Only At Our House

So most anyone that has known me and Josh for more than five minutes know we have a soft spot for animals.  In the past 8 1/2 years of marriage (this is embarrassing), we have had two goats, five fish, ten rabbits (some unfortunately met our dogs), three cats (all ran away from the dogs), and about 45 dogs!!  I know!!  That number is shocking, but it includes four litters of puppies, several "temporary" dogs that we found new homes for, and several that passed away.  Now I love dogs, but my husband is down-right pitiful when he sees a dog or any animal in need of love.  When we first moved to Boone, he missed his dogs so much, that we went to the humane society just so he could love on a dog. 

At Christmas, the one dog that has been with us since the beginning, Jackson, came back to North Carolina with us for a brief vacation.  He had been at our neighbor's house, but hopped in the car with us without prompting when we stopped by our house in Kentucky.  The kids have LOVED having him here.  He is a super mellow dog that sleeps the majority of the time.  But having a dog means walking a dog.  We temporarily live in a condominium complex, so we can't just open the door and let him out.  Fortunately, we are the last condo in the complex and we are next to woods were Jackson likes to roam free, sans leash. 

Last night, Josh took him for his last walk before bed and was gone for the usual 15-20 minutes.  He came back in and said that Jackson was really spooked during the walk and Josh said he noticed something large in the woods.  Now if it were me, I would have just forgotten about it and came in.  Not Josh.  He felt the need to investigate.  So he went back out with a flashlight. 

In the meantime, the two older kids were crying because they overheard Josh say he had seen something.  Micah had decided it was either a werewolf or a Big Foot (but he had determined that our woods weren't very "squatchie" enough so it couldn't be a Sasquatch.  His favorite show is "Finding Bigfoot" and he is now almost obsessed with Big Foots.)  Anyway, as I was trying to calm their fears, a knock sounded at the door.  Abby ran to answer it and this is what we saw....

 
A MINIATURE HORSE!!  See!!  Only at our house can we find such strange things.  Of course the kids were WILD!!!  Abby immediately named her Snowball.  Crazy!! But we live in a condo.  What were we going to do!!  We attempted to call security, we tried to call one of Josh's clients that owns a farm with horses--to no avail on both fronts.  Either Josh and I stood outside on the patio with this horse for a little while, hoping we could find someone to take the horse.  The kids even moved down to the door so they could look a the horse. (They are so funny!)

Still trying to contact someone, Josh let go of the horse's halter for literally 10 seconds and that horse bolted and was determined not be captured again.  Josh even tried to go find her, but she was gone.

Of course the moments of elation for Abby quickly turned to sorrow because that horse was gone.  The full spectrum of human emotion was experienced by her in one night.  It took quite awhile to calm her back down.  I don't know what she thought we were going to do with that horse, but she was already making plans in her head.  I felt so bad for her.  But she was able to capture a picture on her LeapPad that she can look at when she wants.  I guess she will tell everyone that she used to have a horse, if only for a short while.

Most people that live in a condo wouldn't find a horse, but only at our house can we attract these animals!!
Rachel