Rainy Day Wardrobe

Rainy and windy. Windy and rainy. And I am not complaining!

I did, however, plan to run this morning - something I have taken up again now that the outdoor temperature has dipped down to liveable degrees. At 9:30 am, I got out of my jammers (because when you work out of your home, you are allowed to work at your desk in your jammers till... whenever!), and I put on my running pants, t-shirt, jacket (because the house was 66º), and my running shoes. It was raining - nay, pouring! Cats and dogs! And little fishes, too! But the hour-by-hour online weather stated that at 10:00 am, there would be no rain. I took this online weather channel at its word.

Its word was wrong.

I think it rained all day long. That's OK, though, because we really, really needed the rain. Even though I traipsed through the rain to run errands at the grocery store and the post office and USDA (that would be that Spouse o' Mine's office), and my cello lesson. Rain, rain, rainy-rain.

Then I got home, still wearing my running clothes, still in my Pollyanna mindset that the cloud cover might break and I could have a quick jaunt down the road. Such was not to be.

Well, next on my agenda was feeding animals and frolicking with the bloodhound. The thing with Beau the bloodhound is that he has a need, a deep need, to exert energy enough to burn off several million calories every day. If a human or other canine is not around to support his need, he will find ways to burn off this stored energy on his own, and his activity is often seen as unacceptable by us humans. (Chewing up his toys, chewing off the tree limbs, digging little holes all over the dog yard, chewing on dog bowls, lawn mower handles, little paper pieces found in the burn pile...) well! You might get the picture. I suspect this was the reason his former owners searched for a new home for him.

Lesson to anybody thinking about a pet: if you are a young married couple, with one toddler and a baby, let me just tell you: that adorable (and I stress ADORABLE) little (and I stress LITTLE) bloodhound puppy you are thinking about purchasing will in no way fit into your fine little family in 12 more months. Don't even consider a pet whose potential weight will be 120 lbs by the time he is 18 months old, with an energy level that rises exponentially with each month and inch of growth. Sheesh. I cannot even imagine what Beau's former owners were thinking when they purchased him.

But boy, am I digressing; I was talking about rain. As I stepped out of my running clothes and hung them by the wayside for another day, I put on some already-worn old grey sweatpants and brown sweatshirt. Old socks. Boots. Hat and old gloves. Rain and bloodhound clothes!

Off I went to feed animals and to frolic with the giant puppy. Not to neglect our smaller-yet-still-large dog, Biserka the Bouvier. She wants attention, too, but not the rollicking frolic that Beau requires. So I spent quality time with both dogs, in the rain, mud, and wind.

When that Spouse o' mine came home from work, I came in. I pulled off the boots, the hat, and the gloves. I stripped off the sweat pants and sweatshirt. I thought. Hmm... not so bad just yet that they couldn't be used for another canine frolic in the rain and mud. Not clean, though. Hang them next to the running clothes.

I need some pegs in the mudroom for all activities of my day, jammers through mud-frolic, and in-between.