I woke up this morning to the sound of running water.  The first thing I think of is that my kids are upstairs playing in the bathroom.  I walk up the stairs, notice no movement or sound coming from the bathroom, and spy the kids playing quietly in Kenzie’s room.  Still that running water sound is flowing in our pipes.  Might a toilet be running somewhere?  No, all the bathrooms check out normal.  The kitchen is also safe, no pipes leaking.  This leaves only one thing… outside.

Keith leaves between 5:30-6 AM, and I usually get up around 7AM.  It is debilitating hot during the summer in TX, so morning the best time to let the dogs outside for a good romp.  Flash sleeps in our bedroom and has taken on Merlot’s habit of “I don’t get up until Mom gets up”.  This leaves the two pups, who currently sleep in an exercise pen in the kitchen.  Keith sends them outside in the morning to do their business, play, and eat breakfast.  This has always worked out well for us, letting the pups have a good long meal and fun without anyone to bother them before the heat makes play outside impossible.  At 7 I send Flash out and they all play as a group for about 30 mins, then they come inside for their morning nap while I cook breakfast and get the kids settled.  This is how things normally go.

Today, I peek outside and see the sprinkler going, my yard all but flooded, and two VERY happy puppies covered head to toenail in mud.  Oh yes, it is one of those days.  I had planned on doing a training video, but instead I get to bath pups while the backyard dries up.

I’ve been attempting to get grass to grow in the backyard since we moved here in June.  The house we purchased had been vacant for over a year, and with the drought conditions here in TX, the grass was gone in the back yard.  Slowly I have been watering, with a timer on the hose, to conserve water and grow grass at the same time.  The timer is such that if you turn it one way, it counts down like a kitchen timer and shuts off after the time elapses.  However, if you turn it the other way, it will stay on.  The pups somehow bumped the timer and kicked it to the full ON position.

I suppose the upside is that I did have a hose attached, so I do not have a mud pit next to the house.  The pups did sprinkle the yard, even if in the joy of the water ended with break up a great deal of my tiny grass sprigs.  It will grow, eventually.