The Escape....Non-Escape Artist

So one of the really fun and joyful things about having a nursing mommy dog in your home is that they like to drink a lot of water. I mean a lot of water.  The more puppies they have - the more water they like to drink.  The extra fluids is necessary so they can make more milk.  More milk means happy puppies.  So of course - you give them all the water they can drink.  Well sometimes when they drink soooo much water.....nature calls....in the middle of the night...when the humans are sleeping. You are sound asleep in your bed, happily dreaming again when, "HALOOOOOOOO HALOOOOOOO I HAVE TO PEEEEEEEEEEE" interrupts your glorious sleep time.  Although it sounds just like this, "BARK BARK BARK HOWL BARK" - but the mommy dog is definitely saying that she has to pee.  It takes a very trained and educated ear to decipher dog talk, luckily -everyone here at Yesteryear Acres is fluent in dog talk. So last night at 2:30am, "HALOOOOOOOOOO" can be heard in our house. Mr. Yesteryear Acres lets out the mommy dog so she can go pee. Up until this point - it is all going swimmingly for me.  I am in bed. I am asleep. Mr. Yesteryear Acres is the one letting out the dog. YAY! Then, out of nowhere, I am shaken awake by a frantic Mr. Yesteryear Acres. (It is at this point in the story I will direct you to re-read the title of today's blog just in case you are getting worried....it all ends well.)  Mr. Yesteryear Acres yells that Nutmeg is gone. Nutmeg is NOT the mommy dog - but somehow she got out and is gone. I fly out of bed, grab a flashlight, throw on my crocs and start looking for Nutmeg outside.  Meanwhile a grief stricken Mr. Yesteryear Acres jumps in the car with a spotlight and starts driving down our road desperately searching for Nutmeg.  I am out in the wet. I am out in the dark. I am all alone crying, "NUTMEG.....NUTMEG."  Out of the bushes jumps....a rabbit.  Not Nutmeg.  Then a wild cat runs across the path -again not Nutmeg but now I am afraid of the boogie man jumping out of the woods.  I walk to the pond. I walk to the end of the garden - which in case you are wondering is like a good 1/2 mile from our house. No Nutmeg, although the horses all run out to see what the heck I am doing so at least now I have company.  I start walking back to the house when I hit a slope of mud and yes FALL DOWN. I now have mud soaked pajamas.  My hands are covered in mud and my ankle and wrist really hurt.  As I limp back all muddy and sore, I still call, "Nutmeg! Nutmeg!"  NO Nutmeg.  An hour passes and Mr. Yesteryear Acres returns and sadly gets out of the car. He can't find Nutmeg. He is sick with worry. It is at this point I say, "Are you SURE Nutmeg escaped?" He says, "yes, I didn't see her anywhere."  I asked, "did you check her dog bed area?"  Wellllll he might have walked by it quickly, but didn't really check because he called her name and she didn't come and he assumed she was gone. (I am sure at this point you are almost smiling because you know I am standing there with a mud covered butt, and am soaking wet and it is 3:30am in the morning, and I have been walking outside in the dark for an HOUR - and you already know how this story is going to end).  SOOOOO yes.  I go and look - and WHOA would you look at that!!!!!  There SOUND ASLEEP is......NUTMEG.  Mr. Yesteryear Acres runs in and just starts hugging Nutmeg and she wakes up thinking WHAT THE HECK! Why are you hugging me?  I was SLEEPING.  I told Mr. Yesteryear Acres I have never been so mad yet so darn HAPPY as I was at that moment.  Nutmeg was safe.  All was well.  Now all that was left was for me to find some new pajamas! Goodnight Nutmeg!