Roux in a Tree

This morning about 8:30, I heard Roux barking wildly somewhere off in the woods. Figuring she had something cornered, I stumbled out of bed in my pajamas and found my flip flops. Yelldo was sitting on the porch aquiver with excitement, and I decided that whatever was going on, he'd be better off inside rather than underfoot.

I followed the sound of frenzied barking into the edge of the woods, and called for Roux. The only response was more barking. Thinking that some poor animal was in peril, I cautiously went deeper into the woods. There's nothing quite like a Sunday morning trip through the underbrush in your PJ's. Needless to say, a lot of the things I was thinking were not appropriate for Sunday morning.

I picked my way down to the creek that runs behind my house and still couldn't find Roux, although her bark was getting closer. I heard something rustling back up the hill and I looked up to see a large black and white cat in the top of a dead tree. At the top of the fallen cedar beside it, approximately eight feet off the ground, was my red pit bull.

The cat fled, and suddenly Roux seemed to realize that dogs and trees don't really mix that well. Her excited barks turned into little puppy whimpers. Of course, the tree, probably one that Katrina knocked down, has been overgrown by muscadine vines and various types of saplings, all of which I had to pull down or wade through in an effort to get to her. Cedar being the trusty strong wood it is, even though this tree had been down for quite a while, even the small branches were still strong.

I finally worked my way down the side of the fallen tree, and Roux was able to work her way down to a point that was about as high as my head, but huge branches blocked both her and me from getting any closer to each other. Even though she certainly wove her way through them in her chase for the cat, she was unwilling to go through them the reverse way now that the fever had subsided.

I worked with her for about an hour, and finally decided that neither of us was going anywhere without some help. I found my way back to the house and called Mom and Dad. Dad, being taller than I, was able to get close enough to her to lift her down. Except for being totally exhausted, she only has a couple of little scratches. Hopefully, she won't be quite so foolhardy next time. I don't relish the thought of more early morning pajama-clad trips into the backwoods of Podunk.