Trick or Treat

 

Trick or treat arrived today, and I don’t know what treat we failed to provide, but Mother Nature was not amused and tricked us with a killing frost.  I noticed this when I was outside at 4:00 a.m., under a waning moon, imploring six puppies to go potty.  Quickly.  It was their first experience with frosted grass and their first time to spend the night in the house since they began toddling around on their own and were moved to the outside pen. 

It was twenty-four hours of firsts for Susie, Sally, Sedric, Scotty, Sirius and Sam.  They had their first ride in the truck, their first visit to the vet and their first time in front of a fire.  Since they had been using the empty fireplace as a playground and napping spot, I was a little concerned that they might catch themselves on fire, but they seem to understand that they can’t get closer than the hearth, which is a fine place to sleep. 

I was dreading the vet trip because at least a couple will inevitably throw up on the way, but miraculously, no one did.  They protested loudly about their confinement in the crate for the first few miles, but soon fell asleep.  All but Scotty, whose puppy screams bounced all over the cab of the truck and continued in the waiting room until I took him out and held him in my lap.  Other than that, their visit went easily, and all were pronounced healthy and well-behaved. Sedric weighed a whopping eight pounds nine ounces while Sally weighed only five pounds nine ounces, with the other four falling midway between the two.  Everyone fell asleep on the way home, and I would have too, if I didn’t have to drive.  Hauling two dog crates full of puppies takes a lot out of you!

Last night, the puppies kept the dog door flapping until bedtime.  The colder temps did not seem to discourage their forays into the yard, and I made more trips outside to round them up than I wanted to, but at bedtime they settled down in the crate and peace descended.  The peace lasted until 4:00, when I started to hear activity and whining.  Outside we went, into a cold, silent moonlit night with stars spread across the sky like tiny spotlights.  The quiet filled the shadows; the only sound being the rustle of leaves under puppy feet.

And tonight is Halloween night, when the quiet cold will echo with the shouts and laughter of children, dressed as their favorite characters, flitting from house to house with cries of “trick or treat!”  Hopefully, their costumes will allow room for extra bundling to fend off the wind chill and there will be plenty of candy to reward their perseverance.  The neighborhoods in town will be festive, with just enough spooky to make the night memorable.  My collie babies will collect extra treats without going door to door, although I did experiment with tiny bat wings on two puppies.  They were not impressed at all.  Sally lay down and refused to get back up and Sam kept pulling at the elastic and growling.  At the Halloween parade this past weekend, I saw several cute dogs in costume.  These puppies are cute enough in their regular fur coats and they will be happy to nap by the fire.  Napping by the fire sounds like a pretty good plan.  I might join them.