It’s Not For Wimps

Humans have some of the funniest expressions. Today’s was: It’s raining cats and dogs. Who, I politely ask, thought of that?

Yes, it was raining quite heavily this morning, so heavily it looked like the inside of a washing machine, but I, for one, did not see any cats or dogs falling from the sky. I did see a cat — the one across the street — but she was neither falling or wet, rather she was hiding under a car keeping her prissy self dry. I barked at her, but she didn’t budge.

So today I did a bit of research. Where does this expression come from?

Oddly, there are mixed origins. Some say it had to do with the time when humans had thatched roofs where the animals would sleep to keep warm – like dogs, cats, goats, etc. When it rained really hard, the thatch became slippery and the animals — cats and dogs among them — would fall through.

Others say that the expression has to do with the animosity cats and dogs feel for each other (no kidding!) and so when it rains really hard, it’s like cats and dogs fighting and falling from the sky, metaphorically speaking.

Whatever the origins, let me tell you, it rained this morning like I haven’t seen for a long, long time. Luckily, when we started walking dogs, the rain diminished a bit and eventually (and surprisingly) went completely away. But not so for Oshi and Perrito, our first dogs of the day. They had to walk in the rain, and I had to walk with them.

Yes, that’s Gretchen all bundled up protecting herself, no doubt, from falling cats. We didn’t take a lot of photos this morning because the rain made it difficult to keep the lens dry. Luckily, Ann went with us so she could snap some photos in between the downpours.

After we all got dried off, Gretchen headed out to walk Rosie and Tyson. She was all set to suit them up in their raincoats, but unexpectedly, the rain just stopped. Lucky them.

As you can see from the leaves behind them, the rain knocked down a lot of them, but not all. The maple trees around the neighborhood are slowly shedding all their fall foliage so much so you could say it’s raining gold and orange.

But no, humans use us (canines and felines) to make such comparisons. Curious.

Rosie and Tyson got their feet wiped when they went home, but only needed minimal toweling off. Next up was Bella who was the luckiest of all as the sun actually came out for the first part of her walk. Gretchen walked her with me to start and the two of us made our way (with Ann in charge of me) to Woobie’s house. Earlier in the day I worried that Woobie’s long coat would suffer in the moist weather for unlike Bella’s sleek coat, when Woobie got wet, who could guess what happened.

But we got lucky, too because the sun showed itself for brief period and though those clouds reappeared, it never rained the entire time Bella, Woobie, and I walked together. Woobie and I headed to our house, while Gretchen took a very frisky Bella to the tennis courts in hopes of burning off some of her energy.

After a lot of throwing of the ball, Bella wore down just a smidge, enough so that Gretchen felt comfortable walking her back home. Gretchen says I used to be that energetic, but I don’t believe it. Bella runs on electricity. I’m more solar powered. Anyway, they had fun at the tennis courts while Woobie and I played at my house! Woobie really liked that and I liked it too!

From these photos it may not look like we’re having fun, but trust me, we are. That’s a smile on Woobie’s face to the left and above, she’s asking if we can play some more. And yes, she’s sniffing my hair. Not sure why, but I let her do it just the same.

Woobie hung out with us for awhile and got nice and comfortable on the office floor while Gretchen tied up some work ends.

But eventually, Woobie had to go home, so we walked through the leaf-strewn neighborhood and marveled at the wet and yellow.

Woobie lives in a really cool place. There are many little houses in their courtyard, but once the gate it closed, dogs can run free. Usually Gretchen only lets Woobie off the leash to race up to her house, but today, we both got let off the leash and we frisked and raced our way up the stairs. It was great fun! I even got a cookie at Woobie’s house. Nice.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty laid back, but those cats and dogs never once fell from the sky. They’re supposed to do so tonight, but thankfully, I’ll be sleeping. The day wasn’t too busy, but the week looks like more things will fall from the sky. Maybe even goats! Whatever happens, this weather is not for the wimpy.

Stay tuned,

Rubin