Homeward Bound II: Lupe meets the neighbors

'Member this piece of cinematic genius from years gone by?

I do, too.

Entertaining? A little. Realistic? Eh. Not really. Except the part about the cat being a snobby brat. That I'll buy.

See this?

She's adorable, but even I can admit she doesn't immediately strike the average onlooker as the most intelligent thing ever created.

Rewind to, oh, this morning.

Unbeknownst to her parents who happen to hold full-time jobs, Lupe escapes her brand new backyard and proceeds to lounge about in her brand new front yard for approximately ten hours. Apparently not even the tasty aroma of the Arby's merely yards away was distraction enough to lure her away. Rumor has it she accepted a milk bone from a friendly neighbor and wandered back into her back yard from time to time to get a drink of water. By dusk, a delightful lady who lives across the street used the neighborhood grape vine to contact the fam, and my brother rushed to the rescue. He found Lupe, innocent as an angel, relaxing quite contentedly in her own backyard. Not having keys, he nimbly scaled the 6 foot fence. After some surveying worthy of the Eagle Scout he isn't, he discovered the offending stretch of fence, secured Lu in the garage, and returned home.

An hour or two later, Husband and I returned from spending the evening with friends to thank Tommy and switch cars so we could pick up the pooch. As we were chatting with my mom, Lupe trotted down the stairs with Megan in tow, pleased as punch to see us and smiling rather smugly to herself about her private little adventure.

But, I can hear you asking, how did she escape the garage? How did she navigate the 4 or so winding blocks from the new house to Casa de Merrill in the dark? If she can do that, why can she so rarely return a thrown tennis ball? Perhaps most importantly, does she hear her own thoughts in Michael J. Fox's voice?

Good questions, all. I have answers for none. She's so smart, I'll probably let her babysit my kids or something.