Life in the country...

....isn't what it's cracked up to be.

On April 27th, I was outside walking Savannah along the road and the new neighbors decided to set off cannon-esque fireworks in their field. The first one sounded like a sonic boom, and Savannah bolted, I fell forward onto the road and lost consciousness. When I woke up, Savannah's leash was not in my hand and the fireworks were still going off.

By the time I got my bloodied and bruised self to our porch, Savannah wasn't there, and wasn't anywhere in sight. Friends along the road came to our house and we searched for hours and we've been searching ever since. Fliers are up in not only our town but in three other towns nearby. My husband and I go out driving every day, every evening.... we're looking and calling her name and asking people if they've seen our dog. Friends along our road have been doing the same. The firework-neighbors haven't apologized, haven't helped, haven't even acknowledged what has happened because of their reckless, careless, thoughtless actions. Everyone out here in the country expects fireworks on July 4th and Christmas and New Year's Eve and we protect our pets accordingly. But at the end of April, on a warm and calm night, no one could have anticipated such noise along our road.

Today we had another country surprise... our air conditioning unit wasn't working properly so I called the company who services the system. The technician discovered a very long snake hanging out of the air conditioner. The front end of the snake was wrapped around the fan, the back end was hanging out of the unit. Needless to say, the snake was killed when the system turned itself on, and now we have to replace the fan and the motor. The technician says this is common out here in the hills. (Another thing no one tells you when you say you want to move to the country.)

I am heart-sick over the senseless loss of our dog. My bruises will heal with time, my heart will take longer. I cannot be forgiving towards those neighbors, and for that I'm sorry, but that's that.