Yes, Allie the dog was at it again! This time, I was injured in the process and not just my impervious pride.
It seems that wild animals pass through our property at all times during the night. I don't know what kind of wild animals, other than deer (which I've seen), moles (which I've seen evidence of and quite possibly Stanley (cat) had one in his mouth one day) and apparently - armadillo's. The latter of which is to be partly blamed for my most recent bruises (physically and ego-ally -?).
A few nights ago (night being a relative term as it was more like 3:30 a.m.) Allie was on one of her barking rants so of course, Sam joined in. There is no sleeping during these duets and the quickest way to dispense of the noise is to let them outside. Who lets them out (me or Alan) depends mostly on who can pretend to still be sleeping the longest; didn't everyone play this game when their children were babies? Maybe that's just us...anyway, I digress. I ended up giving in to the high pitched barks and stomped into the living room to let them out. Because the dog run is so far from the house, we have a chain that we will put Allie on (because otherwise she runs...and just runs...so nuff said) for these short stints to do her duties. However, because their was an underlying motivation for their wanting out, the chain would have to wait - because Allie had no patience. Though I had hold of her collar, as soon as I opened the door, she took off like like a, well, like a crazy dog!! And, to make matters worse....since I know what happens when she runs...I refused to let go of her collar (at first) and so I was dragged along for the ride - flat on my face and out the door.
It wasn't a cold night, even though it's November, so of course - I was in me 'skivvies'. My fingers were (temporarily) squished in Allie's collar, but I quickly let go when I realized I needed my hands to break my fall as well as to stop the bleeding on my shins (they were scraped across the door jamb).
Lucky for us (luck - being another one of those 'relative Burch terms') the object of Allie and Sam's affection was hiding right in the bushes next to the house and Allie didn't run far. In fact, I thought she was digging at a plastic bucket, deep inside the bushes from the sound it was making as she stomped both of her feet to the ground. Who knew that Armadillo's roll up into a protective ball when they are scared?
Since Allie had only made it as far as the bushes, I was able to use the closes thing to the door (a mop) to hook her collar and drag her out. All the while, Alan is hollering from the bedroom "What is all that noise???"
I yelled "Allie got loose and I'm hurt really bad..."
His reply "Dang it....now I gotta chase her...."
...No...no - I'm fine really....AND I already caught her, so you just go right back to sleep. . . . .Oy!
Needless to say, I've got bruises on my legs (thighs, hips and shins) and my fingers lost some skin...but I'm happy to report that the Armadillo and Allie are just fine. . . .
