Even the Dog Turned In

     I love the fall for many reasons. I love the colors, the smells, and the temperature. I love the holidays that come with it. Halloween is my favorite holiday, not for the ghouls and goblins, but for the movies (Hocus Pocus, Casper, Sleepy Hallow), the cutesy decorations, and dressing in costumes to collect candy! This is the time of year when everyone starts to gain weight because once you see that first fallen leaf or feel that crisp air, all you want to do is bake! Pinterest thanks you, autumn.  I also can't forget Thanksgiving. That's the day where everyone should get one super indulgent meal for the year.

     In spite of all that, there are also some minor downsides to this season. School starts up again. That's not a bad thing, but the colds and other illnesses that get shared are. I don't know about you, but I get so tired in the fall. The sun doesn't shine quite as long or as bright. With the start of school, I have early mornings as well as some late nights. The beginning of fall is busy and everyone in my household is tired and has a runny nose.

     Yesterday was a fun day. I started the day off going to a craft fair. Orange, green, black,  and purple were displayed everywhere. Cute Halloween decorations were staring at me, begging me to buy them and take them home. I enjoyed them even though I couldn't buy them because I just knew they would probably be destroyed by my inquisitive kids, bulldozer dogs, or my clumsiness. Maybe I can in a year or two when my youngest is a little older. After the craft fair, my husband, kids, and I went to a pumpkin patch. We didn't get to do as much as we normally get to do when we go because wristbands were needed for most everything there, but we did enjoy walking around with some old friends looking at the cute pumpkin displays. After we left the patch, we went to grandma's to spend the rest of the day. We had planned to go out, but my oldest had a headache and they just wanted to stay in and play.

     Since it was a Sunday night, we knew that we would have to go home to get the kids in bed so they could be bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning. My husband put the kids to bed while I let the dogs outside to do their potty business. It was dark out there. My German shepherd/beagle/lab mix dog has been a real jerk, lately and has been letting himself out of the yard by pushing on the gate door. Having been wise to his tricks, I went to the gate immediately to stop him from leaving. He kind of gave me his doggy stink eye to tell me that he did not agree with my decision to keep him from strolling the neighborhood and walked off to do his business.

     As I was waiting for the dogs to do their thing, I got a notification on my phone that it was my turn to play a word on scrabble. I opened up the game and played my turn, unaware of what was happening around me. Suddenly, I heard a noise and a hand was over mouth. I tried to let out a scream, but it was muffled, no way anyone in the house would be able to hear me. Just kidding, just kidding. That didn't happen. what did happen was that I couldn't see Simba (German shepherd mix) in the yard. I let our other dog Juno into the house and then called for Simba. He didn't come. I asked my kids and husband if he was upstairs and they said they hadn't seen him.

     My dog outwitted me. I just knew that he must have been hiding in the shadows by the garage. My feeble phone light source not able to reach that part of the yard. I searched frantically for a flashlight or our lantern, none of them where they were supposed to be. I yelled up the stairs asking if anyone knew where they were, accusing the children of sabotage. I had to go into the kitchen to grab my step stool to search the top of our messy bookcase. The top shelf is where I put the flashlights and everything else that we need that doesn't fit our junk drawer. After moving a few things around, I found one, hiding right where it was supposed to be. I felt a twinge of guilt, but it didn't last long. I had to find the dog whose name should have been Butthead.

     I'm angry at my dog for putting me through this search at night when the lights are low and it's too dark to see without a flash light. I'm embarrassed that my neighbors have to hear me call out, "Simba" for the 100394859259th time this year. Growls of "Where are you, Stupid" are permeating from my lips. I listen for the sounds of neighbor's dogs to see if Simba ran through and activated the dog chain. To the right of me, I hear the German Shepherds down the street barking. I think I've found him. I walk a few feet and shine the flashlight towards that house and don't see Simba. At this point, I'm standing at the edge of the alley behind my house. This one of the alley's that I find him at most. I glare down the gravelly path, shining my flashlights, sounding like Johnny from the Shining. "Where's Simba?" I ask. I casually put in a "Just wait until we get home..." when all of a sudden my phone rings. A tune plays, one that I assigned for my husband. I answer it and he says, "You can come back home, now. Simba was in his kennel the whole time." I gasp, my eyes slit and I say, "Why didn't you check in there before I searched outside?" He asks me why I didn't keep a better eye on the dog. I growl and hang up. Point taken. I walked back home, a sort of walk of shame, and head inside and shut the door behind me.

      You see, we're all tired. Our weeks have been busy. My children are so tired, they didn't notice that the dog that I was searching for was in their room. My husband didn't notice when he was tucking them into bed. I didn't even notice that he went back inside. Fall is a busy time, so busy that even my dog turned in for the night.

     Tell me about your tired mishaps!

Simba, the sneaky dog and my lovely daughter.