So Sean and I decided to take a ride into Ely today. The
Northland Market there has a pretty good selection of natural foods and we thought we'd pick up some Birch Beer if we could find it. They also make homemade doughnuts there, which if I remembered correctly were a delightful combination of drippy sugar and flaky goodness. Ely is about 15 miles away from the Timber Bay Lodge...one straight shot on Hwy. 21.
Along Hwy. 21, it's mostly trees...the road crosses through the
Superior National Forest. Every now and then, there is a clearing for electrical wires and you can look down the pole corridor...last year, in one of these clearings we saw a deer. Sean just got done saying "I love to look down these, you never know what critters you might see."
Just then we came over a short hill, and I saw something large and black in the road. "What's that?" It was circling a stopped car. Sean said, "I think it's a bear!". The "bear" then got animated and was circling faster. "Is that a DOG?", I said...not believing it myself even as the words came out of my mouth. I thought surely this was some
NorthWoods animal I had never seen before...it was much too big to be a dog.
As we came a little closer in the car, we could see clear that is WAS a dog. A BIG dog. Now it had left the stopped car in the road and repositioned to sniff carrion on the middle yellow line. Then it bumbled off to the road shoulder wagging its tail as if on a grand adventure. We assumed this meant it didn't belong to the drivers of the stopped car, which - now that the road was clear - proceeded to drive on. Seeing that rain was coming, and that the dog kept darting into the Highway, I said to Sean "See if he'll come to you." Sean obliged. Sean no sooner cleared the car door and got out one "Here boy!" when the dog happily trotted towards him...I couldn't believe that this oh-yeah-it's-GOT-to-be-over-110-pounds-dog ambled like an energetic puppy. What I couldn't believe more was that Sean was going along with my rescue attempt! And he thinks he's not a dog person...
This is not the first time I've stopped traffic to rescue wildlife from road hazards....I once corralled 4 lanes of cars in a busy residential Ohio neighborhood to let a family of ducks cross. I lost one little chick that day and it still haunts me. I eyeballed the rearview mirror and saw a pickup truck coming.
We have to do something, we can't leave him out here, I thought. I said to Sean..."Just open the door and see if he'll jump in." Loving his new playmate (Sean), the dog easily scaled the large step of our SUV and got into the back seat, where we conveniently still had our dog's car bed covering the upholstery. I was delighted at the success of our rescue attempt. Sean jumped back into his seat, out of breath and wearing a "
Now what woman?!" expression. I gleefully said "We'll drop him off at the Ranger Station in Ely."
Then Sean grimaced and said "EWWWWWWW! What's that smell!" I didn't smell a thing. "Augh! Smells like poop!". "Oh, he's dirty dog! Probably got some stuck to his paw." I said. Sean, wrinkled and feigning a gag reflex proclaimed "No it REALLY smells like sh*t!". Then I got a little whiff. "Here, I'll roll down some windows". Thinking his new human companion (Sean) was talking favorably about him, the dog lunged towards the front seat and rested his upper body on the mid-console between us, as if he'd been riding there his whole life. Sean muttered "No-no, not in the front seat. STAY BACK!" I scratched under the dog's chin and said "Good dog. Stay. Good." to which I was rewarded with a constant stream of 110-pound-plus-dog-slobber dripping down my arm for the remainder of the ride. The rain started pouring down outside, and I said to Sean "You're doing a good thing. Just think, we could have picked him up AFTER the storm." Sean replied "Hmph!" OK, that didn't work. So I said "Just think if it were Mocha that got loose...you'd want someone to pick her up." That worked. "Yeah, I know", Sean said, still not convinced.
As we neared the Ranger Station we noticed a police car entering the parking lot.
Our timing is perfect, I thought,
we'll have everyone working on this missing dog case, rangers, police, maybe they'll call the local radio station and the owners will hear! Sean got out of the car to talk to the officers, and the dog repositioned and whined...was his buddy leaving him? It was then I noticed the source of the smell Sean was talking about. The dog was encrusted on his tail end...and to boot, the dog bed and my crutches that were on the dog bed (I thought Sean moved those?) were now also encrusted. Great, so much for our stroll through Ely today...I'm not going far without my crutches.
The Police told Sean that we should take the dog to the local vet. So we ventured a few blocks away to the clinic. This time when Sean got out, the dog followed Sean (he was too lonely the last time Sean left) right up to the vet's door. "Take him in with you" I shouted out the driver's side window. "No, he's covered in poop!", Sean yelled back, annoyed. So the dog wandered the parking lot, surveying all the other pet smells in the bordering grass. He even greeted a few newcomers arriving in their cars. I hopped out of the SUV, and explained "We picked up a stray", hoping they'd excuse the greeting-by-nose-nudge and, of course, the smell. Most just looked at me strangely, because I was hopping in the parking lot on one foot. The dog made me forget my embarrassment by every now coming close enough to give me a doggie drive-by and a big drooly smile.
The vet tech eventually came out and upon one look said "Dewey! What are ya doin'?". Sean, astonished, said "Oh, you know this dog?" The tech said "Yeah, it's Dewey...Dewey Schultz". Sean and I laughed out loud, part from relief that the owners could be located, and partly from the hilarious first and last name combination. The tech told us he/she was a Burmese Mountain Dog. "So you guys are on vacation? You guys are so nice for doing this on your vacation!" I said "Well I'm on crutches and Dewey-dog left a little poopy present on my crutches and all over our back seat!" The tech - once Dewey was safely leashed - snatched up my crutches and hosed them down for me. Returning them she said "I used extra soap, and the good smelling stuff, too." I was grateful, our day in Ely was salvaged. Sean, however, was still not convinced...
who is going to hose down the SUV seats? he was wondering. I reconfirmed with the tech that she knew the owners, and then said we'd probably stop by later to make sure Dewey was returned safe and sound. I was instantly vetoed by a side-glance from Sean...
my vacation day is already shot on this dumb dog, I'm not devoting another minute!, his look said. "I'll scrub the SUV seats when we get home, honey" - I was that satisfied with my rescue.
As we pulled out of the vet's parking lot - with clean crutches and a new idea of what to do in Ely that day - I said to Sean, "It's always an adventure with me babe!" He agreed.
A likeness of Dewey Schultz,
the Burmese Mountain Bear, er, Dog
The drive to Timber Bay was smooth, weather was good. We oasis-ed at Kate's after drive day one, 9 hrs on the road. Kate has a fab-u bathtub and I was glad I was able to get cleaned up before we headed to TB...I'm strategizing about how I'm going to shower once I get there, as I'm still not able to walk without crutches. It'll be any day now that I can...until then, I've proposed to Sean that I just stank...we're in the wilderness afterall, what's a little dirt. He wasn't so keen on the idea. Good thing I was just kidding (sorta).
Rabbit - PREFERRED CHASE;
Squirrel - PREFERRED CHASE-THEN-STALK-FROM-TREE-BOTTOM; 
Chipmunk - SEASONAL CHASE (Summer); 
Hamster - NO CHASE, SNIFF FROM CAGE; 
Lizard - REGIONAL CHASE (Florida); 
'Possum - ANTI-CHASE (play dead), STALK-AND-STARE; 
Bird - ONLY IF THERE'S NOTHING ELSE TO CHASE; 
Bug - SPOT then STUN-WITH-MY-HIGH-PITCH BARK; 
