On another blog, someone mentioned how today was 7-7-07 and asked if anything lucky had occurred.

Here was my comment:

Yes.

We adopted a dog from the animal shelter today. I last had a dog in 1992 after I sold my first house and moved into an apartment. My ex mother in law, a good dog woman, took Jeb where she spoiled him. When Ms. Carnacki and I bought this house, I wanted to get another dog. That was 10 years ago. She was pregnant at the time and didn't want to have to deal with a dog and a baby. So we agreed as soon as everyone was potty trained we'd get a dog. We actually waited a couple years past that but still it's been 10 years ago since we first talked about it and the longest period in my life since I've lived without a dog.

At the shelter today -- and we noted the lucky date -- we saw a couple we wanted to take home. But the one I really was attracted to was a dog much bigger and older than we had talked about.

Lucy is almost 10 years old and nearly 100 pounds and there's not any fat on her. She's just BIG. An older woman whose diability had gotten worse couldn't take care of her any more and couldn't find anyone to adopt her. The shelter people said she had cried when she dropped Lucy off and I can see why.

She's an extremely gentle, well mannered dog. Very good with the children, who absolutely adore her

I know we won't have many years with her. She's old and big dogs don't usually live long lives. But we couldn't have picked a better dog in the whole world.

So to answer your question, yes I got lucky today.

It's like she's always been with us.

She follows me from room to room, looking up at me with big puppy-like eyes. Outside she loves to play "stick" where I throw a stick and she chases it and then snaps it in her powerful jaws.

She's almost 11 and last month she gave us a real scare when she couldn't get up one morning though she tried to stand. But I carried her to the car and the vet gave her a shot and she's on a month long course of antibiotics. Like the other 10 year old in the house, my oldest daughter, Lucy has Lyme disease.

But the medicine has brought her back around though she tires more quickly than she did before her illness she still has the biggest heart.

I could not begin to describe how much we love this dog and how much she means to us. We owe her more than we could ever repay. I have no doubt she saved my oldest daughter from terrible danger. Lucy's loyal and when she needs to be, she is ferocious. With her gray hair and age spots, she's the most beautiful dog ever.

We got her from the shelter one year ago today for $15. I wouldn't trade her for all the money in the world.