Early Christmas Present

Last Monday night our dog Duke didn't come home. He ALWAYS comes home. He hates the cold. If he sees Kurt driving in to the garage, he will run home immediately. But last week he didn't run home when Kurt came home from work. We drove around the neighborhood multiple times calling, whistling and praying. We ate dinner and had family night but everyone was pretty quiet.
The next morning Kurt called the animal shelter. They laughed when he asked if they had a French bulldog. Good luck finding him they said. Emerson and I drove down to the shelter to look for ourselves just to be sure. Nothing. Emerson was too upset to go to school.
It was hard to leave Tuesday afternoon to go to Grover for Thanksgiving. I think I cried the entire first hour of the drive. Kurt came to the ranch Wednesday afternoon but he didn't bring any good news. Still no sign of Duke.
Thank goodness there was lots of work to be done at the ranch to keep our minds busy. But as soon as we started getting closer to home yesterday, I could feel the sadness creeping up. I knew that there would be no Duke to greet us when we walked in the door. Once again, the whole family was pretty quiet and subdued. I could tell Emerson was really sad. She asked me to do a puzzle with her---to keep her mind occupied I think. Indy got a phone call from Cade saying he needed to come over to get a scout paper. Minutes later Cade was at the door, then Mike, then I hear a dog and I see Duke! Then more Youngs pile in the door along with the Browns.
I guess Mike had been walking over with Cade and saw the Browns open their garage. He saw a dog over by a tree in their yard. Mike said is that Duke???!! Sure enough. Somehow he got stuck in their garage when they left. The Browns had left on Monday night to go to Oregon! They had no idea that Duke was in their garage. Our poor dog was right next door the whole week! 6 days with no food or water that we know of. The poor guy is so skinny!
He is so happy to be home and we are thrilled that he is okay. Thanks to the Browns for (unknowingly) housing our dog all week. Sorry for the mess!
It was the best early Christmas present ever!!!