Dog House 1, Lisa 0

Have you ever had a conversation with a person to tell them something and get a weird silence? That's been me the last two days trying to explain my black eye.

I grew up as a tomboy. I'm used to pain. I have scars all over my legs from climbing trees, swimming around oyster banks, and doing stunts with my bike. It wasn't unusual for me to return to our boat at the end of the day, covered in red welts from pine cone wars at the tree house. And yes, I was even in a scrap or two with my cousins. It all just builds character.

But when you are a month away from your 30th birthday, people expect you are no longer building forts in the marsh, jumping your bike, hanging out in oak trees, or throwing pine cones. I honestly wish I could have had even one of those as the start to my story, but no, I have a black eye because of a dog house.

Actually, I take that back. I have a black eye because Jazzabelle had to show us a new trick on Sunday. I had two new volunteers over for orientation to work the ranch once a week. I paired them up with Joey, my volunteer that comes every Sunday to take care of the dogs for me. I was inside working with a new volunteer managing our records. Joey came in to tell me that Jazz was on top of one of the kennels. I had to think about that a minute. All our kennels have mesh tarps on top to provide shade and keep cool in the warmer months. I asked how she got up there. I was told she used her dog house, jumped from it to the next kennel and was barking at Teddy from the roof. I walked outside, and sure enough, there she was. There is nothing this dog won't do. It's been a couple years since we had Cheyenne jump on top of one of my neighbor's roofs, so I guess at least this time it was on my own property.

I got Joey to follow me in the kennel to shift the dog house to the other side, where there was no gap in the tarp to allow an escape hatch for Jazz's new trick. In the process, I had to move a piece of pvc pipe, which we pound into the ground to discourage digging. This one was now located in the path of the dog house relocation, which could be blamed either on Jazz or her kennel mate Amber, but no one was answering my questions to accept blame. I pulled at it, it didn't come. I pulled again, and it gave way... smack into my left eye. I could feel my eye start to water, but I had to get the dog house moved while I still had help. I just squinted until we were done. I headed into the house and could just see a little bit. It didn't look that bad. But this morning, I really felt it, still feel it.

So there you have it. No exciting story about Savannah nightlife or great camping adventures. Nope, I got beat up because of a dog house.