Saturday Afternoon

Alabama lost to Arkansas tonight in overtime this evening. I used to get physically sick when The Tide lost. It was almost as if I had lost. One would have thought that part of my identity hinged on the outcome of a football game. I know that sounds crazy, it sounds crazy to me even as I write the words right now, but thatÂ’s the way it was.
I still really love to see them win, but when they don't, I can now tell myself "itÂ’s just a game" and believe it. I can still enjoy the rest of my weekend and not sulk and watch reruns of the 1992 National Championship Game with Miami where we took their lunch and ate it. It must be a part of getting older. I value my time and just because my team loses, it doesnÂ’t make ME a loser. I can't afford to worry over missed field goals.
It's getting dark and a thunderhead is moving in from the northeast. I can see the flash of lightening within the clouds. Me and OlÂ’ Buddy are sitting in the parking lot of FoodWorld waiting on Jilda to buy groceries. I love having a laptop. I can write while I do one of my other favorite past times which is people watching. In this part of Walker County, Alabama you run the gamut......there are some of the most beautiful women on the planet right here but there are some women that would scare Frankenstein. I just saw a gal walk into the store that would dress-out at about 210 pounds and she was wearing an I Love NY tee shirt and cut off blue jeans that left little to the imagination. She was with a guy (I would bet his name was Bubba) who had on overalls with no shirt on. They had a dog in the back of their truck and he was ugly too.
But a few minutes later, there was a woman about 30 years old, thin, with blonde hair and she looked as if she had just stepped out of Vogue Magazine. IÂ’m telling you, itÂ’s a strange and wonderful place.
On another subject, Jilda heard the dogs barking last night and got up to investigate. She turned on the porch light and then scolded our dogs to make the shut up before she came back to bed. When she returned she said it was some little creature in the yard with a long skinny tail that was bouncing around. You can't believe how strange that sounded at 3 a.m. this morning. That's great babe I said.....but what I thought was...she's finally lost her marbles. Those flashbacks that everybody talked about in the 60's....have arrived in Jildaville.
But this morning while we were drinking our coffee and watching the humming birds I looked down below the feeders and there was a tiny dog. When I walked to the porch to have a look, it started bouncing like a rabbit and left our yard in a flash. I realized that she had not been hallucinating.
I got my shoes on and went to the side of the house and opened our back gate. And just as I thought, the little Chihuahua went inside the fence. I closed the gate behind the critter and walked in. That little dog bounced all around our back yard trying to escape. It looked like a jack rabbit on speed. Jilda came out and sat down for a few minutes and it came right up to her as if it was she he had been searching for.

It looks like it has been neglected for some time. Thin as a reed with flea bites. I'm not sure if it lost its way or what. We called my niece Samantha and she hustled over and took possession. She loves dogs as much as we do and if the owners don't show up soon, that little dog will belong to her.
So, if you've lost a small Chihuahua, male, about 5 pounds, you'd better show up soon to claim it or risk losing it forever.