Grave Digger

Did I ever tell you I have a dog? Well, I do. If you know me then you have probably heard my 'Lola Stories' but in case I haven't seen you in a while I am going to share her latest adventure...

It was a regular morning. I was in the bathroom putting on make up and Lola was outside. Our bathroom wall is an exterior wall and I could hear her along side the house, making too much noise. She'd been doing a lot of digging, even though the ground is frozen solid, so I ran outside quick to see what was going on and hopefully put a stop to it.

But I wasn't ready for what I found: A pale yellow, knitted, baby blanket covered in dirt, surrounded by snow, lying a few feet from the house. I instantaneously screamed, "No!" as memories of a little stone marked 'Zig' came to mind. She hadn't been digging just anywhere, she had dug up the previous owner's pet cemetery!

I had seen the gravestone soon after we moved in about three years ago. It creeped me out the first time I saw it, mostly because someone had buried their dog that close the house. The second time I came across that rock I threw it away. It may seem inhumane, but it wasn't my dog, I had no ties to Zig, and I didn't like having a tombstone in my garden!

As soon as we got Lola our neighbors fell in love with her too, and Lola became the thing we had in common. We got to know Russ & Lee much better over this past year and learned more about all the neighborhood pets during this time. We also learned that the previous owners had a golden retriever, and that he got hit by a car on our street. That story had me constantly freaking out that Lola would get hit by a car too (she is a great escape artist and has no road sense whatsoever.) Anyways, Lola loves Russ & Lee as much as she does us I think. It's probably because they are constantly bringing her treats.

Anyhow, there I was in my husband's boots, half dressed, headband on, but not quite enough makeup to be seen in public yet. I grabbed a snow shovel and headed toward what I thought must be Zig's blanket. I wasn't about to touch it with my hands! As I scooped up the precious little blanket it became very clear that this was no ordinary blanket, but the blanket Zig was buried in, and that it was still housing the remains of Zig. As I got the blanket into the scoop two little paws fell out of the blanket, still furry and with really long toenails. At this point I almost vomited and threw the remains into the hole along side our house. I knew I was not going to be able to do anything after seeing those paws.

I called Lola over and grabbed her by the collar and drug her into the house, knowing she was not going back outside until Ben could come home and take care of "it." But as I was dragging my dog I looked around the backyard and took note of all the bones lying in the snow. We never give her bones, and so I had always assumed that they were gifts from Russ & Lee...and at this exact moment a sick thought came over me. Could my dog be a canine cannibal? Had she been chewing on the remnants of her forefathers? Disgusting!

So I did what anyone in my shoes would have done. I removed the dog from the crime scene and called my husband and told him that he was going to have to destroy the evidence.