Before we sold my saxophone on Saturday, Joe dropped off his car at Best Buy. You see, he recently got XM Radio, which is really cool, but the biggest deal about having it at all was getting it installed in his car. Once that was complete, Joe was so excited about it that he wanted to keep on driving so we could listen to it and see how well the signal came in all along the freeway. So I suggested a trip to Fry's Electronics.

Off we went! We browsed all their stuff, like we usually do. I looked for another Mitch Hedberg CD (my current favorite comedian), but to no avail. I also stood around reading Organic magazine for a while, which was pretty interesting. I played some Dance Dance Revolution. Poorly. I'm so bad at that game. But damn, is it ever fun!

We stopped in the little cafe to have a snack, too. I usually have a cookie and some water, so that's what I got this time, too. But, I've been on a fairly consistent no-sugar trend since about the beginning of the year. I mean, I've had some soda or a tiny thing of ice cream here and there. But no chocolate or cookies or cake, or any of my other "trigger" foods that spark all kinds of sugar cravings for me. I don't need that nonsense. So my reasoning was that I've been so good, one cookie won't hurt. I've earned it. Ha! You know what happened? Well, first it wasn't so bad. I just got so sugared-out that I could only stand to eat half of it. Later that night, I ate the other half, and then I got super-duper itchy. Itching is one of the worst feelings in the world. I was scratching my skin all over my body for most of the evening. I can't stand that! My itchy skin problems have been gone for quite a while. I don't think it's coincedence that they returned the week I experimented with eating more sugar. So, we're back to No Sugar Status here at Megatron, Inc. I think it's best.

Anyway, we had a great time at Fry's. By the time we left, we'd purchased a puzzle magazine, an Xbox earpiece/microphone for Xbox Live, except really, it's for my cell phone, and a new tuner for our home entertainment setup. Our old one is ten years old and keeps going into Protector Mode. This means I'll be sitting watching t.v. and suddenly the sound will go out and the tuner will flash the word "Protector" over and over, rendering the remote control useless except for the power button. I have to turn the t.v. off, then back on for the sound to go back to normal. It is a royal pain in the ass. Thank god for TiVo. We were able to rewind and see what we'd missed, or pause it before we did the turn-off-turn-on maneuver to fix everything. That's the technical term for it, by the way. Can you tell I barely know what I'm talking about here? All I know is that Joe spent forever taking apart the entire system and all the components, rewiring everything, dusting everything, and putting it all back together again. Who needs all the king's horses and all the king's men, when I've got Joe? And now it all works! Hooray!

It was also my day to walk Bailey and Kula again. Since I was running a little late, Joe drove me straight to their house on the way home. Joe waited in the car while I performed my mad dog walking skillz. First, I let Kula out in the backyard to pee. Then I got her inside and leashed Bailey so that I could get his Gentle Leader on. Of course, he wanted the Kong in his mouth, which made it impossible to put the GL over his snout. I stood on his leash, got him to drop the Kong, and tossed the Kong off to the side. I immediately regretted my poor decision, because he leapt straight for it, throwing me off balance. The leash slipped out from under my foot and when I grabbed the leash in my hand, his body's momentum yanked me hard to the right, which my back muscles absolutely did not appreciate. Ouch.

Feeling like an idiot, I got the Kong from him again, and in a stroke of genius, asked him to sit for it. He did. I slipped the GL over his snout, no problem, and handed him the Kong for being a good boy, while I switched the leash from his collar onto the GL. Done, and done! I got Kula to step back from the door while I took Bailey out. We had taken a few steps towards the street when he started pulling backwards. I wasn't quite sure what he was doing, so I offered him some treats. He came over and walked right next to my right hip, which just so happens to be where the treat bag was located. Ahh, treats. The perfect dog training tool.

We went all the way around the block and all was perfect until we got back to the driveway, where Bailey saw Joe inside the car. The dog flipped out with excitement. He jumped four feet straight up in the air and tried to pull me over to the car. Then Bailey pulled backwards as hard as he could, doing everything in his power to go visit Joe. But Joe was not up for that, and the car was not up for meeting Bailey's claws. So we had a moment where we both froze, and then I pulled out the liver treats, and Bailey had a look on his face that said, "Oh okay, what the hell!" as he ran towards my treat-filled hand. By the time he reached the treats, I'd already started for the front door, and he was right by my side. The goal was to get Bailey inside his crate, then walk Kula, who just got her cast off, and is just beginning to heal from a bad muscle injury. I let Bailey off leash to burn off even more energy (yes, this is after a half mile walk), and in a fit of sheer joyful play, he barrelled into Kula, who yelped with pain. "ARR-AAR-AAR-OH!" she wailed over and over as she paced on three legs.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," I said, trying to figure out what to do. I went ahead and grabbed a Kong and tossed it into Bailey's crate, which he followed like the predictable puppy he is. Yay! Then I rushed over to Kula. I hugged her and tried to calm her down while she whimpered and fretted. She seemed to want to keep pacing, until she went ahead and laid down by the back door. I kissed her head and sat with her for a while and decided not to walk her. I called her lady's cell phone and left a message about the whole ordeal. Then I gave the pups their dinners and left. As I locked the door, I heard more loud doggy barking/yelping/talking. I got in the car and told Joe what had just happened. He knew I was worried and asked if I wanted to go back in and make sure Kula was okay. So I did. I let her out in the backyard again, and she peed again, so that was reason number one I'm glad I went back in. Reason number two is that when I left the second time, she was already trying to put more weight on her injured leg and she was giving me her happy doggy smile. I felt much better! And there was less yelping when I left this time, from her and from Bailey. They're such good dogs! I talked to their owner today and she thanked me for taking care of them and walking them and giving Kula some extra TLC. "There's not a lot of people I'd let walk them," she said, "And I'm sure you can tell why." Must be that four-foot leaping in the air stuff that Bailey does! I'm so happy she trusts me with her dogs. That's a really nice feeling. I hope I get to see those pups again soon!

Speaking of seeing pups again, guess who I ran into on Friday? Minnie! This time, sadly, she was not on-leash or with her owner. She, Coco, and another dog, were running all over the same trail I first found them on. I didn't think it was her at first, but she came running to me when I called her name. I held her collar just long enough to read her number and repeat it to myself a few times. After I dialed it, I let go of her. She was pulling SO hard. However, she did not, to my foolish surprise, stay in the general vicinity. She and the other two dogs went darting into an apartment complex. I ran after them. I couldn't keep up with them. I lost them and re-found them more than once. In the mean time, I had notified the owners of where they'd be. So I kind of herded them back to the trail. Then I heard people calling them over the fence by the trail. I recognized the owner and she was with two cops, telling them that they'd dug under her new fence. She was frantic and worried, and I'm not sure she recognized me when I waved. She called Coco, who was close to her, and is fairly good about coming when called. Minnie took off, so I took off after her. I couldn't catch her, though. And none of the other runners stopped to help. I followed her and followed her. She was actually heading in the same direction I was to go home. So I watched her, hoping against all hopes that I'd be able to grab her at some point. Then I gave up on that notion and decided to just watch her and see what happened to her. Well all of a sudden, she darted under a fence. I had stuck her owner's phone number in my cell phone under Minnie's name, just so I wouldn't lose it. I called it and said I thought Minnie had gone back in their backyard and the young girl on the phone said, "Okay, thanks," in a voice far more nonchalant than mine would have been had they been my dogs.

I was glad to see Minnie had gone home. I watched the fence for a minute or two to make sure she didn't come out again, and then I had to just release myself from responsibility for that situation. I'd done all I can do. It was really hard, because I want the dogs to be home safe and sound, but I can't do any more than I did, so I went home and just hoped that everything turned out okay. I went through lots of emotions over the whole thing, actually, ranging from helplessness to anger at the owners for not keeping their puppies inside! Those dogs must get out all the time. I really hope that if I ever see those dogs again, it'll be ON-leash, happily prancing alongside their owners. Because that would really make my day.