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So far it had been a quiet morning. After a cool evening and night, the sun was warming things nicely. The forcast was for a high of seventy nine. There was a heavy dew during the night, and the morning mist was beginning to clear, helped by a light, mild breeze.
Thinking the grass would be dry shortly, I lingered over email and paying a couple of bills. A third cup of coffee was in order as I dawdled over getting stamps put on a couple of envelopes.
Yep, a quiet, laid back day off was looming over the horizon, and I was going to soak it all up.
Sugar the Rat Terrier squirrel dog had spent the night in the house. A rare treat for her. She was ready to go outside when I opened the door, flipping the coffee pot on as we went by. I left the door ajar a bit so Sugar could come in when she was ready. Computer on and email checked, breakfast finished and Sugar forgotten. She didn't come back in. Which is a bit unusual. Her habit was to come back in with her shiney coat all wet from hunting in the dew, wanting to be dried off with a old coarse textured deer camp towell. She didn't show up for that, and I forgot. I was engrossed in bill paying.
With a cup of coffee in one hand and the stack of bills in the other, I headed up the driveway to the mailbox, opening the kennels of the other squirrel dogs. Barking, yipping and bounding ran rampant as the pack was released into the fresh morning air.
Continuing up the drive to the mail box, the dogs raced ahead. Each of them choose a special fence post or flower by the mail box to hike a leg on. I was just a few steps short of being at the mail box.
Movement coming fast towards me up the county road caught my eye. It was Sugar. She was running as fast as she could. Low to the ground. Ears pinned back. Not making a sound. At first I thought something was after her, but she wasn't running quite like that.
All of the other dogs were focused on their flower watering project, and hadn't seen Sugar, yet. When I finaly realized what was actually happening it was almost too late for me to do anything about it.
A grey Squirrel wasn't visible to me because of a fence post, until it was very close ! Sugar had catching it on her mind and was totaly focused on that ! The squirrel was within ten feet of me before I saw it. And I was between it and the large red oak tree at the end of the driveway. That squirrel was going to have to climb me in order to escape Sugar !
Instantly pandemoneium broke out. The other squirrel dogs cut their water off and leaped to intercept the fleeing grey squirrel, and I was at the intercept point !
It was a whole lot like when some GI would throw a beer can into the rapidly whirling ceiling fan of a Saigon bar, hollering loudly, "IN COMING" ! Everyone would try to uproot the tables and chairs attempting to get under them. The same type of drill here !
Coffee going one way, mail the other, I hit the ground. The squirrel had nothing to climb, so it bounded over me, to the red oak. The dogs all in pursuit, jumped over me in their rush to the tree.
It was loud and exciting to the dogs. And there I sat. In the middle of the driveway. Astonished that neither the dogs or the squirrel had scratched my eyes out in their frenzied chase.
Unhurt, I began to laugh loudly over the scene we presented to the world, and no one was there to enjoy it but us.
The squirrel was safe in the tree, the coffee stained bills were in the mailbox, and the dogs and I were on our way back down the driveway, when I remembered the song about the day that the Mississppi squirrel went to church, and got up the guys pants leg.
The dogs kept looking at me as I laughed. It was as though they were saying, " what are you laughing about ? The squirrel got away !"