Rain and Dogs

Rain rain go away,

Come again another day.

Little Johnny wants to play;

Rain, rain, go to Spain,

Never show your face again!

We've had rain since Tuesday; it's the longest stretch of rain I remember having since moving to Texas two and a half years ago.

I'm not talking "rain" like we have in the Northwest - the seemingly constant drizzle that makes your hair a little frizzy. I'm talking about Texas Rain. The kind that makes you want to bring out the blankets and hibernate for a while. The kind that makes you think out loud, "I'm so glad our roof is in good shape." The kind of rain that scares the dogs enough to make them bolt from the property.

The thing about me and dogs is that I love them. I want them inside where it's warm and dry. But try telling two Pits and a Blue Heeler that they can't go outside because it's wet and cold. They don't buy it. They WANT to be outside. If I make them sleep inside on the couch, they whine and chew things and scratch at the back door. If they go outside, they play and get muddy and sleep happily in the dog houses (Lewis, Winston, and Foxy on the other hand, want nothing to do with the rain - they sleep inside without argument).

But yeah, Texas Rain. It's usually attached to Texas Lightning and Texas Thunder. I give credit to all three for the fluctuation in my dog pack this week.

Tuesday night, I had six dogs. Wednesday morning I had four. No wait - five. Diesel ended up being in the front yard, huddled in a pile of leaves under a tree. Kansas was nowhere to be found.

A jillion fliers and 36 hours of worry later, the pound left a message for me saying they had found "Sophia". Huh?

I called back and asked if they meant Kansas. Apparently, the microchip company had the wrong owner's name and dog's name on file, but somehow they had my phone number right. At least they got the important stuff right.

So yesterday I had my whole pack again. Scout fixed all the areas he thought might be the routes to their escape. But I still wanted to be on the safe side, so all of the dogs slept inside (against their wishes). Scout let them out this morning when he woke up.

As Scout was leaving for work, he noticed Kansas and Diesel frolicking down the street. Kansas came when she was called. Diesel, however, still having the street dog instinct he did when I brought him home, ran.

So now we're down to five again. Here's to hoping the rain goes away and Diesel comes back.