Spring 2005

     Shortly after I got the puppies, it started to rain.  And didn't stop.  Now I'm not talking about gentle April showers that are supposed to bring May flowers, I'm talking about torrential down pours.  It rained for the proverbial 40 days and 40 nights.  I kept looking toward the mountains and saying 'There's a lot of snow in them there hills' and getting concerned about flooding.  
     I listen to the radio every day at work and on the 6th of June there was an emergency broadcast of a flood watch for Okotoks and area which is where I lived at the time.  I talked to my boss and told him that I may have to leave early, but would keep an ear on the situation.  Because I had been so concerned about flooding, I had already made arrangements for the horses and myself if I had to evacuate.  When I got home that day, I called my landlord to discuss the situation and he told me "This property has been in the family for the last 50 years and it hasn't flooded yet."  In the grand scheme of things, 50 years is the blink of an eye and I was still concerned but carried on as usual. 
     When I went down the hall to go to bed that night, I put the puppies in their crate (they didn't need to be roaming around all night) and they wouldn't 'settle'.  I couldn't figure out why until I went to get undressed and crawl in to bed.  I looked out the window and saw water in the driveway.  'Holy crap!'  I ran down the hall and looked out the kitchen window and saw water standing on the ball diamond that was right next door.  Double 'Holy crap!'  I immediately got on the phone and called Kaye.  She said that she and her husband Dave would be right down.  I called the guy where the horses were going and let him know what was happening and that we were on the way.  I ran out, hooked up the horse trailer and Kaye arrived.  In the time that this all occured, the water in the back yard had risen to from visible to ankle deep.  Dave went to the basement and started boosting stuff off the floor and Kaye and I went out to get the horses. 
     Now Murphy was never the easiest to catch, it always took a little time and patience, but that night she pretty much stuffed her head in the halter, almost like 'get me the hell out of here.'  I handed her off to Kaye and captured Indiana.  By the time we headed back across the yard, the water was now shin deep and rising fast.  Not only was Murphy a little hard to catch, but she could be difficult to load too.  I had worked with her a little after the Parelli clinic I had taken and she was better, but not 100% yet and when I caught up with Kaye she was trying to run over top of her to get in the trailer.  What a suprise that was.  We got everybody loaded and headed off to Abe's place to drop them off.
     When we got there, Abe was asleep on the couch, but I managed to rouse him and he told me which pen to put them in and where I could put the trailer but that he wanted a ride to town; his buddy was in the pub and he was buying.  Ok, I have a river running through my house and you want a ride to the pub?
     By the time we got back to the house the water was thigh deep and I went in, grabbed some clothes, rescued the puppies and Harley and off we went to Kaye's house.  The landlord spent the night with 2 sump pumps running to keep the water to a managable level in the basement and I spent the night at Kaye's. 
     I got back in the house a couple of days later and we all thought that all was well.  The FHU happened to be home the weekend after all this happened and suggested that we go and get the girls and bring them home, but my little voice was telling me that it wasn't a good idea.  About a week later, here we go again with the emergency broadcast.  Ok, I'll keep an eye on it.
     I had a couple of beers and ended up going to bed at my usual time when something awakened me around eleven.  I went to the window and looked.  Not good, there's water flowing across the driveway.  Crap.  There's water flowing through the ball diamond.  DOUBLE CRAP.  Ok, we're not getting off so easy this time.  I called the landlord and he told me not to go anywhere, the fire department was on the way.  Ok, the water was up to the bumper of my truck, and if I had left then all would have been good.  Nope, the landlord said the the fire department was on the way, so I wasn't going anywhere.  Well, I waited.  And waited.  They finally showed up at midnight.  I had been watching the water get higher and higher and getting more and more concerned.  When they finally arrived they knocked on the front door (which I never used, I was waiting for them on the landing out the back) and asked me "How many occupants in the house?".  "One, and three dogs."  An incredulous "Three?!?".  To which I replied "Don't worry, the old dog will go in one crate and the puppies will go in another."  And away we go.
     They took the old dog across the yard in the crate and loaded her in to the bucket of a front end loader and then in to a pickup that was out on the road and came back and got the puppies.  It wasn't until I was standing on the front step, watching the puppies being loaded in to the bucket that I realized that I could never go 'home' again.  I also started to cry as I watched.  How scared were the girls?  Where's my mom? and where are you taking me?
     Two firefighters came back to get me (at least they could have sent good looking ones!) and we headed across the front yard.  Down one step, water up to my ankles.  Down another, water up to my calves.  Down the last step, water almost up to my crotch.  Ok, my legs are 36" long.  That tells you how deep it was in my front yard.  I was escorted across the yard and very unceremoniously deposited in the bucket of the front end loader and then it was off to Kaye's again.  Being as it was now about 1 in the morning, Kaye had gone to bed, so I let myself in, brought the girls in and crashed myself.
     Unfortunately there was nothing that the landlord could do this time; the river was rising too quickly and it ended up being 6" shy of the floor joists.  Everything in the basement was a write-off.  We had a stand-up freezer down there that was full of meat and stuff.  I had a whole load of dress shirts waiting to go in the wash, and there were several boxes of pictures that also didn't survive.  But you know what?  That was all stuff, and stuff can be replaced.  We all got out alive and safely.
     At that time the puppies were about 10 weeks old and we had ben starting to make some head-way house training.  Unfortunately while I was at Kaye's the girls spent a lot of time in a crate during the day, so by the time we got situated in a new location, they were a little 'un-broke' and we basically had to start over again.  Gotta love Kaye though, we were there for 2 months and she had 3 of her own dogs and 2 of her children still at home, so it definitely was a housefull.