The Surprise Package

Most of my bills are electronic and because hardly anyone writes letters anymore––myself included––I don't get a lot of mail. Once a year I receive the traditional round of Christmas cards but even those have begun to wain. Then there's the birthday but even most of those well-wishes have been replaced with Facebook messages. And once or twice a year Mom sends me a small care package with candy and treats and sometimes goodies for Duncan and occasionally there's even packing paper for Olive to play with and scatter around the apartment. 

Naturally the shortage in mail has necessitated fewer trips to the mail room to check my box so you can imagine my surprise yesterday when I stopped in after work and discovered a large package waiting for me, or rather, waiting for Roo. I piled the new Ikea catalog and my Netflix movie on top of it and headed home where Dunc was waiting for me at the door, all waggy and prancy and impatient, as though he knew something had been delivered to him. My presence hardly mattered; he ignored me completely as though the box had somehow managed to carry itself home and was hovering in mid-air waiting to be opened.

The package came from our new friends Bert and Vickie, who we met through their wonderful blog, Four Legged Views. Bert is a handsome Golden who doubles as a search dog as well as a therapy dog. His human companion, Vickie, tends to a kennel called The Canine Country Club just outside of Ogden, Utah. Not too long ago someone abandoned a small, sweet-faced dog at the kennel and Vickie was kind enough to take her in, have her health checked and give her a brand new life as well as a new name. She asked her readers to help out so I submitted one I'd been sitting on for a long time and thought would be perfect for the poor thing. Bert drew the winning name, Willa, which was the one I'd submitted. The box was Duncan's reward for helping little Willa start her new life.

It was loaded with all sorts of goodies, including a giant red lobster Duncan can add to his collection of underwater pals: the blue hammerhead shark, Bash, the orange catfish, Bubbles, and the hyper-green seahorse, Buck. We think we'll call him "Bobster." There was also a nice bright Kong toy, perfect for throwing and retrieving and playing tug with, and a bunch of treats, all of which I had to sample because they smelled so good. And because the box was stuffed with wads of newspaper, even Olive reaped the rewards of the trip to the mail room.

Dunc could hardly contain himself so we headed across the street to the park to play with his Kong.

It was a good evening thanks to our new friends, Bert and Vickie. Please visit their blog and if you're in the Ogden area be sure to stop by the kennel and tell them Duncan and Curt sent you! And while you're doing that Dunc and I will be at the park for some much needed practice in the art of retrieving.