my life is anything but boring

I love my dog! Here's the latest Reed family saga ...

Yesterday, while working from home in my living room, I let Tucker out to go potty aroud 1 p.m. He finished his business, barked, and came back inside to hang out by my feet (as he usually does when I work upstairs). Around 2 p.m., he got my attention again and gestured that he wanted to go outside. I let him out. I went back to work. Around 4 p.m. I realized that I hadn't heard him bark so I went outside looking for him. He had dug his way out from underneath our chain-link fence. Now, this isn't all that unusual - he has done this before. As a result, DJ poured some concrete in the hole he had dug previously. Well, Tucker's a smart dog, so he just dug a new hole right next to the concrete. Anyway, I didn't think much of it and opened the garage door as Tucker likes to wander over to the neighbors and play with Maggie and Dottie once in a while. But...by 5 p.m. ... I really started to worry. Tucker wouldn't come when I called him. I walked up and down our half mile street calling his name for an hour. Still nothing. I drove around the block twice looking for him in the woods, corn fields, etc. Still nothing. Now I was starting to get really scared. I was thinking someone took him. We looked all night and I woke up with a lump in my throat this morning when he wasn't laying in his usual spot on the floor next to my bed. As soon as I got up and got Jackson and myself dressed, we headed to the human society. And guest what ... HE WAS THERE!!! I have never been so happy to see my little mutt in his four years of life. Yes, he might get on my nerves. Yes, he peed on the dining room floor three times last week. But I love him. :) Someone saw Tucker walking around on Ireland Road (scary) and called the human society yesterday afternoon. Poor guy - he looked tramatized when we found him at the shelter. Right now, he's sleeping by my feet - totally exhausted. I'm pretty sure he didn't sleep in that scary place last night. I seriously couldn't handle any more bad news today. Thank goodness we found him!!!

To cheer myself up, I decided to cook today. It's been at least a week since we've had a meal that I've made (although we did have swiss steak and mashed potatoes last night thanks to Grandma Ginny). So, I had some sausage dethawed from the pig we just got. After I dethawed it, I realized I don't know how to make much with sausage. So I decided to try a new recipe: Sausage, potatoe and corn chowder. Here's the recipe. I'll let you know how it turns out!

1 lb. bulk pork sausage
1 c. coarsely chopped onion
4 c. potatoes in 1/2" cubes
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. marjoram
2 c. water
1 lg. can evaporated milk
1 can cream style corn
1 can whole grain corn

In a large, heavy pan, brown sausage and onion. Drain on paper towels and return to pan with potatoes, salt, water, marjoram, pepper. Simmer until potatoes are tender (about 15 minutes). Add corn and milk, heat through and serve. Serves 6.