My dog ate my water bill!

My husband and I are very different personalities when it comes to "stuff" laying around.  He is a very neat person, but doesn't mind making piles.  I am a very neat person.  Period.  Some might say compulsive, perhaps (which is a very difficult thing to be, if you have three dogs and two cats!).  I don't like piles on counters. 

Last Saturday was a beautiful day.  Tom was working in the garage, getting our lawn mowers ready to roll (we have two acres, and will likely have to mow by next weekend), and I was inside doing what I do every Saturday--cleaning.  Windows were open and a wonderful breeze was blowing.  Shortly after Hobbes' lunchtime feeding, Tom brought in the mail--an election flyer for a local candidate and our water bill. True to form, he left them on the kitchen island counter.  I spent the rest of the afternoon moving this little pile around as I needed different sections of the counter to clean and do other things.  Finally, I got so sick of the election flyer that I folded it up, threw it away, and immediately forgot about it.

The next day, Tom began pulling out the checkbook, check card receipts, and bills in order to balance our checking account.  He then asked me if I knew where the water bill was.  Oops!  Had I accidentally thrown it out with the other junk mail?  I began digging through the garbage, while he looked in drawers and other places I put things when they are in my way.  No luck.  I thought for sure I had either thrown the darn thing away, or put it somewhere for safe keeping, only to discover it months after it is due.  

What does this have to do with Hobbes, you may ask.  Everything.  For a dog who has issues consuming things, he loves to chew and eat anything and everything he can get his furry paws on.  In this way he takes after his sister Jada, who can eat rocks, dirt, pretty much anything and suffer no ill effects.  You probably see where this is going.  The beautiful breeze that was blowing through the house also blew the water bill off of the island and onto the floor.  Manna from heaven!  We didn't see signs of the bill until Sunday afternoon, when we realized Jada and Hobbes must have shared the yummy orange piece of paper.  Probably the only time in their lives that they will cooperate and share <sigh>  An aside:  My mother loves to tell the story about me and my older brother, happily sharing the bottle of baby aspirin--the only time she ever saw us (or caught us, I should say) doing so, and it had to be with something poisonous to us.  The same could be said of the water bill and Hobbes, although at this point we have seen no signs of pneumonia.  This does explain why he was coughing so much Saturday evening--he was having the same reaction to the water bill that he has to water...