Tenebrific in Troutdale

My seemingly endless summer has wasted away to a few mere hours! Alas, I weep for my soon to be lost freedom...It's hard to believe that tomorrow is my first day of school and that I'm going to be a Junior. My Freshman year seems like it was just yeaterday, and, for that matter, I feel like school just got out for summer break.

In some ways I'm really excited about school starting. I mean, I'm in Expressions, I get to be an upperclassman, I can leave campus, I'll see all the people I know from school...But there are also several reasons i really don't want to go back to school like: I'm taking some scary classes, homework, I'll see all the people I know from school...

We dropped Nathan off at Whitworth this weekend. It was sad. Of course, Nathan (being the kind, sesitive brother that he is) made fun of me every time I would cry, but I suppose that's to be expected...I'll miss Nathan, but I think this is going to be really good for him.

Yesterday after we brought Bennett home from the kennel he stayed at while we were in Spokane, I let Bennett out to go to the bathroom. Now, while this is usually not a Blog-worthy experience, something happened yesterday that made it such. When I let Bennett out I went and sat on the steps of our deck, waiting for Bennett to finish his "business". While I was there I saw one of the squirrels that lives in our backyard (it's actually a series of tunnels beneath our shed) jump from the top of our fence to a tree behind said fence. I thought little of it and went back to waiting for the dog. Meanwhile, Bennett (in his search for the perfect place to "relieve himself") wandered over to the area near the aforementioned tree. Suddenly, the squirrel jumped from the tree into our backyard and was quickly noticed by Bennett, who made chase.

Even at this point I wasn't too worried, Bennett is usually far too slow to catch any of the squirrels, so I expected Mr. Squirrel to arrive safely at one of his holes. Alas, this was not the case. My dog quickly followed the squirrel through the gap behind our shed and the fence, and as soon as they appeared on the other side of the shed I knew something was wrong. Bennet grabbed the little guy in his mouth and started shaking him. I began to scream my head off at the dog, trying to get him to realease the "defenseless" little creature, but, it seems I underestimated the fighting power of the little guy. As I began to run towards my dog he released a loud yelp as the "victim" bit (or possibly scratched, we're still not sure) him in the cheek.The squirrel speedily began to run away again, but unfortunately (for Mr. Squirrel at least), Bennett recovered from his injury and began pursuit again. Just as the squirrel was about to jump into the safety of his hole, Bennett caught him again. As they began to wrestle and fight one another, I got close enough and kicked my dog with as much strength as I could muster. Bennett, in his surprise, dropped the squirrel and the furry prey (after a moment of disorientation) was finally able to get safetly into his home.

The whole time this was going on I was pretty much screaming my head off at the dog, and as soon as I saw the poor wretch was safe in his hole, I "escorted" the dog into the house and began crying. I was so horrified by what Bennett had done, and what could've happened, I was completely overcome by emotion. My mom (who had rushed to my aid when she heard my shouts) hugged me and said I should go to my room to be alone for a while. I was only up there for a short while before I heard my parents telling Bennett he was a "bad dog". Now, while I'll agree that his behavior was less than satisfactory, I would hardly expect him to act any differently. He's a dog, his natural instincts tell him to hunt, so he did. So, upon hearing this, I went downstairs to defend my poor, stupid little animal.

I first noticed the wound on Bennett's cheeck when I got downstairs. It was really deep, amd I ended up tending to it almost all day because he would rub his face on things and open it up again every time it would start to heal. But I digress, he's doing fine now and I can only hope the squirrel is fairing just as well.