missing Airedale!!

Well, what we thought might be a boring old relaxing weekend turned out to be everything but.  We enjoyed cousin Ian's 4th birthday on Saturday morning and headed home to bbq with neighbors Jason, Kelly and Joey.  

We had been watching Oenghus for the weekend while MeeMee visited Grandpa Ed in Arizona.  The neighbors requested to say hit to Oenghus before they left as we had had him contained for their visit.  We let him and Luke out for a bit before bed and called them in about 10:30pm to go to bed.  It's not unusual for Oenghus not to come when called so I went out into the yard to drag him in.  I turned the far corner to see the gate open and my heart sank. Oenghus had escaped!! He had pushed through me as I walked into the back yard once before and clearly remembered this was a point of exit as a heavy rock had been pushed along with the gate.  We bagan our search in earnest and after a couple car trips yielded nothing, I called Molly in to help.  I posted all over social media while Ryan and Molly drove around and Ryan and Luke walked the neighborhood.   We finally gave up the search after 2am fearing the worst but hoping he might have been taken in.  We awoke about 6am and began the search again.  We couldn't contact animal control or the local shelter until 10 am.  We informed MeeMee and put an APB of sorts out for Oenghus' microchip as he wasn't wearing an ID tag.  I made flyers and Molly and I started posting them and also drove to the two closest shelters. 

We informed the local pet shop and groomer and Ryan, Ben and Luke set out for Wash Park with flyers.  Just as Molly and I returned home from the shelters to re-group, I got THE CALL.  A wonderfully kind and loving family had rescued Oenghus from the middle of University Boulevard right after he'd gone missing.  Because he didn't have a tag with a number to call, they took him home to Highlands Ranch and showered him with treats and love.  He had slept on a down comforter with a 300 thread count duvet and "Baxter" had been the center of attention and the family's Instagram accounts for many hours.  They had come back to the neighborhood to ask around and saw one of the first flyers I had posted that morning just around the corner from our house.  I was sobbing as she recounted the adventure and I'm not sure if I'd ever breathed a heavier sigh of relief.  

My Mom had just turned off her phone to depart for home just as I got the good news.  I can't imagine her emotions when she turned on her phone upon landing.  

Molly and I departed for the shopping we had planned for that day and not more than 15 minutes passed all day that one of us didn't mention Oenghus' name with some expletives and a giggle included.

The beast will be allowed to return to the Heimer Haus but that gate will be reinforced like Fort Knox and there might be only supervised visits to the backyard for a while.