Glorious Homecoming, Except . . . .

Coming home after a trip is always special, but this most recent homecoming---except for one crucial aspect---surpassed all my expectations. 

The only downside:  Liam didn't want to say hello when I came in the door.  

Foster and Kiwi showed their usual passionate "Welcome home; we love you so much" emotions, but Liam would not even come near me. He just hung out under the bed.

I was crushed.

Bill recognized my disappointment right away and tried to soften the blow by telling me that Liam had remained under the bed most of the evening long before I walked in. 

Still, I was puzzled to have such an experience with a Border Collie.  

Liam continued to hide in the bedroom and exhibit such an unLiamlike reluctance to my attempts to give him a hug.

It remained pretty much that way the whole evening and even the next morning.  Liam just wanted to stay in the bedroom, hiding. 

When things get tough for me, I always know my dogs will come through with lots of love and licks, but this behavior from my newest beloved certainly dispelled that assurance. 

"Maybe he's mad because I left," I suggested once during that first evening home.

The next morning, Bill suddenly remembered a little factoid that could explain Liam's behavior. 

About an hour before I arrived home, he had pulled out the vacuum cleaner from the garage to spruce up the carpets. He remembered Liam immediately disappearing from the scene.

Mystery solved.  

Bill was not aware that I take careful precautions any time I touch the vacuum cleaner when Liam has the chance to flee the scene of that awful mechanical monster with its scary noises. 

Once, when I took the shop vac to do some sweeping up in Festus' domain, I watched Liam bolt through the north lawn, over an electric fence and into the Meserve Preserve. 

That time, I had to drive over to our neighbors' and try to retrieve our pup before he discovered Bert Wood's cows, which were gathered not far from where I could see Liam in their pasture. 

That time, not wanting to get between Liam and the cow here, I stood at a distance and watched a brief "herding" exercise where Liam made big circles around the herd and one of the bolder bovines kept advancing toward him.

During those moments, I was fairly sure Liam would not make it out alive.  I knew for sure he wasn't listening to my frantic calls for him to "come." 

Finally, I drove home and, as I saw him retreating from the Meserve Preserve to our pasture along the lane, I breathed a giant sigh of relief. 

By that time, Liam had already forgotten about the shop vac----maybe thanks to some slightly renegade cows that may just have intimidated him much more than the vacuum cleaner.

On another occasion, this past summer, as I was carrying the vacuum cleaner from the garage to inside the house, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Liam standing in the garage doorway. 

Twasn't until several moments later that my brain suddenly engaged, alerting me to the potential of that vacuum cleaner sighting for Liam. 

Sure enough, he had vanished.  That was the afternoon I was supposed to join author Marilynne Robinson for dinner.  When Liam did not respond to any of my calls and I had looked in every possible place he could be, I jumped on the 4-wheeler and drove over to Meserve's. 

After all Border Collies quickly acquire habits: certainly a vacuum cleaner signals a trip to the Meserve Preserve.  

Not so this time.  I then raced home and gunned that 4-wheeler through the woods, all the time frantically calling for Liam and knowing that the minutes before I was supposed to leave were ticking away. 

It took two loops through the woods and a trip back down the lane before I finally spotted Liam waiting at the gate to the hay field.

He was covered with hay seeds and very happy to see me. He got an extra big hug that day. 

From that time on, I have always been extremely careful when even looking at the vacuum cleaner in Liam's presence.   

Bill had not had these experiences, so he never gave it a thought, but he did say Liam had gone to the far end of the field where he plays. 

Since my beloved dog has gotten over the most recent vacuum cleaner paranoia, he has been his old self and has since come to me several times, just wanting a hug. 

Oddly enough, he LOVES the lawnmower, and as I picked up leaves around the yard yesterday afternoon, I had a partner, either following me or sitting while I picked up leaves and then dumped them out. 

So, as I said at the beginning, it was a fabulous homecoming because the fall colors have hung on and have even become more brilliant. 

And, now life is truly fabulous because my pup has left his vacuum cleaner memories behind and has returned to being one of my best friends.  

Love that dog, and so glad to know that he still loves me. 

Happy Wednesday. Enjoy the photos.