Yesterday we had our second major windstorm in the past three weeks. The last one knocked down one fence in our yard, but the dogs only got into a bigger fenced area. Last time we lost about 20 trees in the yard. Yesterday, I left for work at 7:45 and it was blowing like crazy again. We had one tree down in the yard, so I went back inside and told Stuart. I also asked him to keep the driveway gate closed all day just in case one of the pens got hit again. I should learn not to tempt fate out loud like that!
I got to work, got a cup of coffee and went to check my messages. The first one was from Stuart and all it said was "you need to come home". So I didn't even listen to the rest of my messages, called home to find out that our driveway was blocked, all the dogs were loose. Stuart wasn't even sure he had all of them accounted for. They wouldn't stand still long enough to get a head count and he has trouble telling Mac & Ozzy apart at the best of times! So I tell my receptionist that I have a dog emergency (a phrase she is used to hearing from me) and run out the door less than half an hour after I walked in!
By the time the wind died down, we lost over 30 trees on our property. The forest behind us is a mass of fallen trees; my sled trail is completely blocked. I do have a lovely new view of the mountain behind the house. Whoneeds a second storey to get a view!! We just got electricity back on a couple hours ago. Every fence in the yard is damaged, except the perimeter fence that we just finished before the first storm. Thank the canine gods for that fence! At one point I had 18 dogs loose in the yard, containedo nly by that fence. If it hadn't been up, there would have been dogs scattered all over the Yukon. I'd still be searching for them!
All the dogs are accounted for now and again thank God, they are all uninjured. One dog house was crushed, but fortunately, the dogs had longs ince escaped that pen! I can't catch Delta, but he is inside the fence.He's having the time of his life. Thinks this big new pen is great fun. Ithink it will be a few days before he decides to return to his old pen. Which may be a good thing as the fence needs some work. The pens arecurrently back together, except for one which normally only holds three dogsanyway. They are enjoying life as house dogs. One of the dogs in that penis Pingo, my main leader, who was crashed on the couch last time I checkedthis morning!
The truly amazing part of all this is that the dogs all got along. All daythere were between 12-18 dogs loose in the yard and not once was there asnarl, growl, fight. Nothing. They played together, napped all over the yard, dug some new holes. In a nice display of team work they even broke into the food bucket and fed themselves! Good dogs!!
I don't know how you people in Florida handle hurricanes!
And yes, I have pictures. I'll post them tonight!
