Doggy Detour

Val and I got home from Jen and Mark's brunch Monday just in time for Val to take a short nap on my lap and for us to start watching the Buffalo Sabres-New York Islanders' hockey game, which the Sabres ended up winning, 3-1.
But only about 2 minutes into the game, we got a telephone call; I asked Val if I should answer it, and we both said yes, so I did. It was Val's sister Tricia, who sounded tired or sick; she was a bit ill, but asked to talk to Val. It ends up that some variety of stomach flu had struck Tricia and her husband, Brad, although their son, Jack, seemed OK (he had been hit by a bug Christmas day).
Val and Tricia's mother, Janice Dunne, was in Albany attending the inauguration of Governor Eliot Spitzer (boy, does it feel good to write that), and Tricia and Brad were handling the feeding of Janice's dog, Mattie, while she was in Albany. Janice lives in the Eggertsville part of Amherst, and Tricia and Brad live about 1-2 miles away in another part of Amherst.
Val immediately agreed to feed Mattie dinner, so we headed over, let Mattie out, fed her, talked with her a little and returned home. We only missed about a period of the hockey game and got to to watch most of the victory, sadly followed by Val going to work.