Sunday Songs and a Swamp Dog

Went to church this morning with the girls and their friend S.

Here are the songs we sang:
Open The Eyes Of My Heart
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Shout To The Lord
Lord, I Lift Your Name on High
Lord Reign In Me

My favorite today was Shout To The Lord.

Hope you enjoy!

Lucy decided to take off this afternoon for the swamp that is WAY far behind our house.

That was not a good thing.

I will back the story up a bit.

Picture a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

The sky is a beautiful blue.  The sun is shining.  The birds are singing.  It's warm.  As in warmer than it should be in mid-March. We will gladly take the 70 degrees this time of year.

The girls had their friend S over.  S slept over last night and we had a great morning at church.

We came home, had a nice lunch and then all 3 girls headed outside to play.  Of course it was so warm that they had to change into shorts.  And tank tops.  I think they were a bit optimistic with the tank taps.  But, it was very warm in the sun.

So, all 3 girls are outside playing and I think that Lucy is in the house with me.  I have the back door open and *thought* I had closed the gate on the deck to keep her contained.

Apparently the gate was open.

All of a sudden, E comes in from the garage and says, "Mom!!!  Lucy is outside! She almost ran across the road but she turned around and is running towards the woods!"

Instantly I know this is trouble.

I go outside and sure enough there goes Lucy, or as I may call her now "the dog", running farther into the woods.  I can tell she's on a scent.  Nose to the ground and running.

So not paying attention to me.  And now she's out of sight.  And I have gone a bit into the woods at this point.

I call.  I call.  I call.  And yes, I call again.  NOTHING.

Now I am IRRITATED.  About 5-10 minutes(yet it feels like an eternity) go by and she is still not back.

Because it is so warm out I have very cute ballet flats on my feet.  They are definitely not a "tromping in the woods trying to find my very disobedient dog" type of shoe.

So now I decide I need to get my sneakers from the house to go look for "the dog".

The girls come to meet me at the edge of the woods.  I tell them to stand there and whistle/call do whatever to try to get "the dog" to come home.

I have barely made it to the deck stairs when I can tell by the excited sounds from the girls that they can see "the dog".

I start my way back to the girls.  Then I hear them say, "Oh Lucy!  What did you do?"

And then I saw her.  And my beautiful Golden Retriever is BLACK.  Yes, BLACK!

Did I mention that I was irritated?????

She could barely look at me as she lay on the ground.  She knew.

Trouble.

This picture doesn't even do justice to how DIRTY this dog was.  And she had small little sticks all stuck in her tail feathers.

"Oh Mommy!  I couldn't help it!  The swamp smelled so good!  And the mud, oh the mud!"

After taking these few pictures, it was back down to the grass and the garden hose. It is amazing how dogs know a person's feelings.  Because trust me, this dog knew I was not happy with her.  I am thinking my tone of voice definitely got my point across to her.

She just lay on the ground while I hosed her off and moved her around.

Then I locked her up on the deck for an hour to dry off.  And she was still dirty.

So, I brought her in the house and gave her another bath in the bathtub.  And scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed.

And then she was back on the deck outside to dry off some more.

Laying all dejected on the deck because she is being ostracized.

Every now and then she would wander by the french door and look in through the window.  Note the extremely sad ears.  And the eyes.  Definitely dejected and ostracized.

"Please can I come inside?  I am mostly dry.  And I kinda, sorta promise I won't run to the swamp ever again.  Unless the water & mud smells that good.  Then I can't be sure of anything.  Aren't  I cute?"

She really is lucky I love her so much.  After being ostracized on the deck for about 2 1/2 hours, I finally took pity and let her in for good.

But only on the rug just inside the door.

"Yes, mommy.  I will stay right here and be a good dog."

She is asleep on the floor by the couch where I am sitting.  Usually she is up on the couch with me.  Not tonight.  She hasn't even "asked".

I did stop referring to her as "the dog" and she's Lucy again.

Oh Lucy.  You are still a bit of a dirty dog.  I am hoping I don't need to give you another bath tomorrow.

potd #76.  Swamp Dog.  Trouble.