Mika and Moose were always there to greet Lisa Kisner after the loss of her husband three years ago. That is, until last week when Kisner came home to an empty yard.

The two rust-colored dogs, who are brother and sister and about a year and a half old, were last seen in Kisner's fenced-in yard in the Oak Flat area Friday afternoon. The animals apparently got out of the yard, or may have been stolen, from a section of fence that Kisner had previously repaired. Kisner said she's not sure what happened.

"More than anything else, these dogs have been my survival," Kisner said. "I lost my husband three years ago … to lose them is just more than I can handle right now."

Kisner's husband of 27 years, Mike, had struggled with bipolar disorder and took his own life in the fall of 2006. Three months after that Kisner's house was broken into.

It seems like a lot of misfortune for someone who spends her spare time making people laugh. For the last 19 years, Kisner has put on greasepaint and a funny suit to become Binky the clown.

Her two fondest clowning memories, and the reason she does it, have to do with helping others through hard times, she said.

The first happened when she first started clowning. She was driving along the freeway, still in her clown suit after a gig when she saw homeless man walking near the roadway as she merged onto Interstate 40.

"He carried himself like he was at a very low point," she said.

The man physically changed just because she honked her car horn and waved to him, she said.

"He just grew springs," she said. "I realized that I had a gift to give people, even if it's just a moment."

The second story also happened on while she was on the road. About 10 years ago, Kisner said she was at the scene of an accident near the intersection of N.M. 14 and Frost Road, where a motorcyclist crashed into a truck.

Kisner stopped and took her first aid kit from her car and sat beside the female motorcyclist, who was on the ground bleeding, her helmet cracked on both sides. Kisner, who is trained in CPR, knew enough not to let bystanders remove the helmet and she stood guard over the motorcyclist to make sure no one did.

"I was telling her she'd just been in an accident," Kisner said. "She told me she had a daughter."

Kisner only left the motorcyclist when paramedics arrived, and when she stood up she saw that a crowd had gathered, she said.

"I was upset that they didn't give (the motorcyclist) her privacy," she said. "I got in my car and I got halfway down the road and I realized that I'm in costume … I probably gave this lady a heart attack."

Kisner later got in touch with the motorcyclist, who had suffered a broken collar bone, wrist and knee.

"She kept telling the doctors at the hospital that there was this clown," Kisner said. "They maybe thought she'd had brain damage."

Kisner said she keeps putting on the oversized shoes because she likes to make people happy.

"Being able to put a smile on people's faces, even in the toughest times," she said. "It's priceless."

In a way, that's what Kisner's daughter, Alicia Noedel, 23, did for her mother when she made Kisner a grandmother. Elli was born in September 2007, near the anniversary of Kisner's husband's death, and brought some joy into Kisner's life, she said.

"I was dreading that month," Kisner said. "(Elli) was our little angel without wings."

A few months before her granddaughter was born, Kisner had suffered another setback when her house was broken into again, for the second time in less than a year, she said. Adding together the damage from both break ins, the thieves took nearly $10,000 worth of Kisner's belongings, including some items that had belonged to her husband.

"The police officer suggested getting a dog," she said.

Over the next nine months, Kisner fenced in her yard during her time off from her job. She transports seniors to and from medical appointments for a retirement home in Albuquerque. She also began her search for a dog, which finally led to adopting two mixed-breed puppies.

"I didn't want puppies and I didn't want two dogs," she said. "(My daughter) convinced me to get two dogs, and they could take care of each other."

She wanted a dog that would get along with her son's dog and that was also good with babies. Mika and Moose fit the bill in that regard, but they were also a lot of work.

"When I first got them I thought, 'Oh my god, what did I do?' " she said. "I was already emotionally beat down … (then) Moose ate part of my shed, my hot tub cover, electrical lighting."

These aren't small dogs, either. A mix of pit bull, golden retriever and terrier, they have black skin around their eyes, like eyeliner, and Mika weighs in at 50 pounds while Moose tips the scales at about 80.

Moose has a head that is oversized for his body, Kisner said, and as a puppy he made good use of his big mouth. He even ate the ignition switch off of her wood splitter, she said.

Now she even misses his destructive ways, she said.

"Oh, what I would do just for him to chew on anything," she said.

Kisner said she got a lot out of the relationship with the dogs. In return for feeding them, training them and putting up with the puppy stage, the dogs gave her their companionship and made her quiet, secluded home in the mountains off N.M. 337 a more friendly place to come home to, she said.

"It's so quiet and peaceful out there," she said. "That silence can kill you too, when you're alone and there's nothing out there … having them greet you and welcome you home, it doesn't matter what mood you're in."

Moose and Mika both had tags on their collars and, although they are skittish, will respond to their names. Anyone with information about the dogs should call Kisner's home at 281-0850 or reach her on her cell phone, 610-3852.