All Better

Today was an adventure through and through. It was our first dog attended obedience class, and the six dogs and their pets spent about 75 minutes learning how to live by the same rules.  It was really interesting and fun.

Sam is extremely polite except for the jumping straight up like she's on a spring thing. She loooooves children and other pets and, well, pretty much everybody and everything all the time. And she listens pretty well and isn't fussy and sleeps in her crate happily and loves her dog run. She did get after the jacket Rman just bought, chewed off the size tag and the sales tag, but it was in a bag on the floor of the bedroom and the door forgot to get closed. Bad owner. Bad owner.

We have been noticing Sam won't go to the bathroom when we are away from home. On daily walks around the block she never potties. They are fairly short walks these days so we thought maybe it was that - 20-30 minutes she can hold. Why does she think dogs behave in this way? She sniffs those who have gone before. At the dog park she sees other dogs doing their business but she has totally completely not caught on. We show her our doggy dropping bags at the ready.

So today when we headed up north to try and find snow, we figured she would finally go away from home. It had snowed mid week and so we thought just above Auburn we might encounter some, but it was dry. So we kept driving a while, thinking Sam would potty somewhere along the route. No dice. We were gone for hours, and made sure to stop a couple of times to give her ample time, but she spent it on adventures with squirrels and meeting children and sniffing really interesting things. And you know, the little runt held it until she got home. We wonder how it's going to go when we go camping.

Anyway, we left Sam on her extended potty break and went to dinner in Vacaville and afterwards stopped off for a bit of shopping before settling in for the night. And at Home Goods my purse was stolen right out from under our nose! We were standing right there, and it was sitting in the cart. To be honest, it took a while to realize it was gone, and another bit of time to retrace our steps back and forth, assuming I put it down absent mindedly. It had to be there. And then of course we checked the car (did I even bring it in with me?) and called the restaurant (maybe it's under my chair?) before it sunk in.

It really was gone, and conversations with the store manager and Vacaville PD followed, and we headed home dejectedly. I was disappointed that I wasn't more aware of what was going on around me. Disappointed that someone leaned into my world and took something that was important. And bummer for the thief because I never carry cash or check books or anything of value. I was carrying our beloved digital camera, though, and that was probably long gone.

We thought it might be tossed in a trash can somewhere and so checked a few trash cans just for good measure before giving up. The Vacaville PD and store manager were so wonderful, it nearly made me weep. They said they would check surveillance cameras at the store, and here was the police file number if it turned up. Not to worry, but call on those cards tonight. I told them I fully expected it to turn up, and that sounded good even if I was a bit skeptical.

We got home and pulled out all our info in the safe to begin making calls to the banks and credit fraud services. This was going to be a really big pain in the neck! I was checking off what to do: well, there's the new driver's license to get, and bank cards, Costco and Health Club and all of those little necessary cards like AAA and medical and the grocery store. 

What all is in my purse? I didn't know for sure. Keys, wallet, lip gloss, pens, and a writing tablet; oh, and those little touching mementos like the 1879 silver dollar from Rman after our first date, and the $2 bill for good measure and the $5 euro from our honeymoon. The flipper keyring. I kept trying to wrap my head around the fact someone out there had my credit cards, id and insurance info all together. Oh, man.

And then the phone rang. It was Tammy from Winters who had been shopping in the same shopping center and found my purse laying in the parking lot as they left Old Navy. She said it had been gone through and was all messy but it looked pretty much intact. She googled my name and found the number that way.

I couldn't believe it. Keys? Yes. Bank cards, yes, three of them, and the driver's license. Digital camera and silver dollar? No, sorry. But she lived close by, and we just got home from meeting up and offering a reward which she was too gracious to accept. (But she did accept a hug.)

Now here we are all sacked in for the night with the sound of the heater humming away. What an awesome adventure day. Thank God it's over!