure about you, but to me the only thing scarier than my eight-year-old daughter having her own credit card, would be um, nothing.
Maybe having her own car would be scary, but since she could out that new car on her new credit card, I still say the card is scarier. Correct me if I’m wrong, but for some reason I’m inclined to think I heard something about this recession of ours being caused by too much credit being granted. New and stringent credit granting guidelines were to be adopted place, making it much more difficult for children to have their own credit cards.
Oh right – there was more to that credit card offer I forgot to mention. 30,000 air miles too. That’s just great. So now, not only will Rylan have a credit card, she’ll have enough miles to go to Disney World a few times too. “How old do they think I am?” asked Rylan, with a positively, enormously big smile. “What’s the matter with those people?” she questioned. I had no answer.
Now in my last column, you’ll remember I wrote about the loss of our 14-year-old Dalmatian, Baxter. I also mentioned we still have our 12 and 13-year old Dalmatians both of whom were rescued. I also wrote about the virtue of rescuing pets. What I didn’t mention was the time seemed right to add a puppy into our mix. We tried to rescue; we tried to rescue again; we made multiple attempts to rescue – all of which were thwarted by our daughter’s age (yes, even with puppies), by a lack of response to several phone calls and e-mails and/or our doggy door (some rescue groups doesn’t allow them.) Discouraged and very upset, we gave up on rescuing. (Rescue groups and shelters, I hope you’re listening).
And that’s when it happened. We found not one, but two longhair Weimaraner puppies in Wisconsin. Why Wisconsin I don’t know, but we found them. Why two and not one, I don’t know either. We were in love the moment we saw their photo. Have you ever fallen in love with two puppies in Wisconsin in the middle of a brutally cold winter? The options for getting them to Maryland weren’t many, until we found Pet Airways. That’s right – the airline for pets and only pets, where pets travel in the cabin, not in baggage. There are no people passengers, only pet pawsengers. The day our puppies were to arrive in Baltimore, President Obama happened to be speaking in Baltimore. Have you ever expected two puppies from Wisconsin to arrive by plane in Baltimore when the president is speaking in Baltimore and the airspace is closed? I’m guessing no.
The plane with our puppies finally arrived. Being only eight weeks old and not altogether house or plane trained, Feivel and Ludwig needed some cleaning up on arrival. I never in a million years thought I could blame the President of the United States for my puppies being covered in poop, but there’s a first for everything.
I’m not sure I believe in past experiences foreshadowing the present, but I feel compelled to share a story that happened a few summers ago. I was in my garage first thing in the morning. I noticed two things go running past my garage. I thought I was imagining things, but figured I should check anyway. I walked very cautiously out of my garage and peered around the corner. There I found two Weirmaraners, panting and tired. I grabbed their collars and pulled them into my garage, but I couldn’t figure out how to close the garage door while still holding the wayward dogs. I screamed for my husband, who I knew was awake, but still inside and a fair distance away. Because he usually ignores my first scream, I screamed again. He eventually came out, took one look at me holding two Weimaraners and in a somewhat accusatory manner said, “Where did did you get them?” Maybe he thought I was out shopping for dogs at 7 a.m., I don’t know. In the end, the dogs had been missing from their home for an entire night, had crossed a major thoroughfare and, fortunately, were okay and still together. They were reunited with their very relieved owners a short time later.
There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this article, but the big one is this — and please don’t take it as partisan. My puppies have now registered as Republicans.
By Donna L. Cole
Donna L. Cole is a freelance writer living in the Annapolis area.