That’s how the old saying goes right? Bad things happen to good people. The smart kid in high school who had so much going for him/her but couldn’t go to the college they deserved because they didn’t have the financial capabilities. The nice guy who always finished last. The stories are endless when it comes to bad things happening to good people. This Christmas my girlfriend and I went home to my parents house for the holidays. Took some time off of work for a nice extended visit and got to spend 5 days with family. Probably the most driving I/we have done in a 5 day period ever, but well worth it.
The Way Home
We were hoping to get home around 4:30ish since it’s about a 2:30 minute drive. Before we left we had mentioned to my dad that we’d give him some pea soup and spinach artichoke dip…well we forgot. So on our way, about 30 minutes in to the trip we see 3 cars at a dead stop in the middle of the road. No blinkers, no 4-ways, no signs of why they’re stopped. We pull over and we see that there’s a cute little Beagle puppy wandering through the middle of the road. The other cars ended up leaving shortly after we pulled over and my girlfriend, Lexie, called my mom since she is a huge dog lover/rescuer/obsessive person.
The Start of the Journey
I’ve always wanted a puppy, as made evident in my last blog post. I didn’t have intentions of keeping the dog but I knew that I’d feel terrible if it was hit and injured or killed by running through the road. I walked after the dog as not to scare it or have it bite me. I followed the footprints through the snow and found him in a field. He was extremely friendly and let me scratch his belly and pick him up. He was whimpering when I picked him up and was shaking. I brought him back to my car and checked the tag on his collar. All it said was the phone number and tag number for South Otselic Town Hall. We called my mom to see what her suggestion was and she suggested us back-tracking and going to the Chenango County SPCA in Norwich…30 minutes backwards.
South Otselic…so we Thought
Back-tracking is the last thing we wanted to do. We put in my gps South Otselic and it brought us to the absolute middle of nowhere, 15 minutes wasted. I know that Georgetown is the next town over so we start driving there, we stopped half way and turned around and remembered there’s a sign for South Otselic 6 miles from where we started, 30 minutes wasted. At this point the dog is asleep in the car and wrapped in a blanket loving us. We get to the center of South Otselic and at this point we’ve wasted close to 45 minutes. We get to the Town Hall in South Otselic and shocker, they’re closed. I walk around the side door and it’s open. There’s a woman inside from Head Start and we find some phone numbers for the local dog catcher. I give her a call and she says that it’s Red Ridge Farms up on the top of the hill and to bring the little guy there. The woman from Head Start points to the hill to our left and we’re off. We get to the top, no red barn that was mentioned and no farm. So, turn around and head back in to town and go the the only other place in the town, the corner store and garage. Oh, I forgot to mention that obviously there’s no cell service here.
Part 2 of the Trip
We get to the garage and there’s 3 guys here who at the time, I thought to be extremely helpful. They looked up where the barn was and gave exact directions to the place. At this point the dog whines every time I get out of the car looking for me. Lexie stays in the car with him and she started to comfort him and like him. Obviously we wouldn’t keep him, but we did start to enjoy his company. So we get to the top of the hill and here’s the big red barn on a farm, perfect. We pull in to a driveway that lo and behold, is a sheet of ice. Plus, the idiot that I am pull all the way down to the bottom of the driveway. We get out and it’s not the right place…again. Luckily a woman across the road offers some assistance and gave us the exact direction to the farm, so in a town of maybe 300 people and a square mile radius of 8 miles, no one knew where a place was…HOW?!? So we pack up and we try to leave, we’re stuck. Can’t go anywhere and we’re pushing a car on ice. Spinning the tires and still going nowhere, I have Lexie drive so I can push. Still no progress and luckily I got covered in mud. Lexie was giving the car some gas and spinning the tires and spray spray, I get coated in mud. Sweet, so not we’ve wasted over an hour, I’m covered in mud, we’re still stuck and we still have this dog, BUT, we know where to go once we’re out of this mother fuc*ing driveway. So we finally get out of the driveway and we come back down to the middle of this podunk town. Come in, drive 2 minutes and there’s the barn, finally!
We Have Arrived
We pull in to the barn and the woman comes out and asks if we got lost….you have no idea woman. At this point we’ve wasted an hour and a half and we finally dropped off the dog, but the story still isn’t over. The woman mentions that the dog might not be in her jurisdiction. She mentions that the dog might have to be brought to a kennel if she can’t find the owner of the dog. She then mentions that the kennel might end up putting the dog down if she can’t find the owner. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! We try and save this dog that was almost killed on the highway, we drive around for an hour and a half, we get stuck, lost, and I get covered in mud and the dog might get put down? Unreal! We’ try to be nice and it bites us right in the ares. I hope the little guy is ok and found his home again.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Winans Writing Consulting 