What’s That Sound?

Today has been a day filled with interesting (and painful) sounds. This morning I woke up and heard a noise I couldn’t place. Normally, I bark, but today I didn’t. I just cocked my head and said, “Hey, what’s that sound?”

Everyone woke up and Gretchen cocked her head too. “I don’t know,” then she got up out of bed, opened the curtains, and looked out.

“Oh my,” she exclaimed. “It’s raining!”

What makes this kind of a fluke is that there were barely any clouds in the sky, the morning was muggy and already hot, and the forecast called for a chance of showers, but no one believed them. And yet here it was — rain. Not a delicate summer rain, but a full on downpour and the sound of it woke us all up partly because it was so loud, but also because we haven’t heard that sound in a long, long time.

Another sound we haven’t heard is the roar and thunder of the Blue Angels. If you don’t live in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in Seattle, then you may not be familiar with this sound. The Blue Angels fly their jets over Lake Washington every August for the Seafair festivities. Usually we’re out of town, but since Gretchen has to work at the pool on Saturday and there are dogs to walk today and tomorrow, we’re here and my ears hurt.

Not only are the Blue Angels loud, but they fly really, really close to the ground making all of us a bit jumpy. Surprisingly though, Rosie, who is generally the most jumpy of us all, wasn’t jumpy in the least when the Blue Angels flew overhead. Seriously. Rosie and Gretchen were playing in the shade of the park (because remember it’s super hot and humid) when the Blue Angels screamed overhead.

What did Rosie do? Laid down and asked for more treats!

Gemma wasn’t freaked by the jets either, which was nice because they rattle my bones a bit and I needed her calm reassurance to ignore them.

Who’d of thought that I’d be looking to Gemma for calm reassurance, but there you have it!

It’s not just the big jets that fly over either. The little planes that do flips and loops were out there as well. In some ways these annoy me more, but they aren’t nearly as loud.

Saber got to walk with Ollie today and it was kind of bad planning on Gretchen’s part. Usually we walk Ollie in the morning, but because of conflicts with the car (we are a one car family after all), she had to walk him this afternoon. Ollie lives pretty close to the lake so Gretchen thought they’d drive down, walk around the park and then take a dip only they barely found a parking spot, the park was closed, and they ended up walking a long ways before they found any water in which to take that much needed dip.

Still, it looks like they had a good time and as Ollie knows, it doesn’t matter where you are as long as there are treats in Gretchen’s pockets!

The hydroplanes will be practicing soon as well — another mainstay of Seafair — and the rumble of those engines on the Lake will mean I won’t get a very restful afternoon nap. I need one because my friend Nini is coming over for her farewell dinner. She’s moving far, far away and though everyone insists that I’ll see her again, I worry that my Nini will forget me.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin