This past weekend was mostly good, but with some scares I didn't anticipate. First, after it had rained all day on Thursday, it cleared up on Friday, enabling me to get in a run and complete my first-ever all-running 10K here (I've done it a couple of times in Florida, where the route is totally flat). It's also the first time I've managed it since the broken foot, so that felt pretty darn good.
Molly went trick-or-treating with a friend, so the Mister and I stayed home with our Costco bag of candy -- and handed some out to exactly three kids. I knew all the activity would be tough for Ruthie, so I waited until the end of the official trick-or-treating period to take her out for her last walk. Even so, there were still a lot of people out, and she got spooked by some kids in costume running at her -- and slipped her harness again. This has happened a couple of times on our street, which has been scary enough, but this was even worse because we were several blocks from home and across several streets. The kids who scared her chased her, even after I yelled at them not to, and of course I ran after her. At one point some random guy told me I'd never catch her on foot and I should get in his SUV so he could drive me. Of course I refused -- who gets in a car with some guy they don't know at night? Eventually, with the help of some neighbors and other kind people who were out -- and despite SUV guy trying to get her and making her run again -- I managed to get close enough to her to grab her. She'd basically run back the way we'd come and fortunately stayed away from major streets. SUV guy then yelled at me for not thanking him for his help (what help?) and added that I was a horrible human being. Thank goodness for the kindness of the others, including a young man who had been helping out at a tent set up at the church along our route who immediately got into his car and was driving very slowly in the direction Ruthie had run (and did not, I should add, demand I get in the car with him). One of the people happened to be the pastor at that church, and she told me before she entered this profession, she was a vet tech, so she knew what she was doing. The whole experience was rather traumatic, for both of us -- Ruthie slept in until 7:30 the next morning! Needless to say, a new harness has been ordered that is advertised as being escape proof, and I'm looking into getting private training for her to get her over these fears.
I'm happy to say that that was the low point of the weekend. From there, everything got better. I finished up a charity hat (obviously it still needs to be blocked):
I wound yarn for my next cast-on:
And yesterday, I finished a book, baked banana bread, and made Ina's chicken chili.
This week is likely to be another busy one at work, but we also will be electing a new mayor tomorrow and Molly will be home with me on Friday while her teachers work on finishing up grades for the first term. Here's hoping there is no further Ruthie drama in store!
