Wet and Soggy Days

It’s a very wet and cold day out there today. From the time I got up to right now, it has done nothing but rain steadily.

It’s the type of rain that his heavily against the windows and steams them up. It’s soothing to hear it and see it dance off the puddles as it cascades down.

It’s also the type of rain that makes you want to go home, make soup for dinner and curl up with two puppies. Of course, the problem with it being wet means that the puppies are also wet. They don’t like to spend too much time outside when it’s raining this hard. It doesn’t help that our back yard floods a lot when we get heavy rain. The storm drain in my neighbour’s garden overflows constantly which means my lovely vegetable garden floods in the summer, drowning my produce. I’ve complained about it to the city but so far, nothing has been done. In winter, however, it just means that we have rather large oceans of puddles in the grass as well as in the mud patches that will eventually evolve back into a vegetable garden.

It’s interesting to watch the puppies. They definitely don’t like to get their feet wet so they avoid the massive puddles. Rory, Mistress of Mayhem, is surprisingly dainty for such a mischief-making canine. She steps cautiously out, looking for the driest spots and seems to tiptoe to where she’s not going to get too wet. Sookie, on the other hand, just stomps out and then stops and looks about as if to say, “dude! What’s all this wet stuff?”

Needless to say, they don’t spend much time outside during heavy rain. It means we can’t take our evening walk either. This means I have bored pups on my hands. When Sookie is bored, she sleeps. When Rory is bored she lies on the floor, glaring at me and Sookie and, finally, begins to “arrrff” at us. This means, “Entertain me!”

It’s hard to entertain a dog for too long. I went to Petsmart on Sunday to see if I could find a toy for them that involved a little bit of a challenge. I ended up with something called an Occupi. This is a rubber device in which you can insert little treats, insert big treats or coat with some type of edible gel. I bypassed the gel because there were only two flavours- Chicken Liverr, which sounded revolting and Peanut butter which neither of the girls particularly like. I did buy the little treats to go inside. Unfortunately, the toy must be smarter than me because there’s nothing to hold them in there. Theoretically, the dog is supposed to roll it and try to get the tiny treats out through the little holes in the side. However, I’ve found that since there’s no stopper on the bottom, they pretty much cascade right out. This is rather silly. Thus, I’ve taken to inserting a healthy treat that’s long and skinny into the toy. It’s hard to get out. Also, it’s fun to watch Rory get a bit stroppy when she can’t get to it. She’ll figure it out eventually but, for now, she’s puzzled. Puzzled Rory=occupied Rory.

For me, I don’t need rubber toys. I just need a good book or something nice on TV with which I can curl up. The book is the best option because it means I can listen to the drum of the raindrops on the window. There’s nothing nicer than that on a chilly night unless it’s lying in bed and hearing the rain.

It’s supposed to get colder later tonight which means the rain will turn to snow. As much as I love snow, I’m hoping it doesn’t stick around. I’m ready for spring now. Target is starting to get their garden décor and supplies in and I’m already planning my landscaping attempts.

However, if it does stick around, it won’t bother me either. After all, there’s not too many weeks left where snow is an option and I’ll miss it when it goes so a few more encounters might not be a bad thing. Either way, snow or rain, I’m happy. It means I get to stay inside and enjoy the warmth and comfort of a cozy home with two (wet) puppies beside me.

Happy Tuesday!