Whacked my head on the ice!

Ugh.  Last Saturday evening was a nightmare (the one before the Nor'easter that dropped 2 feet of snow in my yard)!!  The dogs got out during the snowfall!  Luckily, Twink was at the movies with a friend and her family, we had finally gotten SweeTart down for a nap and DinoBoy was content with his video games.  I had gone upstairs to rest for a few minutes - my head was pounding - when the Husband came up to tell me that the dogs were loose.  They had run by him when he opened the front door to find out why they were freaking out.  Since he looked like he had no intentions of going after them, I threw on my boots, scarf, gloves and jacket and headed out to try my hand at "tracking" them in the snow. 

The good news is, I found tracks.  I saw rabbit tracks and dog tracks running into my neighbors yard.  The rabbit was smart enough to duck uder the fence while the canines took off down the street.  I was able to follow them three houses down, to Max's house, where they played in the driveway a little bit, across the street into the yard of the white house, back into the street, then ... where next?  The tracks were jumbled.  I was calling them and calling them, hoping they weren't going to come to me - across a street or something and wind up being struck by a car.  One of our neighbors was in their garage and heard me calling ... she asked which one got out and I had to tell her both (these neighbors often "dogsit" their son's Boxers so she is familiar with our dogs who go to visit - on their other jailbreaks - to play with his dog.)  She and her husband got into their truck and started driving around the development scanning for the dogs.  Suddenly, my phone rang - I prayed that it was the Husband telling me that they had shown up on the front steps ... but it wasn't him.  It was our neice - who asked if we still had two dogs.  I was thinking holy crap why is she asking me about the dogs - we haven't really seen her since her birthday dinner - she told me that she thinks she just almost hit them on the road behind our development.  I was heading in the wrong direction!!  They weren't even in the development anymore. 

So, I thank our neice, tell her I will head in her direction (she is turning around and going to see if she can still spot them) and I will call her back.  In order to get to the road, I need to head back to  my house, head up the side of the yard between our fence and the neighbor's fence and to the road behind the house.  I know there is a patch of ice on my way so when I get to the spot where I think it is, I stop running and walk carefully so that I don't fall ... didn't work.  I fell.  Whacked my butt - Whaked my head.  Saw stars - the phone was ringing when my head was ringing so I missed the call.  It was our niece again.  I called her back when I could make a coherent sentence ... she didn't see them anymore.  I thanked her again and told her that I would call her back when I found them.

At this point, there is probably 2 inches of snow on the ground and it is coming down in my face, making it hard to see anything, especially a white dog and a dark brindle dog between the snowflakes and the shadows.  I was starting to panic.  I just started to pray that I would find them in one piece ... alive. See, when the dogs get out on a normal day, they will go to anyone, and I mean anyone but me.  Generally it is a neighborhood kid who collects them until we can get to them.  They won't come for a biscut, cheese, a leg of beef ... they want nothing more than to run to explore their surroundings ... and probably find the rabbits. 

So here I am, out in the snow, I've crossed the "main" road behind our house and I can see their tracks into a field.  I walk out into the field - I just stood there calling their names ... hoping they were on this side of the street and that they would not come to me from across the street .... after about 5 minutes of standing there in a panic, I looked down and Jack was there.  Jack is the ringleader.  There was no Guinness by his side.  I have no idea where Jack came from, he just appeared next to me.  I asked him where Guiness was, like he was going to answer me back ... I leashed him up, called home and started the walk home, calling Guinness the whole time. 

When I spoke with the Husband I told him how nervous I was that Guinness was not with Jack.  That is not like him at all.  The Husband tried to reassure me and told me he'd get in the truck to go look for him.  Jack and I arrived home - No Husband, no truck, no 2nd dog....Finally, he came home ~~~ with Guinness!!  The dogs must have found "friends" at the farm house down the long lane through the field, across the street.  (got that??)  The Husband said that he was driving down the lane, calling Guinness when he saw fresh tracks, then the dog!!!  Whew -- I was so afraid that the dogs were either hit or going to get really lost because of the snow and become popscicles. 

Someone was definitely looking out for us and our mutts that night.  Thanks you ... we appreciate it more than you can ever imagine.