More From The Charlie Chronicles

Oh where to begin on this post. There were several little things that went into the making of yesterday’s excitement. I think I’ll start with Jay’s trip to the doctor. He had another ingrown toenail that he couldn’t extract on his own, so he was forced to visit Dr S. Dr S ended up removing his whole toenail, which I learned this morning will never grow back. Jay’s feet will forever look funny in a pair of sandals.

Last night we had one of those moments where we decided that Cade had watched too much TV and we forced him outside. Since the family was out, it was only fair to include Charlie in the fun. Jay and I were sitting in lawn chairs in the driveway and we let Charlie loose for about a minute. Then Cade decided he wanted to play with Charlie. The only way the dog will play is if you hold onto his leash, otherwise he just runs off. Cade and Charlie were playing around the side of the house and we started hearing Cade crying. We went to check out the situation – Cade had dropped Charlie’s leash. I swear the dog thought “hey the kid’s dropped the leash, I’m out of here”. Charlie was already across the road in the field of fescue hopping like a rabbit with his blue leash blowing in the breeze. We yelled and yelled but the dog ignored us and disappeared into the sunset.

Cade was distraught. I was worried because Charlie had on the leash and if he got caught on something that would be bad. Jay and I were both concerned because if Charlie didn’t come back, Cade would be upset because he was the one who let go of the leash. Jay and I played catch in the yard hoping the ball would attract our dogs attention and he’d come home. Cade played in the gravel (typical for him).

We were outside about 30 minutes and heard some people on bicycles coming down the road. I looked up and saw Charlie was running with them, but he didn’t have on his leash. About that time Charlie ran under one of the bike tires and the guy completely ran over Charlie on his bike. I’ll never forget that moment. Charlie flipped over and then the guy almost wrecked. The guy asked us if we knew who’s dog that was. We admitted he was ours and I know the guy felt terrible because he’d just ran over our dog right in front of us. Then he told us that he had taken Charlie’s leash off and hung it on a fence post down the road. He was concerned that Charlie would get it caught on something. I have no idea how long Charlie had been running with them, probably driving them nuts. I tried telling the guy that Charlie had ran off with his leash on, but I think he thought we’d turned him loose with it on. We probably really looked guilty considering our dog was out roaming the country and we were playing catch like we didn’t have a care in the world.

I got Charlie and held onto him while Jay started walking down the road to retrieve the leash. The way it sounded, the leash was just a little way down the road so we didn’t discuss who should go after it, Jay just took out. Charlie was quite subdued while I was waiting for Jay. I don’t know if it was exhaustion from running hard for 30 minutes or the fact he was ran over by a bike and it knocked him silly. Whatever the reason, he didn’t put up too much of a fight. I waited and waited and waited for Jay. Finally I coaxed Charlie over to his chain and told Cade to get in the car. I thought Jay’s toe had given out. As I was moving our lawn chairs so I could back out the car, Jay appeared in the yard. I heard him yelling “No one will leave my dog alone”. These people were trying to be nice, but they had left Charlie’s leash a quarter of a mile from our house. Jay had to hike ½ mile total with a missing toenail to retrieve it. I put the leash on Charlie and started walking him to his pen. We took about 10 steps and the dog refused to go any farther. I had to carry him the rest of the way. I’ve never seen the dog lay so still before. I think he was glad to get back to his pen.

When I got back to where Jay was standing I looked down and saw what he was wearing – white socks and sandals. The tip of his sock that was on the hurt toe was bloody. I started laughing so hard that I could hardly stand up. Why is Jay always wearing something strange every time the dog disappears?

Jay checked on Charlie this morning, he seemed to be fine. Jay thought he was a little sore because he wasn’t jumping like he normally does, but he got right up when he saw Jay. I hope this little incident teaches him a lesson, but I doubt that it will. I’m sure in another week or so I’ll have another Charlie incident to report.

ETA: Mom asked about Jay's toe and I don't think it's was as sore this morning as it was last night. We're supposed to have a ball game tonight so I don't know how it will feel after 11 5 & 6 year olds stomp on it. I'm still a little disturbed by the fact that his toenail won't grow back. What is his big toe going to look like?