Why?
For someone that doesn't usually walk after a rain and doesn't particularly care about getting his feet soaked, why would he be outside in the dark with his flashlight, walking through a wet field at 1:15am???
I was ready to go to bed and Sadie wasn't around. She had not returned to the door to have me let her inside after her normal last trip of the night outside. That was very unusual. I wasn't too alarmed by her change of routine, so the only question really was whether to put on shoes or try a hopefully short walk in my Nike rubber sandals. I had an idea where she was.
I chose the sandals, turned on the small camping flashlight that is very bright when turned on and scanned the horizon over the field ... hoping to see two eyes looking back at me. Total darkness ... so the walk was on.
Those eyes never showed up, even after calling out her name. It was dark, wet and the only noise I could hear was the squishing of wet ground, wet grass below my rubber sandals. This wasn't something I was enjoying in the middle of the night.
I had a feeling where she was ... a spot she stops at on the walk to eat deer droppings. Anywhere besides that place would mean she might be in trouble and I was in for a long walk.
I followed the path with my hand raised so the flashlight could cover more area. I wondered how many people were up at this time of night. How many had their windows open and could possibly hear me calling her name?
As I walked straight along the path we take during the daylight hours, I kept calling her name ... no eyes were visible.
Just as I veered to the left to follow along the tree line of our walk ... there they were ... two eyes showing up in the dark, reflecting off of the light from the flashlight. They were about the right height but they were not moving.
Then, they started walking slowly toward me and continued to follow me back to the house. I was happy she was found and happy I could get some sleep. The rain came minutes after I shut the lights off. There is nothing like sleeping, with the windows open and the sound of rain hitting the leaves of the mahogany tree outside the bedroom window.
Looking over the weather forecast while drinking coffee and seeing more rain is on the way today and a lot of it tonight ... I decided that if I could get wet last night in my walk then I could today. I decided to get the walk in prior to their late lunch, before the rains come.
You could see how hard the rain was last night by the flowers being beaten down at angles facing the ground. Some of those tall stems had also been bent over. Plus the ground was totally saturated with water from the hours of rain.
I glanced back before making the turn toward home, to see where Stella was ... she was already running towards Sadie and I.
But in midstream she found something she had to check out along the way. She wasn't there long before she turned and continued her run toward us.
With the rain, the temperatures dropped to 71° today ... the heat index is the same, even with 100% humidity. Feels nice enough today to open the windows and turn off the air conditioner.
They were both on the prowl today in a lot of different areas.
Stella is the one wearing a collar. I took Sadie's collar off weeks ago because it had become too small, with no more adjustments available.
Stella kept veering away from us. She would show up back at the house eventually but I don't want to leave her, and take the chance that some great scent leads her into trouble. She always came when called ... although not happy about it.
You can see how some of the wild flowers have been beaten down by the hard rain last night.
I think I am going to have to break down and use weed killer to get my gravel driveway back. I've never seen it overtaken with weeds like this. Most of it is crabgrass.
Well Stella is howling for lunch and Heidi has joined her by barking ... late breakfasts lead to late lunches. They don't seem to understand that concept.
The temps are cool and more rain is on the way here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.
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