Always running, never catching up

Wow a lot has happened in the past few days.  We are the proud owners of a newly fenced in dog area, the dogs have mixed feelings about it (more on this in a moment).  Pat has come to grips with some feelings and events from the past in a way that neither of us thought possible.  I am not at liberty to disclose anything, but I know that he needs the support of strong friends and family more than ever now.  He is currently at an Elders Quorom swim party, he made homemade root beer, let's see if he comes home with a tummy ache.  He says he plans on drinking at least one of the gallons in the 5 gallon cooler.  Hope all that rootbeer doesn't make him sink...  He made me send his walker and his wheelchair with him, I would take bets on which one he is using, but anyone who knows him knows that he is most likely either using the wheelchair or having the members of the Elders Quorum carry him over their shoulders like a sack of potatoes. 

I am enjoying some much needed quiet time to myself.  It is so rare that I get an hour completely to myself.  I have spent it attempting to find a couple of things that we need online and watching an old black and white movie.  Pat hates them, so I try not to watch them too much when he is around.  Pretty soon I am going to go out and run a few errands like grocery shopping.  Sigh, my least favorite chore. 

The dogs are out in the back getting accustomed to their new home.  Last night was the first time that we took them out there, and they seemed to love it.  Of course it was about 75 and the sun was down, so it made a big difference.  When we put them back there, Hershey just ran around and around as fast as he could.  Buster also ran around, but he kept getting scared when Hershey jumped over him like a horse jumping over a stile.  They started to wrestle and play and thoroughly enjoy themselves.  When I tried to put their leashes on to take them back inside, Hershey was willing and I was able to get his leash on.  When I turned around to get Buster, who has been an outside dog most of his life, he was lying on his back in the grass with all four paws up in the air.  He looked like a king lying on a large comfortable bed and it took several tries to get him up.  He kept trying to crawl on his belly to avoid going inside. 

Today is a slightly different story...  I put them back there around noon as we are trying to work them into things.  I must say that it is about 95 degrees outside.  They have shade and water, but not quite the comfort they are used to.  Pat and I left to run a few errands and when Hershey heard the car pull up, he started to frantically bark to let us know that he was still back there.  I decided to go run the hose on them to see if I could get him to stop barking.  The second the gate was open, they both bolted past me and I was the one who got soaked with the hose, trying to stop them.  By the time I had gotten back around to the front of the house, they had bolted insde and were both laying in front of the air conditioning in the living room.  While I appreciated the point they were trying to make, I love the peace and quiet too much to let them stay.  It took several attempts to get their leashes on and the entire trip to the backyard they were both doing their best to drag me back inside.  I might not be very strong, but I am a lot more stubborn than two teenage dogs, even if they are stronger.  They made several escape attempts as I shut them back inside the gate, but since I knew their plan, their attempts were foiled. 

When the EQ president came to pick up Pat, they started barking again, so I went after them with the hose once more.  This time I started the water raining in before I opened the gate, so we had a few quick moments that closely resembled a childhood family game called "running through the sprinklers since we can't afford a pool", but with more amusement on my part than theirs.  I figured that the water would help them cool down a bit, so I sprayed them a lot more than I normally would.  Since then, it has been blissfully silent from the back.  I hope that doesn't mean that they are trying to dig their way out or like they did with the chain link dog run, chew their way out. 

Why again did I get a dog?  Oh yeah, because I love Pat and Pat loves dogs.  I guess there is nothing more to say.  :)