Mentally Deficit Animals

So, I'm starting to see a theme our animals seem to have going around here. Apparently our new puppy is so entirely stupid that she, for some unbeknownst reason to all mankind, decided to leap out of the bed of a moving truck. Granted, we were only going 20 mph but it was enough to do damage. We all piled up a few nights ago to go driving around town in the cooler air of sunset. Brad and I needed to look at property for the business and the children were rowdy and ready to have some fun. Athena and Cricket jumped in and we were off. With all of the older ones in the bed of the truck and Garrett, Gavin and Ivye inside we drove slowly down dirt roads stopping to talk to the occasional neighbor. We wove our way through streets with both dogs hanging heads out into the open air doing their dog thing. We crept our way up to a whopping 20 mph. Suddenly at some point in there I suppose Cricket decided she was ready to smell the world. The reasoning behind her actions were non existent...except for just sheer, stupid dog syndrome. And she just bailed. Out in the middle of the road doing 20 she hit with a loud resounding thud. I missed all the action but Brad was a little put out with her to say the least. He just kept looking in the rear view and side mirrors saying "Oh my gosh...she jumped! She's out. She just jumped. I heard her hit." I'm thinking, "One of the girls jumped????" assuming it was Aubrey but trying to put it altogether since it just didn't click. I mean, Aubrey does some very Aubrey things but jumping from the bed of a moving truck is not one of them. I turned around but saw nothing on the road. Finally I asked "Who???" for the 50th time and he answered that it was the dog. This whole time he's still sitting while children are shouting that she's on the road. Before going to her aid I ask if she's dead. Still not able to see anything he informed me that she was still moving. The only thing that went through my head was the fact we were fixing to go through yet another dog. So, I throw open the door and run to where she lay whimpering. She lifted her head so I gently scooped her up off the road and laid her back in the bed of the truck with 15 kids all coming to her side to calm and comfort her. Then....she just gets up and starts walking. What the crap??? She drug her back leg around and I was quite convinced at that point that she had succeeded in breaking it. Brad checked her over but there wasn't much we could do. Knowing his wrath would be soon to follow at being out the expense on a mentally deficit animal I quietly concluded that I would call the vet when we reached home. And, of course, he blew. His argument was to let her wait til morning since it was, of course, after hours and we would be required to make a trip to the emergency vet clinic into the big town. He refused and said she could wait til morning. Sooooo...that's just not how I was raised to take care of animals. I finally decided I'd just call to at least get dosing info on Tylenol or Motrin to ease the pain. Needless to say, it was a quiet ride back home and the mood of the night had been more than a little shattered. 3 legged dog, children crying and him seething. We arrived home and I gently placed her on the ground. She limped around for a moment and then began miraculously using her 4th leg though the pressure she put on it was limited. Once there was a glimmer of hope going Brad came back over and checked her over a little more thoroughly and surmised that her leg was not broken at all. At that point I couldn't decide if he was trying to pacify me and deter me from making phone calls or if he was rather certain all was intact.

Cricket proceeded to trot/limp to the backyard. We agreed to just take the wait and see approach. By the time bedtime was upon us and the time to kennel them came she was running wildly around the backyard. Soooo.....that's kinda weird. I put them up figuring we'd re-evaluate come morning. Grayson let them out the next morning and she was back to being the fireball that she is, as if she'd never fallen out of the bed of a truck.



Life is never dull and our days are filled with crazy entirely uncommon antics........but, I think that seriously had to be about the stupidest thing any animal has ever done around here. Between suicidal roosters and bungee-less jumping dogs it's a miracle any animal survives in our care. No wait....on 2nd thought......we have very few that do. No vet trip was ever needed...or pain killers for that matter. So, she's fine and we're back to summer days spent hard at play. She has since taken another truck ride but wasn't so keen on it and certainly showed no signs of wanting to bail.



And I figured I'm entirely behind on pics so here's a ton of how we spend very hot summer days.

Team work in cleaning out the toy cabinet.

Never far from her side

Lazarus fitting in nicely around here. Despite the fact we have told the children we will never have an indoor cat somehow we managed to turn a feral cat into this spoiled rotten house cat. He's so much cuter than those 1st few days we had him.


Ivye having discovered some foreign substance. She has got to be the world's worst at putting stuff in her mouth and eating...or gagging on......whatever she can. This time I'm thinking it was Hershey's syrup so it went down easily and was apparently enjoyed quite a bit.

Looking at property in 105 degree heat. Fun. The 1st time we've used the stroller since Garrett! I thought that was kind of funny when I realized it. It felt kind of foreign. I have come to LOVE babywearing...just not when it's 105 and we're hiking outside!

They didn't seem to care how hot it was. Any day is a good day for exploring.


Entirely proud of his accomplishment.

Slumber party night. He just moved from upper bed to lower bed but it seemed to be the thrill of a lifetime for all involved.

Aubrey's new bed buddy

Backyard water slide

Doesn't get much better than this!
Everybody gets in on it but these are the ones that stood still long enough that day to get pics of.

And it hasn't rained here in a month. Nope....this is what the backyard looks like after putting the sprinkler under the trampoline for days on end. Everyone benefits.

Hot sunny days

When I can't get to him fast enough somebody's always there to fill in.....or keep him quiet so he doesn't blow their cover since they did, after all, sneak a bowl full of yogurt right before dinner.

And what happens when you went sliding and jumping all day and got full on yogurt.

He, on the other hand, is still playing.

Still playing

Sweet happy boy

Stupid dog

Sweet, content, happy, happy girl

And what the girls do to my hair when they've had enough of the heat and make their way indoors.