ON Cottage Way

Nevada Goes to School
The Continuing Escapades of Dale and Nevada

Up the street from our home is the local high school, Kincardine and District Secondary School – grades 9 through 12. Behind us, runs the school field – which over the years has transformed from a football field, to a running track, to a soccer field and is now just a field used for gym classes and a few portable classrooms that accommodate the overflow from the main school.

Throughout the 23 years that we have lived in this house, we have used that field
for working the dogs in obedience, show, planted birds for field work and even done a bit of tracking – after school hours of course. But most often lately, we use it as a safe place to take Nevada for a run off leash so she can expend some energy.

Tonight, after dinner, Dale decided to take Nevada for a run – bitter cold though it is. He agreed that he would only be gone a few minutes, knowing that Nevada’s feet would freeze quite quickly. The two of them bundled up in their snow gear and off they went.

Almost 45 minutes went by and I was beginning to be concerned, wondering where they were, when Dale staggered in, quite obviously betwixt and between himself.
“Nevada’s locked in a portable” he hollered at me – stuttering and stammering. I know I must have had a totally confused look on my face as he hollered the same thing at me again. I started to ask him what he was talking about and he just hollered at me to get the keys for the van. Now I am really confused – what do the van keys have to do with a high school portable classroom and my dog. He sputtered at me long enough for me to understand he was going to chase down one of the school custodians for keys. He races off.

I quickly gear up in my snow clothes. As the crow flies, she is only a couple of hundred feet away, but rather than scaling an 8 foot security fence, I have to take the long route and stumble up the snow covered sidewalk as fast as I can manage, around the corner and through the gate into the school field.

I know immediately which of the 5 portable my girls is in, as I have been hearing her screaming hysterically since I opened the door at home. A crowd is gathering at the door of the main school (there must have been some event at the school this evening) , with them all looking at nervously at the field where the unearthly wailing is occurring. I am sure they think I am a crazy woman as I stagger through the snow and into the field directly at the unidentified screaming. ( have I mentioned what a weenie Nevada is ?) all the time hollering at the top of my lungs I’m coming Nevada, Mommy’s coming”
I stand outside the locked door and talk Nevada into some semblance of normality and she gradually quiets.

The people at school leap out of the way as a blue van comes flying up the street, slides to a stop in the snow and slush, and Dale leaps out madly waving a stick with a key dangling off the end of it. He races past, plants a hand on my chest, to push me out of his way on the trip to the locked door. He fumbles with keys, Nevada is wailing again, I am picking myself up out of the snow and finally – Nevada hurtles out of the open door.

I collar her quickly, snap her lead on and head home, while Dale heads back to the van to take the keys back to the custodian. The group at the high school door disperse rapidly at the advance of the crazy woman and her dog, heading back into the school, only to peer at us through the windows of the closed and locked ( yes I heard the lock snick home ) door.
Anyway, we are now home safe and sound, Nevada is still trying to tell me all about her adventure and Dale is sitting quietly trying to calm his racing heart.

It appears, being the good Samaritan that Dale is, that he had noticed the open door on the portable classroom and went to shut it. It automatically locked when he shut it, not realizing that Nevada had beat him to the punch and was already inside the classroom.
Another disaster diverted and all is well – if a little calamitous in our home.