Shaky

I have got to slow down.  To stop and think.  I cannot keep up with this level of distraction.  Something or someone is going to get hurt.  I've been on cleaning mode.  Keep in mind I should be writing papers.  Today my brother (who's moving to Nova Scotia a week Monday) stopped in.  He helped me do a few things, I fed him and then we took off into town to see The Hunger Games.  (Side note: it was pretty good.)  When I left I took him out my front door.  You know the one I rarely use.  Making sure he was following me in his car I left.

Flash forward almost four hours later.

I parked my truck in the drive.  Not the garage.  I wasn't up to corralling Diva who is back in testing mode.  Yanking off my boots, I meander through my freshly cleaned house to the garage.  I opened the door.  No dogs.  Not completely unusual.  I unhook the X-pen and call their names.  No dogs.  I call a few more times.  No dogs.  Thinking I hear scratching at the outside of the garage, I giggle and open the man door.

Where I promptly freeze in terror.

The gate to the dog run is wide open.

I belly yell their names.  No dogs.

But I hear what sounds like scratching on the garage door.  Running, I hit the automatic opener and a Diva and Ryder rush in.  I started to cry.  I don't think I've ever been quite that scared in a very, very long time.  My yard is not completely fenced.  On the east border of my property is a busy secondary highway.    Less than 1/2 mile away is another very busy road.  Only Diva has a collar on.

Both dogs were covered in mud.  Worrying about Guinness I grabbed a flashlight and ran out to check him.  He was okay.  I don't know if the dogs decided to tag team and chase him or if they found a slough somewhere to play.

Grabbing the hose I hosed them off in the garage (has a drain).  Neither are clean by any stretch of the imagination but both are safely laying at my feet drying off.  They'll be banished to the office tonight (the last room in the house that isn't organized).  Tomorrow I'll run out to the farm and give them proper baths.

As my heart slows I am vowing to slow down.  This isn't the first time I've done something like this (unlocked doors, left open garage door).  It will be the last.  We were lucky.  There could have been a completely different outcome.  And Diva - Diva will be leash bound until her recall is 100% so I'm not going in one door to coerce her to come in another.  No more mistakes.