Bad Timing

As I started out on the drive up to the park this afternoon, I saw a very dark cloud that looked to be heading right for us. I had Maya, Theo, and Serena with me and they were all eager and anxious to walk so I parked the van and we started off. I don't think we had even gone a quarter mile when the wind really started to blow and then the rain began. Wind-driven rain is cold, but it got even colder when the rain began to turn to hail. It was very soft and just turned to little white splotches when it hit, but it was cold.

Serena's got a great shaped head in profile.

It occurred to me that I could probably construct a visual anemometer based on the effect of wind on Great Dane ears. The normally erect shepherd ears are held back flat against the head in strong wind, but Dane ears are totally at the mercy of the wind. You can tell the direction and velocity of the wind by its effect on the ears.

We were only out long enough for two of the three dogs to poop in public. We made it to a trash can for me to deposit the bags and then turned around and headed back to the van. Everyone agreed on heading back and we made better time than we usually do with three dogs on a walk.

We got back to the van and the dogs piled in together, trying to get as far inside as possible. The thing is, if I had been 15 minutes later, or just waited it out, we would have had clearing skies and a nice walk. 

But we came home, reminded of the lines from Mary Chapin Carpenter's "I Feel Lucky":

The sky began to thunder, the wind began to moan, 

I heard a voice above me saying, 'Girl, you better get back home.'

It wasn't too bad starting out, ears in normal position.

That's Serena's happy tail position and you can see that Theo's
ears are still pointed up as a shepherd's should be.

When the hail started it was a race back to the van.

Maya's lower profile helps and she walks
behind to to block the wind.

Theo led the way.

Those white spots on Theo's face are the hail.

This is pretty high up on the wind scale. Theo's ears flattened
against his head to avoid the wind, and Serena's are blown back.

Everyone wanted to get as far inside as possible.

On the drive home.

The clouds were dark but they moved quickly and the sun came out by the time we got home.

Smokey and Max were in the dog yard.

It turned out to be a pretty evening after that was over, but no one was agitating to go out again.
We will try again tomorrow.