Dreams:

Where do they take us? Where should they take us? Should we let them take us?

I’m not quite sure where I’m going with this but it’s a thought floating around in this space called my mind.

I think in many ways I’ve always been a dreamer. Literally and figuratively. My sleeping dreams are not the ones I’m talking about, although like my waking life, my dream life very well could and most likely is based on some form of my dreams.

Damn, I think I am confusing myself already.

Anyway, the point is…….dreams. We all have them. They are all different. They are most likely achieved in different ways.

I have always been told that you can do whatever you put your mind to doing and I’m a firm believer in this. I preach this to my kids. I tell them there is NOTHING that they can’t do if they want to do it bad enough. Does that get through to them? I don’t know. They are teenagers. Not much gets through to them right now. I only hope that they remember it somewhere deep down and call upon it when the time is right.

Dreams keep us going. I often think that I don’t have many dreams but that’s not the right thought. I have many dreams. Just some are a little harder to obtain than others.

When it comes to dreams, where do we put those on the scale of life? Should we put OUR dreams ahead of everyone else? Is it right to OUR dreams on hold for everyone else? How selfish can we really be when it comes to realizing our dreams?

Do we plan for our dreams? Set a date? What if a dream could be realized before you were ready for it? Do you jump on the dream bandwagon and go with it? Do you stop to think of those around you or the ramifications of experiencing that dream or do you grab it with all you have and go with it because it might be the only opportunity you have to live that certain dream?

How fair do we really have to be when it comes to our dreams?

 Aren't we all supposed to be happy in life and realizing our dreams is what makes us happy then why shouldn't we go for the gusto and say the hell with everyone else?

I'm not so sure that's how it's supposed to work

Imagine my surprise and profound relief when I walked up on the back porch yesterday after work and Baxter was lying sprawled out like king of the castle.

The first thing I did was hug his neck and shower him with all kinds love .

Then I got angry . Asking him where he'd been, who he took of with, why he stayed away so long, why he scared me like that and blah, blah, blah. Of course, he gave me some lame excuse like, "woof..woof"

This dog is the master of manipulation Just when you think he has no umph left and we've written him off as old and feeble, he decides to fool us and journey out into the unknown and kick up his old ass heels

We have figured out that the only times he leaves the property is when he feels the notion to visit his 'lady friends' or if he wants to take a swim

The swim he takes is through the woods into a small pond. This is his summer vacation spot. He comes home all wet and looks at us as if to say "What...What'd I do?"

Baxter's 'lady friends' pose a whole 'nother problem . They are the reason he takes his week long hiatus. He has a couple of 'girlfriends' that we know of and have to plan accordingly as when Baxter will want to ramble and have a visit (pretty sad that I know the neighbor's dogs cycles ). I either have forgotten about the little girls I know of or there is a new girl on the block

I know ya'll are probably thinking "Why don't you pen him up?".

Believe me, we have tried. We've had him penned up and he climbs out. We've had him tied up, which is against everything I believe in, and he puts his Houdini mind to work and breaks free. We've even had him in the house thinking that there was no way he could get out of THAT. WRONG!!!

A few years ago, during the spring, we left him in the house trying to keep him from running off and to my surprise when I came home, he was in the yard running around It took me a few minutes to figure out how he had gotten out. We had left the windows open and he apparently had gotten up on my bed and jumped through the screen in my bedroom window When I walked in the house, we were almost dogless at that point. He had eaten, yes eaten, the arms off of my couch

Needless to say, Baxter no longer was left alone in the house after that. Which brings us back to keeping him locked up somehow.

The only thing we've ever done that worked was to run electric fence in a small area and put him in there. He bumped into the wire one time and he learned not to go near it but this kills his spirit so much that I don't have the heart to put him through this. After he was zapped with the wire, he moved to the middle of the area and DID NOT MOVE for what seemed like eternity. He just sat there watching us, whining and Baxter is NOT a whiner.  He wouldn't eat, drink, or anything. He was like a zombie dog.

The only other option that I know available to us is the dreaded neuturing which we haven't done because we were breeding him and Chloe but I think the breeding days are over and I believe the time has come to do what must be done

I only hope that neuturing is the solution to keep him at home 24/7. I'm at my wits end with Mr. Houdini and his escape tactics

I only wish his escape this time would've been more productive and brought Chloe back home with him

Where are my dogs?

Our two oldest dogs are missing. Chloe has been gone for about two weeks and Baxter has been gone for almost a week.

It's not like either one of them to run off. Well, except for Baxter when a female around the hood comes in heat then he's off for a few days but always returns. Unless he ends up in doggy jail, which we have had to bail him out of a couple of times Chloe has NEVER taken off. She's little miss homebody to the core.

I have no idea where they could've gone and I'm missing them both terribly. We've checked the pound, put out a dog missing 'report', scoured the hood and even checked the ditches around the hood (just in case). No Bax and no Chloe.

I am trying really hard to tell myself that they are out on an adventure and will back soon but it's not really looking like that is the scenario. Since neither dog is the type to 'run away' and they haven't turned up in the local 'jail' or ditches, then I can only assume that they were doggie-napped

If they were doggie-napped then the fuckers who took them should be strung up and slowly tortured. Doggie-napping is equal to kidnapping in my book. You mess with my dogs, you're messing with one of my kids