It's a wonder this dog made it as a stray for the first part of his life...

This week is FCAT week which means the kids have no homework after school.  Which means it's a free-for-all when they get home.  Every day this week they've been playing with their neighborhood friends who either come to play in our yard or they go to play in their yard. Ah, childhood...

Yesterday they went over to play at their friends' house and poor Sudo was going crazy being trapped inside the house when he knew his kids were outside the house.  He whined at the door, he barked, he cried.  Finally, I got off my ass decided to take him outside. I opened the front door and Sudo shot out like a rocket. 

And then I heard the fight.

Something screamed, Sudo snarled and growled, bushes were moving all over the place, spit was flying.  I thought it was going to be the end for the dog.

When I called out his name, he stopped and turned to look at me, and that's when the little bandit made his escape.  Up the tree, went a fat, nasty, probably rabid raccoon.  (Yes, the dog has had his shots.) And poor Sudo, dimwitted as he is, could not figure out where he had gone.  Nose to the ground, Sudo covered the entire yard trying to find that raccoon.  And that raccoon was watching him from about 20 feet up the entire time.

That's when I noticed the overturned garbage can.  The garbage can that is supposed to be "raccoon proof"... except it isn't when your kids don't bring it all the way up to the house and instead park it on the grass and therefore it is easily pushed over by sneaky little bandits.

Mr. Raccoon had been feasting on our rotten castaways. Disgusting little creatures.

So I retrieved a shovel from the garage and shoveled the trash back into the trashcan (no, I'm not touching it), and righted it, securing the lid tightly on top.  Then I scolded the raccoon (who was still perched in the tree and keeping one eye on me and one on clueless Sudo) for getting into my trash.  I don't think my lecture made any impact.

This is when Munchkin came riding up on her bike.  Wet.  And covered in mud.

"I fell in the canal."

Lovely.