When an Unstoppable Force meets an Immovable Object

It is rare that Jenn and I are home together, without one of us having to be somewhere, in the mornings; and it is even more rare that we should find ourselves in this situation without the kid. Yet, this morning, that is exactly where we found ourselves.

Hunter stayed the night at her grandparents house, and while we did sort of miss the little kidlet in the morning, Jenn and I were able to have a coffee in peace. Normally, I feed the dogs in the morning, after my first cup of coffee, while Hunter stays in the house and Jenn sleeps. Even though I tell Hunter not to wake Jenn up, the minute I am out of the house, Hunter runs into the bedroom and jumps on the bed, all the while shouting "Mommy, Mommy it's happy time! It's happy time! The coffee is ready!" And so it is almost every morning: Jenn is awoken in such a manner. Today, however, Jenn was able to rise at her own pace and we fed the dogs together. Jenn was anxious to see the newly completed free run area, so we weren't long having our first coffee before we were out of the house. I had been working on the run all week, which is the nice thing about going into work in the afternoons: I'm able to work a bit around the house before I have to go to my job. I mean, I'm up anyway...

Before I was able to grab the camera, Jenn had it in her hands and was trying to take pictures of us. Here is one of us:

Then, there is me in my 'feeding-the-dogs-and-whatever-other-chores-involve-obscene-amounts-of-mud' clothes. Yes, I am aware that the spring melt has been cruel and has not only created a mudhole that would rival the LeBrea Tar Pits, but it has also managed to put on display all the junk that was lost 'neath the snow. There is only so much photo cropping I can do. Anyway, I wear this outfit when I feed the dogs and go to church.

Once we were done feeding the dogs, Jenn let Horton go in the new free run. He lost his mind. He was running so fast that his back end was overtaking his front. You haven't seen funny 'til you've seen this. It was at this point that the battery on the camera died, so we only have the one picture of Horton, which in itself is impressive because I expected to find merely a blur. Jinx joined Horton and the two of them raced around the run for ten minutes or so, and then it was Darts turn.

I don't know how many of the readers of this blog have read the "Our Dogs" page, so forgive me if it sounds like I'm repeating myself. Dart is a goof. There are only a few adjectives to describe this guy. Lovable idiot comes to mind, as does brain-dead. He spends so much time running circles in his area that I think he is permanently dizzy. That said, though, I think I should take responsibility for what happened next. I really should have made the fence more visable. Perhaps I should have hung flagging tape around it at dog eye level. Maybe a warning track, like they have in the outfield of baseball diamonds. Something. Anyway, Jenn let go of Darts collar, and the dog, who only has two settings: "off" and "hyper-drive" and I've never seen him in 'off' mode, goes running full-tilt into the fence at the far end of the run. Never in my life have I ever (or will ever, again) seen a dog roll up a fence. But, Dart, once his feet touched the ground again, just kept on going. Sort of like a Weeble. Maybe that'll be his new name.

All in all, though, it seems like the free run is a hit. One project down, many to go.