End-of-Day Excitement

You can't see in in the blip.

The sun had already dropped below the hill behind our house, and I hadn't blipped. I remembered C had a pot of pansies on a table outside on the deck, so I grabbed the tripod and camera and hurried to set up. I left the door from the living room open so that Jack and Annie could come and go as they pleased. Jack was very restless, pacing up and down so much that he made the deck and table vibrate, and it was very hard to focus. I decided to take the dogs downstairs and leave them outside.

After I finished shooting I went to let the dogs back inside. As usual, Jack was waiting by the door, but I couldn't see Annie, and she didn't answer my calls. I walked around the side of the house looking for her but couldn't find her. I thought she might have wriggled under the fence and gone to the front door, so I turned to go back through the house. As I turned around I saw Annie lying in the bushes under the deck, struggling to get up. I rushed over to her and found her trapped in a tomato cage. I tried to extricate her, but she was firmly wedged in there, and my efforts were causing her pain. I needed help. There was no point trying to shout for C -- she was in the bedroom on the top floor, so I reached for my cell phone, and realized I'd left it by my computer. I carefully picked up Annie in her cage and carried her up to the ground floor, within earshot of C.

While C kept Annie from struggling, I went back to the basement for my wire cutters and carefully freed Annie from her self-imposed imprisonment. When I'd finished, the tomato cage looked like a piece of modern art. I tried to get Annie to pose with it draped over her back for a blip. Understandably, she was not very enthusiastic, but I did get a quick shot before she shook it off. I offered a piece of salmon jerky as a consolation. It was accepted graciously.