Bad Bern

After the JCFI English tutorial class this afternoon, I came home and--since I was already drenched in sweat-- decided to do some house cleaning in the mid-afternoon heat.  Why not.  I swept, wiped and waxed my floors (they look and feel so good now!) and I probably sweated out the 3 liters of water I had already consumed earlier in the day.  I sat in front of the fan for a while trying to cool down, took a cold shower, and was finally in dry clothes and ready to go to Hunter's for our movie date night.

One of my neighbor girls asked to take Bern for a walk and I'm always all for that--the more he gets out and runs around, the better--so I gave her the leash.  A couple minutes later she starts yelling for me and I see Bernardino tearing around the grass/garden/burn pile area in front of my house like a madman.  Apparently he had slipped out of his collar and escaped.  Every once in a while he will slip out of my house if I don't secure the front gate and when he realizes he's free he becomes even more crazy than usual.  Today was no different!

While he was tearing around we gathered a crowd of about 10 or so neighbors who were trying to help catch him.  We made quite the scene and it took forever to get a hold of him.  In the meantime, he decided to run through the run off water shoot that goes through the gardens... time and time again.  This is no ordinary water run off, though.  I couldn't even tell you everything that flows in there, but long story short, it is black and stagnant most of the time.  It's disgusting.  But, of course, Bern loved it.

As you can see above, the "water" starts right behind Bern.  He literally ran through it time after time like it was a slip 'n' slide!  Then... he started rolling around in the burn pile... where everyone throws their leftover food and yard waste. 

Finally, I snuck up on him and grabbed him by the haunches.  My neighbors helped me tie him up outside.

 He was so filthy, he looked like a little black rat.

What a jerk.