On deer...and flooded basements

This is a deer. It's one of two deer that routinely hang out in my back yard, just outside my kitchen door and ironically, just beneath my gun room window. I could have the deer any time I wanted them. But I never take them. They're safe here as they've become semi-regular guests. It wouldn't be sporting to shoot them now. So I toss a few carrots out there for them and just enjoy their presence.

Lagniappe on the other hand doesn't care for them there at all. In fact he has a special bark just for them. When I hear it I know that the deer are back. It's a soft, deep bark, much deeper than his high-pitched, frantic "I-see-a-cat-let-me-chase-it" bark, and much calmer than his loud, ferocious "Trespasser! Trespasser!" back that he uses when other people come around. That bark is positively homicidal and the poor UPS driver is scared to death of him. And he should be. Lagniappe is an ex-police dog and he comes from a long line of working dogs. His bite trumps his bark any day and he's a force to be reckoned with as he defends his lair from all comers.

But one thing he doesn't do is pitch in and lend a helpful hand on days like yesterday when the heavy rains fill my basement with water. I just learned that this occurs when we get a lot of rain, and it's one of those things that the realtor and the seller glossed over and dismissed as a "minor" leak. I guess "minor" to them means that a canoe won't quite float in it. Unfortunately though, many of my possessions that were in temporary storage in cardboard boxes in that basement didn't float either. But I guess a flooding basement is nature's way of saying "hey, you've got too much stuff!"

So this trash day will see several boxes of waterlogged books and clothing items out by the curb, along with the remains of many photographs that I'd have preferred to have kept and many other things that were ruined before I even knew that the basement leaked. A trip to Wal-Mart provided me with a new 10 gallon wet-dry vacuum and it helped me get the water down to manageable levels. Of course Lagniappe had to play too. How could I ever drain the basement without him constantly dropping his tennis ball into the water at my feet, or running to and fro through the puddles and tracking it back upstairs onto my rugs and dry hardwood floors. Anyone need a German Shepherd who enjoys wading a bit too much? Take him off my hands today before I change my mind and I'll even throw in a pair of deer.