*2Flower* To You

Obi Update, etc.

Still no Obi, but we haven't given up hope. I called the animal shelter today and gave them information and a description of Obi -- they hadn't received any strays over the weekend. We'll take them a photo tomorrow. I also called the local radio station during their free trading show to let people know about Obi. We're offering a $100 reward, and we have flyers up everywhere we could put them between where we lost him and our home. I think that all we can really do more is keep praying and keep getting the word out. It's a hard time for us, but we haven't given up hope.

I don't think I explained how he got lost. I wasn't there, but Scott thought he'd take the kids up to the state park, and he wanted to take Padi and Obi. Well, I have never liked the idea -- I always thought the risks of losing the dogs far outweighed the benefits. But I didn't think it was worth fighting about. Well, Scott has taken Padi places before, but not Obi -- who is a lot more timid. He was terrified by the time they got him out of the Suburban. His collar wasn't on tight enough, and he backed out of his collar. He didn't run away at first -- he just went around to the other side of the car. That's when Ian decided to chase him and try to catch him, and Ian didn't listen to Scott who told him not to chase him, and he took off into the woods. And it's mostly woods and hills for most of the 25 miles to our house -- mostly a whole lot of nothing with houses here and there. It's hillbilly country. Obi is not very outgoing anyway, so I don't expect that he will go looking for other people unless it's for food. Someone may be able to catch him with food. If anyone finds him, they would shop at the local grocery store where Jason works -- it's the only one in the area. They would see the flyer there, or maybe at the post office.

My theory is that what Obi was doing when he ran away was trying to get himself back home where he feels secure. No one in the area had seen him come back to the swimming area, picnic area, the canoe rental place, or campgrounds Saturday evening or yesterday. Scott and the boys stopped at several of the houses in the area and gave people flyers. No one had seen him. I don't know why exactly, but I feel like he could very well be okay, and I have a lot of hope. While I'm out tomorrow, I will take flyers to local vets. We're going to call the radio station twice a day, and call the animal shelter as well. I need to contact the park service as well. More prayers for Obi would be greatly appreciated.

My mom and dad finally came back from Arizona. They went there in their RV back before Christmas, so they were gone quite awhile. My mom and I both had doctor's appointments today, so she took me out to lunch, and then she took me birthday shopping. I decided to get a small aquarium, and I now have 2 neons, 2 male guppies and a snail. That's about all the fish it can handle. I wanted a small aquarium so I could have it next to my computer, and I wanted it to be easy to clean. I have Little Jerry (betta) in his own bowl. He's way too aggressive with the other fish. I named the yellow, spotted guppy SpongeBob Squarefins, and the snail is Gary, of course. I'll have to think of names for the neons and the other guppy now. Why? Fish are people too. Sorta.