Men in Trees

Callie loves to bark at everything that moves. Children exiting school buses, construction workers, men, women, dogs, cats, squirrels...nothing escapes her notice. I've tried to break her of this bad habit to no avail, and have finally just learned to accept it. Since we've been in the house, she's gotten even worse (more windows! more street traffic!), and it's a bit exasperating. Until yesterday.

I was talking on the phone with my dad and decided to run out and grab the mail. As usual, Callie darted out as soon as the door opened. Normally, this is fine - she stays in the yard and comes back in once I call her. But this time, a man was passing by on the sidewalk, and Callie, startled, immediately ran toward him, barking hysterically. Now, I can understand feeling a bit panicked if a strange dog is hurtling toward you with apparent menace (even if that dog weighs all of 25 pounds). I tried to reassure the man that Callie doesn't bite, that she just sounds mean, she's really a very sweet dog...but it was too late. The man had already panicked. And jumped into our tree.

Jumped INTO OUR TREE. Not only that, but was trying to claw his way up. While shaking a stick at my dog. I don't know how I held it together long enough to get Callie into the house, but as soon as I did, I laughed until I cried. Here's a crude representation of the event (ignore the pathetic attempt at drawing in Word):


Oh, I will cherish these memories forever.