Frantic!

Coming home from the farm the other evening, a big thunder storm was brewing and moving toward me as I was driving home.  By the time I got into downtown the storm had moved over me and lightening was flashing all around.  This wasn't your normal lightening that flashes every so often followed by thunder, but almost continuous flashing across the sky with streaks down to the ground.  I have never seen it this severe before.

From downtown I had to turn toward and into the storm for another 3 miles before I got home.  When I got to my house, Rowdy was waiting at the fence on the west side and followed me around the house to where I park on the east side.  He was frantic with all the lightening and thunder and was yelping at the gate.  When I got out of the car and headed inside, he was at the back door barking and yelping for me to let him in.  I let him in immediately and he was sure happy to be back inside the house and away from the storm, as he whined his happiness to see me.  I gave him a cup of his food for dinner and he was a happy dog again.  

All This Out Of One Little Dog?

With the fall and winter seasons always comes the raking of the leaves and yard cleanup.  Though I had removed most of the leaves by about a month or more earlier, there was still a back corner of my yard that I had yet to finish.  Due to other obligations and/or the weather, I was just now getting to it.

After grabbing the lawn bags and rake, I went back to the corner and discovered that Rowdy had been using this area for his number 2!  In fact, the amount I had to shovel up before raking made it look like he had been having a poopa-paloosa back there.  And. of course there was not much in the other areas of the yard where he usually goes.  He had to pick the very corner that I hadn't raked yet.  That little $#!%.  

What Do YOu Want?

Okay, it's 4:30 AM and I am awaken by Rowdy whining, with his paws up on the side of the bed and trying to get my attention.  In a groggy voice I asked, "What do you want?" and then I laid there quietly.  He continued jumping up on the side of the bed, vying for my attention.  I said with a little more angry tone, "It's 4 friggin' 30.  What do you want?  Do you need to go wee-poo?" which is our word for him to go outside to the bathroom.  He dropped back down and tore down the hall, so I got up, went down and let him out.  He just stood by the door outside and didn't go, but then I saw it, a bright flash of lightning.  I knew then what he wanted.  He wanted up on the bed, so I would protect him form the storm.

It was odd to see lightning in the middle of winter and there was little thunder, but I guess the flashes were disturbing him.  So I let him back in and went back to the bedroom, where I pulled up his special 'on the bed' blanket and let him jump up and lay by me for protection.  He was fine after that and I got back to sleep....but not as well as I was sleeping before he woke me up!  That little devil! 

Being Funny Again, While Just Being Himself.

Okay, so, I went to pick up my mother for Thanksgiving dinner and Rowdy went with us.  When I got to the farm, which was his early stomping grounds and where I initially got him from, I let him run around the yard while I transferred some items from my car to mom's.  When I was just about done, I noticed him wandering off behind a shed and hollered my usual "Where do you think you're going?"  He didn't reappear, so I said, "Get back here!"  Still no dog, so I gave him the usual whistle and told him he was going to get it if he didn't get back here.  Still no dog!  So then I turned around to finish up loading the car and he was sitting in the front seat ready to go.  I never noticed him reappear from behind the shed and how he got passed me and in the car, without me even hearing him was amazing.  I just had to laugh!

Rowdy Got Himself In Trouble!

Usually Rowdy is a good doggie and never hardly does anything wrong, but the other day he had to backslide and pull some napkins with food stuffs on them out of the trash and tear them up.  I have had to scold him a few times for this before, but he hasn't done it in quite a while.  He did this sometime during the middle of the night or early morning and I found the mess when I got up.  He certainly got an ear full of 'bad doggie' that morning, while I was cleaning up the mess and I was mad at him all day over this.  He even went without his morning meal because I was too pissed to feed him and after his scolding, he was not particularly interested in eating either.  He did however get a little extra food for his evening meal and everything had calmed down by then.  He's now back to good doggie mode. 

The Chirping Monster

It's been a while since I posted last.  I've either been way too busy this summer working long hours on the farm, or too tired to write posts when I get home, even though several things happened this summer worth posting.

However, this happened last night.  It was around 3 AM this morning and Rowdy was at the side of the bed and leaning up on the bed, licking at my face and trying to get may attention.  He succeeded in waking me up and I wondered what was bothering him.  He gets scared by the thunderstorms and we had one that evening but all was quiet now, but he still jumped up on the bed.  He is not supposed to be on the bed, except when there is a storm and I put a blanket for him to lay on.  Well, I made him get down, but he went to the other side of the bed and attempted to get up again.  He did this a third time and I was confused as to why he was acting this way, but then I heard it.......Chirp! 

Rowdy was beside himself panting, shaking and whining to get up on the bed and for me to protect him from the Chirping Monster.  A minute later and ....Chirp!...again.  I quickly figured out what it was and Rowdy has been scared by it before.   The smoke detector battery was low and chirping about once a minute. 

I sat up on the side of the bed and Rowdy jumped up on my leg with his front paws, just shaking and shivering.  I asked him in a calm tone, "Is it gonna get you?"  He looked up at me for help and to save him, so I got up and pulled the detector down and pulled the batteries out, so it wouldn't make any more noise.  Rowdy calmed down soon and everything was back to normal until I heard a distant boom-bu-boom.  Another thunderstorm was heading our way but it didn't seem to bother Rowdy this time, not like the Chirping Monster, or so I thought. 

The next morning when I woke up, Rowdy must have been still bothered, either from residuals from the chirping, or the thunderstorm, because sometime when I was asleep, he managed to get up on the bed again down by my feet. I ordered him off the bed and got up for the day.  I put new batteries in the detector, hung it back up and the world was back to normal, at least for a while anyway.

Storm Season Again

Now that it is storm season, last night a thunderstorm passed over us and scared poor little Rowdy.  I had to get his blanket and let him up on the bed with me, so he wouldn't be so scared.  Since he normally is not allowed on the bed, when he got up on it, he laid down and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible and laid very still.  I never felt him move and when I woke up the next morning, he was in the same place only inverted, lying on his back with his feet up in the air.  I don't know when he rolled over, but I guess he thought he would try to get a chest rub before he had to get off the bed.