Cookin' with Marie...

My do I like this kind of Friday!

Marie came over to cook again.  I asked her to tackle the recipe my best friend uses for home made flour tortillas, Texas Flour Tortillas.  Yum.  Just ... yum.  And ... oh, my ... how very culinarily brave is Marie!

Marie had found some more ears of corn, so we had Grilled Corn on the Cob with Lime and Cheese one last time!!  And then we used the tortillas to make tacos.  The tacos were cold, basically, having not kept everything warm and my house being cold.  However, many tacos were consumed, so being cold was, apparently, not so much a problem.  I used some of the last of my Archer Farms Mexican Rub (why ... why did Target discontinue that heavenly stuff?) and grilled up chicken breasts.  I also cooked (and crumbled) bacon and then "enhanced" La Costena's refried black beans with cumin, sea salt, cracked pepper, lime, and a bit of crema.  I shredded cheddar cheese and put out sour cream.  However, I made Marie, who did all the work of the tortillas except for getting out the ingredients (and not sniping at me for my back-seat kneading and cooking directions), cut up her own tomato, which I also made her buy and then take home the left overs so as not to contaminate my refrigerator with tomato ickiness.  I sent tortillas home with Marie and gave some to Sandra to try, since we made the recipe yields 16 tortillas. I am a glutton, but not so much of one that I wanted all of the left overs myself.  However, don't think I am all that altruistic or generous, because homemade tortillas will not last that long. 

Amos happily pre-cleaned both the corn dishes and the taco plates.  He is still miffed, however, because I absolutely refuse to give him bacon, to share even a crumb of bacon with him.  I rather strongly feel that once I go down that road of taste with him, I will never again be able to consume my bacon in relative peace.

Speaking of Amos, here he is curled up in my lap with Froggy Long Legs Baby last night.  The majority of the time, Amos likes to have one or more of his babies when we are lounging together.

The day did start out a bit rough for me and for Amos.  I set the alarm for 4 minutes before Marie was to arrive, thinking I could throw on some clothes and take Amos outside in that time, since she doesn't mind if my hair is sticking up or I have crusties still in the corner of my eyes.  After opening the back door to let Amos out, I went back inside for my phone so I could call the pharmacy about one of the prescriptions I forgot yesterday afternoon, but remembered in the wee hours of the morning.  When I stepped back outside, I was stunned to see the LARGE, AGGRESSIVE puppy from two doors down barking at Amos just on the other side of the fence.  MONSTER puppy had jumped the low fence.  He put his paws up on my fence and I screamed with my entire being and raced across the yard to scoop up Amos.  The puppy growled and barked at me whilst he was in that yard.

Yes, I called Animal Control.

It is a puppy.  A puppy I think is just about 6-8 months old at best, but is nowhere near finished growing, if his paws are any indication of his eventual size.  He is left outside most of the time.  And he sits at the fence and barks and growls at Amos when we go outdoors.  Often, I have to take Amos back inside and try another time, when it comes to cajoling him into conducting his major business.  Of course, I am sure I would struggle with addressing bodily needs if I had this GIANT CANINE BEAST barking and growling at me with just two fences between us.  [I am very proud to note that Amos took care of his business on the leash in my front yard.]

All I could think was not that the dog was in the wrong yard, but how long until he is in my yard.  Once a dog hops a fence, what is to stop him from doing it again?  So, I called Animal Control essentially to start a record.

It is good that Marie was running a tad late, because I was shaking and weeping and extremely agitated from the encounter.  Twice, back in Alexandria, whilst taking my other dog out for a walk, I was bitten.  Both times, the owner, who had let his/her dog off its leash assured me as I stood still but yelled for the dog to be controlled, that his/her dog was fine. Both times, I picked up my smaller dog, because I simply did not want my smaller, leashed dog, approached/jumped on/attacked by a larger unleashed dog.  Again, both times I was bit.

Then there was the pit bull attack here.

I love Amos.  And I loved Kashi. I want others to have the freedom of owning a dog.  But I very much want leash laws to be enforced and I want owners to consider whether or not they have the capacity to contain a GIGANTIC dog before bringing one home.  I understand that this was a first time. And I understand that I am very sensitive to dogs invading my space.  However, I do not believe that I should have to suffer for an owner not controlling its dog.  Just as I would never want Amos to hurt another or roam the streets or yards of others.  Any dog in the world can bite or attack.  There is no 100% guarantee of safety.

I really am worried that containing this neighbor dog is going to be a long-term issue, especially as it grows larger.

When Amos was a puppy, a wee little thing, the dog next door dug under the fence and came into my yard.  I had stepped inside to take a whistling tea kettle off the stove and came back to find Amos dangling from the other dog's mouth.  Pepper, my neighbor dog, is very maternal.  She is, in fact, the only dog Amos has ever been willing to approach.  The two of them wag tails at each other and stick noses between the fence.  So, I know, now, that Pepper was probably just mothering Amos, not trying to eat him. I did not know that then.

I will admit that I was extraordinarily upset when I went over to the neighbors' house, knocked on the front door, and in no uncertain terms made it clear that their dog was never, ever supposed to be in my yard again.  That day, the then husband went out and bought some sort of garden border that was about a foot high, and buried it all along my fence.  Pepper has gotten out of their yard many times because of their back gate, but she has never dug her way into my yard again.

I do not believe that this HUMUNGOUS puppy has any positive feelings toward Amos.  He/She growls and barks even when I am in the back yard.  And I, myself, am fearful of the dog because of its size.

Marie, merciful woman, let me natter and ramble and vent and freak out for quite a while after her arrival.  By the grace of God, I am thankful to note that I am not as frightened now as I was this morning. I am trying to be reasonable and at least open to the possibility that this first escape will be an eye-opener to my neighbors about whether or not it is a good idea to leave a dog who is already nearing the height of the fence seated and can put his front paws and head and shoulder on top of the fence when standing on his back legs along in the back yard for hours and hours on end.

I do think that I need to put a sign on my porch door reminding me to check the back yard before letting Amos out.  I simply could not take him being attacked again.  Nor, for that matter, could I take another fright any time soon.

Actually, I believe that the reason I am better tonight is because I had understanding company and distractingly tasty food following the fright so that I was able to move past that moment into another. Because of that, too, writing about it now is upsetting, but not felling.

Think Clifford, the big red puppy.  SIGH.

Amos and I will now go comfort each other in the GREEN chair for the rest of the evening, whilst I try to resist having another tortilla until tomorrow.


I am Yours, Lord.  Save me!