Little's big adventure

Lost:

We are watching two of Kalena's dogs right now. Earlier this week, the little one (the one that Sarah and Tim will be adopting next week) slipped under the gate and out into bumper-to-bumper 60MPH rush hour traffic.

Misplaced:

My sanity.

I'll spare you the details, especially the one about the white-ish garbage bag on the side of the road that from half a mile away really, really looked like a small dog lying on it's side.

Found:

When I got home that afternoon there was a note on the door. It read:

I have your dog. She's tied up in my back yard.
-Steve

I had two simultaneous thoughts:

1. Thank God!

2. Who the hell is Steve?!

Steve is in fact our neighbor. Little Dog had come back to the yard and was scooped up by Steve, who hooked her to the tie-out chain in his back yard.

End crisis.

But wait, there's more!

Also found (while I was looking for the dog):

A hand gun. It was on the edge of the storm basin at the end of our road, lying in the grass as if it had been thrown out the window of a passing car. At first I wasn't sure if it was real, but then I thought, why on earth would somebody dump a toy gun on the side of a public road? And it looked real. Scary real. So I called 911 and reported it. I guess the police came and got it, because it was gone when we drove down there to check later that evening.

Lost, never again to be regained:

My patience for the current real estate market. I can't even begin to tell you how ready I am to move. Reasons: all of the above.