An Eventful Day

This morning I rushed the chores because I had to be at D's house before 7 a.m. to get the truckload of worm castings. I left the children in bed and scurried. Of course, I woke Pink Panther to tell him I was leaving. D and I loaded the truck with shovels. When I got home I reversed the process but used a wheel barrow to get them to the garden, which means I may not be able to drag myself out of bed tomorrow morning. All this had to be done quickly because I thought it would rain this morning. It didn't.

When I finished fertilizing (with castings) the strawberries, asparagus, and potatoes, I cooked pancakes, among other things, for breakfast and began washing clothes and other chores. The children went out to play and realized The Yellow Dog was not around. I let him out of the house at 5 a.m. and he helped with my morning chores, but I didn't remember seeing him after I got back from D's. I wasn't too worried, but the children were in a panic, so we began a search. We drove the pastures. Doing so yielded nothing except my husband's truck stuck in the mud. I thought about whether to go get the tractor for about 2 seconds, but decided against it. We abandoned the truck and walked all the way home. On the way, we found one of our cats. She was dead. I began to worry about the animals getting into poison. We don't use chemicals, but our neighbors do. Children's panic escalates.

We took the bug and drove the highway and dirt roads, asking neighbors for help. We had no success. I began to panic. What if someone took him even though he is just a mutt? He is definitely not ferocious. He could easily be gotten. In fact, he would probably get in the car with anyone. I placed a few calls. Still, nothing.

Two friends were driving by and saw the stuck truck and offered to unstick it. They did. Aren't people so nice. Meanwhile, the rain I have been anticipating had not begun, but the wind was (and still is) howling and I do mean howling. The children pulled out their kites, but they were almost carried off with the kites so put them away soon. Still, no Yellow Dog.

We started on the evening chores while every gate was ripped from our hands and the screen doors were popping in the wind. When the Pink Panther returned to the house, the Yellow Dog followed him. It is a shame that dogs can't talk. I want to know where he was and what he was doing for 12 hours. I want him to know how worried we were.

Meanwhile, I checked the weather and there is a tornado watch until 9 p.m. It said, "This is a particularly dangerous situation." I think they meant to say a potentially dangerous situation or at least I hope they did. Particularly dangerous, to me, means more than a watch - a statement, not of potential, but of measurable actuality. Off to batten the hatches and ride out the particularly potentially dangerous situation.

What I really want is to take a nice, long, hot bath, but what if a tornado comes and I'm naked?