"I'm sorry my dog bit you, here's a coffee cake.."

"Did you bake a cake?" Robyn asked, as she walked in the door.

I paused the Beauty and the Beast Soundtrack on Pandora.

"What?"  I asked, slightly puzzled.

"There's a cake in the garage.  Did you bake it and put it there?"

I walked over to the door.

"No." I said "I was planning on making an apple cake/crisp.."

I looked out our door and saw an aluminum foil-wrapped plate on top of my tool box.

"Uh, if you didn't, then who did.  Did my mom drop it off maybe?" Robyn asked, trying to piece together the cake mystery.

I picked up the still warm plate and peaked under the foil.  It smelled of melted butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg: An almost picture perfect classic coffee cake.

"Oh.." I said, with a slight sigh. "I bet this is from across the street.  A way to say 'Sorry my dog bit you, have a coffee cake.'"

 

A couple of hours earlier, I had gone out to check the mailbox.  On my way to the mailbox, one of the three dogs that lives across the street started running toward me. I looked up, waved and said hi to the dog, and proceeded to grab my mail.

The dog continued to come closer, making its way to the middle of the road.
"Well, that's not a good place to hang out." I said calmly to the dog.

The dog had laid down on the yellow line in the middle of the road, in what appeared to be a quasi-friendly way.   One of the dog's owners came out and started calling for the dog.

"I'm sorry about that!  The batteries are dead in the collar and the thing has been unplugged for a while" she said, motioning to the little outbuilding where the electric fence base station is.

"Oh no problem!" I said cheerfully.  "I"m trying to convince her the road isn't a good place to lay down."

I put my hands down at my side, the two junk letters in my left hand.  I put my palms towards the dog, in trying to show her I was unarmed or something.  I made a little "come on" motion with my left hand as I slowly walked towards the dog in trying to coax it out of the road.

That's when the dog's demeanor changed.  The dog hunched back a bit, and lowered its ears. I stopped moving forward and took one step back.  At this point I was within striking distance.  The dog made one quick bark and lunged at my left arm.  I my arm back, and the dog bit my left leg above the knee and just before the hamstring.

"GRah!" I spurted out.  It surprised me more than anything else.  I was wearing my Carhart pants, which are fairly thick.

"Oh my goodness" my neighbor said in shock.  "I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright, I don't think there was any permanent damage, just a startle."  I said, in trying to calm her down.

At this point the dog had sneaked its way back to its own yard.  My neighbor kept repeating how sorry she was and how she shouldn't have done that.

"It's alright, I don't think she even got me.  No harm, no foul." I said with a slight laugh.

I went back inside and relayed the story to Robyn.  She was more concerned than I was, but she was thinking more about dogs and Kids.

"What if it gets loose while the kids are riding bikes in the driveway?" Robyn asked.

"I don't know."  I replied, trying to find the best answer.  "Have a taser handy?"

"All I know is this:  Electric fences are terrible." I stated.

"Yeah, and we have TWO of them surrounding us."  Robyn said.  "Alright, I'm off to JoAnn's."

"Alright.  Have fun.  Love you!" I said as she was walking to the door.

"Love you too.  See you later."  She said.

I took a look at the bite: It barely broke the skin.  It looked more like a small spot of rug burn.  I put some beta dine, and Neosporin on the area, put a bandaid on and went about my day.