Let me start by saying I like rain. I WELCOME rain after living in dry Colorado. However, I don’t like rain when I have to drive my Mom back home, a 3.5 hour drive in good conditions. The rain started early this morning before we woke up. I know those of you in Colorado will be amazed and awed by the fact that today we had nearly an inch and a half of rain! We were supposed to leave around noon, but as the rain got heavier and I looked at the weather radar online, we decided to delay taking Mom back until tomorrow. I know I could be considered a weenie, but frankly I am not used to driving in pouring rain on a busy interstate highway for nearly 4 hours. We didn’t HAVE to go, so we didn’t. Tomorrow’s forecast looks better, so we’ll try again. I know Mom is anxious to get home since we have not had TV service since the day she came. Yep, our cable is STILL not back up and running. But that is a whole ‘nother topic altogether. Let’s just say we are getting nowhere fast. Very bizarre.

When we finished filling the pool to where the pool guys told us the level should be, we noticed that it was still about an inch below where it had been previously kept. I can imagine by now we have reached that level just with rainfall, and soon we will have to let water OUT of the pool! HAHA. My swimsuits finally arrived in the rain today. After trying them on tonight I have decided it’s better just to either a) not been seen in or around the pool, or b) go naked.

I didn’t see it happen. I was down in the woods scooping dog poo. I thought a heard a water-like sound but I didn’t look up from the task at hand since doggie droppings are extremely hard to see in all the leaf mold. I’ve only been back about an hour since I took my Mom back home yesterday afternoon and just came back this morning. I get done with scooping and glance over at the pool. Here is what I saw:
 

Bart in the pool, adrift on top of the solar blanket!! Can you believe this???? Poor Bart, I ran for the camera instead of immediately helping him. He didn’t look like he was in distress since he’d already been there for about five minutes or so. He looked pretty happy just floating there. I couldn’t pass up a photo op like that one! At least he wasn’t struggling, or I would have been afraid he’d try to walk on it, come to the edge and plunge headlong into the deep end of the pool, which happens to be 9 feet deep. He saw me heading for him and he started to try and walk on the cover without much success. Hailey was having a fit and running to and fro. She was more upset at Bart’s predicament than Bart was! [Mom, Mom, Bart’s in the pool, what’s he doing in there??? Can I jump in and help him?] I just pulled the cover over to the edge of the pool until he could get a grip on the side, then he pulled himself up. Yet another crisis averted.

Rick only put the solar blanket on this morning while I was gone, so he must have thought it wasn’t water anymore! Who knows what goes through that silly dog’s mind? I really do wish I could have seen the expression on his face when he realized what he’d done. He must have been quite shocked to feel that cold water on his legs, since he was submerged up to his belly. Around here you just never know what’s going to happen next. Stay tuned.

This is getting a bit silly. Now Sailor has ended up in the pool. Of all dogs, this is the one that NEVER even gets his feet wet if he can help it. I got up this morning and let the dogs out, not quite fully awake myself. They hadn’t even been out for five minutes and I heard them barking, which in itself is nothing out of the ordinary, but it was different somehow. Usually they all end up back on the deck barking. This barking was coming from further away. I looked out and saw them clustered around the pool. OH NO, I thought. Now what? I peeked over the railing and the sea of dogs around the pool parted to reveal a dog in the pool at the shallow end. I could see a head and front paws clinging to the side. I yelled for Rick, who was still in bed, There’s a dog in the pool! At this point I didn’t know if I was going to need help or not.

I started down the steps very carefully since they were wet and a little slippery with last night’s rain, Who was it? I quickly did a name check of the dogs I could see and decided it was Sailor. He was looking pretty panicked and COLD, so unlike Bart’s situation, I felt he needed immediate rescuing rather than running for the camera. He HATES the water!! How did this happen? I ran over to the edge of the pool and pulled on his collar to lift him out. He was actually standing on the bottom with his front paws on the edge and he only needed a little boost from me to scramble on up and over. He came out with water running in streams off his body. A couple of rigorous shakes and he was looking a bit better. By this time Rick had joined me, but as it turned out we hadn’t needed any help. Back in the house Rick toweled the poor dog as dry as he could. He really smells chlorinated, hence the title. PHEW!

I don’t know how it happened. My guess is they were being their usual idiot morning selves and play fighting and got too close to the edge of the pool, and PLUNK!, Sailor landed in the drink. I hope they figure out this pool stuff pretty soon.

In my hands, the skimmer moves through the water like an open-mouthed whale greedy for food. We take in leaves, some Daddy-Long-Legs, a caterpillar, water-skimmers [water spiders] that are still skimming the surface as they enter the net, some dog hair leftover from the dogs’ water antics of yesterday and today, several seed pods off the trees and little bits of assorted plant material. It’s a soothing process and one chore that is easily borne. The morning is cool and the trees are rustling in the brisk breeze. Life is good, but the water is still too cold for a morning dip even if Sailor didn’t think so. Maybe later…

Yep, folks, you guessed correctly. Yet another dog in the pool today! This time Rick watched in happen in real time. Daisy came running out of nowhere across the deck by the pool and right smack dab over the solar blanket. She reached the middle before she sank into the blanket. Unlike Bart, she was not staying put for nothing or nobody. She wanted off that thing, NOW. I heard the ruckus, grabbed my camera [which I have begun to leave at the ready and close at hand these days] and headed outside. I had to be quick because she was coming off that thing pretty darn fast. Once she reached the edge she showed perfect swimming form like she’s been doing it her whole life. A perfect dog paddle! Smart girl that she is, she headed straight for the steps! Following is a pictorial of her journey and you can actually see the path she took through the solar blanket.

Alex, at the steps, seems to be cheering her on. Maybe we should start a contest to see who guesses correctly which dog is next to try out the pool. Any guesses? Those left are Alex, Hailey, Bode or Milli. My bet’s on Hailey!
[P.S. We call Daisy “Daisy-Do” or just “Do” most of the time when she’s being cute or good. If not, then she’s sometimes Daisy-Don’t. Now she’s earned the new name of Dip-ity-Do.]