Monday Pete went to work for most of the day and I was planning to try to have as normal a school day as possible in spite of being extremely tired. Then mid morning I looked out the window and saw something I was hoping we'd never see again- a pit bull that escapes from its yard and roams my neighborhood. About 4 months ago I was on a walk with 5 of the kids. We got to the end of the block and a pit bull started jumping on Teshome. He just stood there calmly with his arms up, hands by his face, wondering what was going on. Teshome is a boy who doesn't like to admit weakness or fear and at that moment those were great qualities. I sent Maddie to a house nearby with Silas. As soon as Ella and Charlotte saw the dog the went running towards home (actually Charlotte was scootering- and screaming). I stood there waiting to see what was going to happen and wondering if I'd have to intervene. Finally the dog got bored of Teshome and walked away from him. At the time I didn't know who the dog belonged to. Well, after that I started talking to neighbors and found out it lives across the road from our subdivision and it had been seen around the neighborhood several times. Since then it actually bit a grown man who lives down the road, sending him to the ER. All that happened was the owner got fined. Just the other day I was thinking about how pathetic it is that I haven't gone for a walk since then and I was thinking about getting back out there. Then I saw the dog in our neighbors yard and a couple of minutes later it was wandering around our yard. I can't stand the thought of what could have happened if the kids- especially Silas- had been outside. I've been busy making phone calls trying to get someone to do something about this dog. But there's a big problem. We live off State Line Road. So our neigborhood is in one state and this dog lives in another. Yesterday a police officer came (it took FOREVER) and he arrived literally one minute after I watched the dog jump back over its fence. Since it was out of our state he could do NOTHING. Every agency or police department I call says it's someone else's responsibility. It seems the only thing we can do is contain it and call our local animal control. Supposedly they'll come and get it and it would be really hard for an out of state owner to get it back. I'm not in a hurry to try to get a leash on a vicious dog though so the chance of that happening is pretty slim.
Basically, these two events have unnerved me. I am having a hard time focusing on anything and I just feel distracted. Add to that the fact that my grandpa is in the hospital and it's just plain been a rough start to a week!