The Village Voyager: Babylon's Buoy

Back in June, my husband Patrick and I did something that was very out of character for us. We were heading out east to pick up our summer wine club from one of the vineyards—and if you know us, you know that this is not the out of character part—but we ran into a decent amount of traffic.  Patrick had lived out on the North Fork (or North Cork as it’s known in our house) for a few months when we first started dating.  We know our way around out there and sometimes get the urge to go back and visit.  On this trip, we both were fed up with being in the car for so long and wanted to stretch our legs once we got on the Main Road. 

For one reason or another, we were drawn to the parking lot of a pet store to make our stop.  Yikes.  We had discussed getting a dog before, but it was mostly ‘one day’ kind of comments.  One day we’ll get a dog when we have kids.  One day we’ll be able to get a puppy and walks will be such good exercise!  One day we’ll be able to take our dog on road trips with us and won’t that be exciting?

The reason that we had never acted on these ‘one-day-wishes’ was that we were literally all over the map.  We loved to make last minute weekend trips to the casinos in Connecticut or jumping on a train for drinks and dinner in the city.  We used to go on vacation every three or four months.  Patrick was a huge fan of sleeping until 11am (in his defense, he does work until midnight several days a week).  I loved my house to be neat and picked up if not spotless.  None of this is conducive to life with a puppy.

At the puppy store, I was giving us a pep talk in the parking lot.  It’s the summer.  We can’t get a dog.  We have guests coming for the next several weekends.  We can’t get a dog.  I’ve never had a pet before and I haven’t read any books yet.  We can’t get a dog.  We always said we would rescue a dog from the shelter.  We can’t get a dog (here).  Patrick talked me inside and we wandered around a little bit.  There were some really cute faces and some REALLY loud and jumpy dogs.  Not to mention the smell.  Ick.  Okay, I’d stretched my legs… I was ready for our planned afternoon at the vineyard.  Let’s go.  I walked to the back of the store to meet Patrick and I walked directly into one of the biggest decisions of our lives. 

This adorable not-so-little face was peeking over the top of the very last pen.  I wouldn’t walk away from this oversized puppy until Patrick found us.  He’d seen the look on my face before, except now my puppy-dog eyes were looking at someone else.  I was in love again.  He called one of the employees over to us and asked the questions that I guess you’re supposed to ask when you are interested in dog.  He was a male American Bulldog and he was almost exactly five months old.  He was a good eater (duh) and had no known health issues.  He would be a big boy but the breed was known for being loyal and good with families and kids.  He is ready to go home with his forever family anytime.  I came back to reality a little bit and decided that we needed to sleep on it.  But of course I left a deposit and every possible way to contact us if anything came up. 

The next morning we dashed through the pet supply store, and then back on the road to pick up our new family member.  We wanted to be at the pet store when it opened.  We brought Buoy home on June 26^th.  We quickly learned that our new addition did not enjoy walks, stairs, loud noises, sleeping late, using his bed for anything but a chew toy, being near or in either of our cars or going outside in the rain.  We prayed that calmer waters were ahead for this Buoy we had brought into our lives…