May 12, 2009
To Hail and Back Again
Thankfully, Gretchen is feeling better. She started to eat again and that is always a good sign. Therefore, I have been relieved of my doctorly duties and am back to just one job — dog dog walker. But even that job has its responsibilities, too. Like today. We’ve had warnings all morning of thunderstorms and ice pellets, but when we set out to pick up Lucy and Ollie, it was just cold and windy — no sign of that nasty lightning or thunder. (I don’t know about you, but thunder is a frightening act of nature. It makes my bones rattle and sends me into fits of worried barking. I don’t like the stuff at all!)
But once we got to Ollie’s house, the clouds opened up and we got nailed with hail. Ouch, I say, ouch! Gretchen put a raincoat on Ollie and I was just about ready to ask for one myself (NOT!), when the skies cleared, the temperatures rose, and we found ourselves walking in warm sunshine. Nice. We headed down to the lake, but our usually fetching spot was being mowed by the Park Service so we ventured to a new field (smaller, but just as nice) and had ourselves a little romp in the wet grass and sandy pit of the swing set.
I guess it was a good thing Olllie still had on his raincoat because the grass was wet from the hailstorm and we all got a little muddy…well, expect Lucy. She’s way too fast to let even a little bit of water stick to her. Ollie and I are like sponges — we soak it all up!
I played fetch as well, but mostly I let Ollie chase me around. He really loves that! You can tell by his smile. Lucy smiles, too. You just can’t see it because she ALWAYS has a ball in her mouth!
By the time we walked Lucy and Ollie home, the sun was full-force. Gretchen got so warm she had to de-layer — taking off her raincoat and her fleece shirt. She ended up walking in a t-shirt and wished she’d been wearing shorts instead of warm pants. But who could have known?
Next up, Gemma. Yes, Gemma. We haven’t seen her for quite awhile, but today was a lucky day. She was VERY happy to see us and VERY excited to head out on a walk through the park for a romp at the tennis courts.
Because the sun was out, we got kind of hot kind of fast. Even Gemma got a bit tired and rested in the shade on the cool court.
Then we walked back through the park, across the busy street to the other park where Gretchen let us rest in the shade of a tree. All that running around in the sunshine was tiring!
After our rest, we walked through the park where a small group of children were playing kickball on the field. I wanted to chase that ball, but Gretchen wouldn’t let me off leash. She was probably right because I was rather tired from our walks and our romps and I needed to cool off a bit.
Gemma asked if we could go back to my house, which sounded like a great idea because I knew there was a cool bowl of water waiting for us. Little did I know that after a nice long drink, Gemma would want to play more.
Gretchen didn’t take photos of us racing around the back yard and rolling in the shade of the cool grass, but that’s exactly what we did until we both finally dropped to the ground in exhaustion. We took Gemma home after that and I bet she rested just as much as I did.
By the time the day ended, the sun moved behind gray clouds and the cold rain reemerged. Good thing I was done with my day because I didn’t feel much like going back to hail.
Have a great evening and we’ll see you tomorrow. May there be sun again!
Rubin
PS – Gretchen just told me that I made a pun — to hail and back. It took a long time for her to explain it to me, but once I got it, I laughed at myself! I’m such a clever little fellow sometimes. Very clever indeed!
