How would you like to be away from home a few hours, then return and discover that the larger of your two dogs had attacked and critically injured your smaller dog?

I got an e-mail recently from Linda Knight telling of her experience. It's a story that's too horrible to imagine. I asked Linda for permission to use her story. I believe it will help all of us dog lovers appreciate our pets even more. Let's listen to the story in Linda's own words.

"I read your weather e-mail every weekday and love reading about Molly. Make sure to cherish every moment with her that you can. My Shih-tzu, Leah, was killed on Sunday by my other larger dog while I was away from the house. A total freak accident took away my 10-year companion and no amount of money or tears could give me a second chance to turn back time and fix it for her. She lived long enough to let me know that she knew I was there and then God took her to be with Him. At least where she is she will never hurt and the injuries she sustained will be whole. I would like to commend veterarian Keri Riddick and her staff at the Emergency and Specialty Animal Medical Center off of Acton Road. They did everything in their power to make it ok, but she ended up dying from complications from perhaps a blood clot. So, again, spend every moment, and love everything she does like there's no tomorrow because freak accidents happen. And, we all know how dominant a Shih-tzu can be. They are 10-feet tall and bullet prrof to have them tell it. This one time she didn't have me there to back her up and for that I will forever feel the guilt and pain of not being there to be her ultimate protector."

Linda continues in her own words: "Always let Molly give you kisses and know that when she runs up to give you kisses in your mouth that one day you will miss those nasty little kisses, so let her have them now. Never turn down a chance to share Molly's love because you will never find a love as pure and neverfailing as hers. Leah and Sally had lived inside together without any problems for more than four years. As I have stated, my guilt for being overly confident in Leah's safety with Sally is something that I will never get over, but I will have to learn from it. It was a lesson that had too high a price."

And more from Linda, "This has been a reminder that there is an innate instinct in animals that, no matter how much we try, we cannot take out of them. I am to blame for humanizing them. Since the incident, Sally has grieved tremendously, lying on Leah's bed, looking for her throughout the house, not eating, and not having anything to do with anyone. I never would have believed that she would have been taking her actions as hard as she has. This has taught me a valuable lesson that will only make me a better and more realistic parent in the future. I hope you and Molly get to spend some quality time between the bad weather events."

That is the story from Linda. I included a shorter version of it in the Thursday afternoon e-forecast and 7-day discussion, but there was just not enough room to describe the whole event. I certainly feel for Linda and she is offering to let us use her story to encourage us all to not take our pets for granted and to enjoy the time we have with them since they are not around forever. As I mentioned in the e-forecast, I am a strong person emotionally, but Linda's story made me misty eyed.

Life goes on...

Wanted to touch on a bit of light-hearted stuff because there will be no time for that the next couple of days. Bad weather coming in Wednesday. Little Miss Molly will be ignored again and she will again go into "hunker-down" mode if loud thunder rolls across her Tiny Corner.

Sure did enjoy my early morning walk with her. Everything is so lush and green. The common area along the walking track has been freshly mowed and it is so pretty. The birds were relatively quiet this morning so there was no unusual excitement.

Little Miss Molly did see the new dog on the block at a distance this morning. She pulled me toward him as fast as I could move. When she got closer, Molly realized that the dog was 3X her size and slowed down. She would take three steps foward and pause...then look back at me. She wanted to make sure I was still there to protect her.

Since she was attacked by a larger dog who chased her into our back yard over a year ago, she has been very jittery around big dogs. She loves dogs her size. That incident resulted in my wife getting a broken wrist.

Spring is rushing in and I am not ready for it. Varmints are already coming out of the woodwork--worms, spiders, you name it.

I wish it was Autumn arriving instead of spring...that is my favorite season followed by winter--my second favorite.

Life goes on...we have to take the good with the bad.

Well, it happens often when sleeping hours go askew during long severe weather events...bottom line, here I am well rested at 2 AM, early--very early--on this Thursday morning.

Sat down in my recliner last evening at 8 o'clock to catch up on two days back issues of The Birmingham News and USA Today. All I remember was the top headline on USA Today and then I passed out. It evolved into a super-solid five-hour power nap--actually a top-of-the line power nap. I understand that my little 9-pound shadow, Miss Molly, took her 5 hour power nap only inches away. She will not let me out of her sight since I had to ignore her for 24 hours during Tuesday's severe weather.

I just gotta cut down on my subscription list. One of my favorite new publications is "The Week." Not the "This Week" that you see in Sunday newspapers. Instead it could be called the Readers Digest of national and world events. Very interesting. I dearly love to read. Even when I don't have time to read, I feel good having reading material around me.

I also love to write. So here I am with a cup of fresh coffee. It tastes great at 1:30 AM. Since the weather story is already well covered by James, I will spill out a paragraph or so on one of my other favorite subjects, Little Miss Molly.

As soon as she and I awoke from our twin power naps at 1 AM, the little rascal was ringing the tiny bell on the back door knob. She needed to go. So, away we go on a walk in the middle of the night. She wanted to go the entire half-mile walking track but I negotiated. There is one neighbor's dog, a permanent back-yard resident, who always barks loudly when we walk by. I did not want to trigger the dog into waking people up two houses away. So, I offered Molly a middle-of-the-night treat. As soon as she heard the word, "treat" she was pulling me down the track heading home.

The world is eerily quiet at 1 AM. We did not see any varmints and heard not a peep from all our friends in the bird world. They were all asleep and, no doubt, dreaming of a nice, long, juicy worm. Thought I heard one old crow snoring but can't be sure. Probably my imagination. .

Molly finished her treat quickly and immediately started petitioning for a play session. We did. She is very persuasive. She has learned to "plant" her favorite toys at various places around the house so she can grab one in seconds when she thinks I might play. She had one wedged in the corner of the easy chair in the master bedroom and another tucked under a blanket on the bed. She knew exactly where they were and dug both out for our romp session. After 15 minutes, both our tongues were hanging out.

Hope you don't mind this middle-of-the-night intrusion of worthless chatter. Nice thing about this blog--you can scan down rapidly to the next subject when you see something you are not interested in.

Now, it's almost 2 AM. Molly is winding down. She will probably sleep till 9 but my automatic, built-in alarm clock will have me up making fresh coffee at 5 AM and ready for a new day. I am at my best at 5, only to start downhill at 5:01 AM.

Molly is either going to kill me or make me live 15 years longer. I vote for the latter!

Life goes on...

It is a cold, raw wet afternoon in my Tiny Corner of the World. By 5 PM, 0.46 of an inch of rain had fallen with a brisk wind. I love a chilly, rainy day like this but it sure does pose problems when you-know-who needs to go to the bathroom. Just took Little Miss Molly out and I tried to hang close under the eve of the house while Molly made a quick dash into the wet grass and wet it even more.

I feel guilty bailing out of church tonight--especially our current Sunday Night Bible study in the book of Mark. Howsomever, I am making good use of the extra time by catching up on some active (very active) play sessions with Molly. She just jumped up on the king-size bed, burrowed under her blue blanket wanting to play hide-and-seek. She occasionally would pop only her head from the blanket and grab at me. I owe her some extra play time.

I also stayed home because of being way behind on bunches of non-weather stuff. But I expect the combination of Little Miss Molly and the current interesting weather going on to shoot down getting much of that done.

Sometimes, I wish I wasn't interested in weather. But it is very much like "printer's ink" and "railroading" addictions.

Life goes on--wet or dry, warm or cold.

+ Seems like I walked three miles with Little Miss Molly Sunday, but really it was about two miles. She was constantly ringing the little bell and putting pressure on me. Sure was a bite in the air--especially on our late, late walk just before midnight. Even I, the warmest-natured guy north of the equator, wore a light coat. After church, Molly and I had an exhausting 45 minutes of play including a "doggie" ballgame and a long tug-of-war. She was so pooped afterwards that she just fell over and went sound to sleep. I tried taking a 30-minute power nap, but she came in and cancelled it. Woe is me.

+ On our Sunday morning walk, we saw three large cardinals. Was surprised. I had not seen one since late summer. Also saw two mockingbirds. Heard two old crows talking but could not see them. The Old Crow Motel looked lonely--not a single bird resting on any of the limbs.

+ One of the heaviest frosts so far this season out our way Sunday morning.

+ A short distance up the north part of the walking track is a "baby" cedar tree only about five feet tall. Molly insists on pausing and sticking her nose into the base of the tree. Don't know why...just another one of her quirky little habits. Maybe it is some type of "message board" for dogs.

+ It is midnight. Why can't I get to bed on time? Poor little Molly--no wonder her sleeping pattern is all mixed up. She is still up walking around. I will automatically awaken at 5 o'clock even without setting the alarm clock. Early mornings are my favorite time of the day. Nothing quite like a good cup of fresh coffee and the morning paper to start the day. It is also my "Molly-free" time!

+ It is a stark and barren landscape in our Tiny Corner of the World now but that has a beauty of its own....was somewhat disappointed in the autumn color this time...splashes of outstanding color...but over all not up to par. I had fully intended to spend a night atop Mt. Cheaha in the wonderful facillities on Alabama's highest point...and also a night at Desoto State Park. And, I was determined to take a drive up the Paint Rock River Valley--one of my favorite drives in the state. However, after the color seemed to fizzle, I did not do any of those. Sure going to try again next fall--my very favorite time of the year.

+ It is very late--I'm outa here. Going to try to sneak past Molly to the bedroom. If she sees me, she will want to play some more even though it is past midnight. I am going to have to take some energy pills to keep up with that little dynamo!

Sure has been an exciting 24 hours for Little Miss Molly. Last night was the annual grandkids "spend-the-night" to bake and decorate Christmas cookies, play games and just have fun.

All this despite the fact that my wife had knee surgery yesterday. She is doing fine.

Molly loves all six of the grandkids dearly and when they are around, Miss Molly cancells all of her naps. I took the little rascal out for a late night walk in the wind and rain. By then she was way, way short on her beauty sleep. When I took her out again this morning the weather had changed completely. The wind chill was somewhere way down in the pits. After Miss Molly did her "business" and again tried to cover it up, I mentioned the word "treat" and she headed for home at breakneck speed pulling me behind her. That is a magic word for her and one sure way to get her to want to come back home.

One of our readers sent an interesting email explaning that when dogs try to scratch the ground and "cover up" their bathroom business, that, in reality, they are scratching out their territory, leaving their scent, to warn other dogs not to invade. That's interesting. I knew tigers, lions and other wild animals did that.

I got up at 5 this morning and Molly was at a fever pitch wanting to awaken the grandkids. Instead, I picked her up and tippy-toed into my weather office and shut the door. Then I sneaked into the kitchen to get my first delicious, delectable and flat-out great tasting cup of Maxwell House. Molly knew I would be back in a minute or so. When I opened the office door to come back in, she shot between my legs like a minute-man missle. In about three huge leaps, she became airborne and landed on one of the grandkids sleeping on the couch and was all over her trying to wake her up. Today, Molly has had zero naps afraid that she will miss something. But when the kids go home, Miss Molly will sleep most of two days. Hey, I may get a break! Life goes on whether it be warm or wind chill in the teens!

Sure is funny watching Little Miss Molly and her PD (Puppy Doctor). Well, not really, because she shakes like a leaf when we take her. She got her rabies shot this morning, plus a complete checkup for things like heartworms. She passed with flying colors. Strangely enough, when we got back in the car, she did not shake. She relates getting in the car with going to the doctor.

Another strange trait. Molly acts like it is her mission to chase away all the cats in the world. However, when we are at the PD's office, there are always a couple of cats (office cats) that are lying around either in a chair or on the service counter. She totally ignores them--will not even look at them. I assume that means that she thinks her responsibility is to get rid of cats only from her Tiny Corner of the World.

We went beddie-bye at 10:30 last night--much earlier than usual. She objected. She is used to going on a "fast-as-a-Cheetah" rampage through the house around 11 at night and she expects a late night ball game or chase.

Lots of frost when we walked early this morning. When she squatted to do her business in the frost-covered grass, she did it in a hurry! It is interesting to observe all of her little rituals. She has a bunch. Too bad a two-year old is already so set in her ways...but life goes on even on frosty mornings.

The frost was already heavy when Little Miss Molly and I took a midnight walk. Same story on our early morning walk today. But that did not discourage that little ball of energy. Zip here, zip there, change directions, go backwards, you name it. I have to be constantly on guard to adjust to her to avoid whiplash. I barely avoided whiplash this morning when a mockingbird flew low over our heads. Molly jumped up and pawed at it even though it was 10 feet over her head. Then she took off after it and almost jerked me backwards.

Her tiny nostrils are only about the size of the opening in the tip of a ballpoint pen, so it is a mystery how she can be going at breakneck speed with her nose skimming the cold grass and still pick up all the scents. One of these days she is going to misjudge and burrow her nose into the ground and turn a flip. I will die laughing when she does. This morning we met another shih-tsu on the walking track. They briefly kissed and kept going.

When we got back home, I had to get out a bunch of garbage and recycle stuff to the curb. I left the garage door open very briefly, but during that brief time Molly saw the shih-tzu pass by again. She came racing out through the garage and across the driveway so fast that her tail was sticking straight out. She wanted to rub noses with the doggie again. She also looked "fancy free" because she had escaped without a leash. Wish I had a 50-acre fenced in area to turn her loose...another late bedtime last night. After our midnight walk, we did not fall asleep until almost 2:00 a.m. Molly would make an excellent "weather dog" because the mixed up hours don't seem to bother her. Life goes on.

If you looked up "inclement weather" in the dictionary, it would probably refer you to Sunday across most of Alabama. Difficult to schedule Little Miss Molly on her walks. Instead just quick dashes to the edge of the house to "do her business"

However, we did get in one half mile trek before the heavier rain set in. (A total of 2.40 inches in My Tiny Corner of the World.) It was a steady light rain and we both love to walk in the rain. I am even prone to singing at a time such as that.

Sunday afternoon, after the downpour gave way to light rain, here we go on another half mile walk. The Old Crow Creek was really flowing. (That's a wet weather stream than comes down off the east side of a mountain behind our place.) It is near the Old Crow Motel. It was natural to name it that.

We heard one lone bird trying to sing but it sounded more like a gargle. At least he was "singing in the rain."

Life goes on with puppies, birds, humans despite buckets of rain.

I am relived to know that we have decided NOT to give Little Miss Molly a bath today. Instead, we will wait until Monday when she already has an appointment with the vet to update her shots, grooming, and, of course, a bath. We will ask for a special shampoo that adds moisture to her dry skin.

She scratches very frequently because of her dry skin problem. We also started her on a special dog food yesterday that aids that problem.

One of our readers suggested goggles when we try to give her a bath. We are thinking raincoats!

The last time we "bathed" Molly, she suddenly came roaring up out of the bath water wiggling like an eel. She looked just like a missle being launched out of an underground silo. Her ears were laid back to help her aerodymatics. When she landed on the tile floor she shook from head to toe as a dog does when coming out of a swimming pool. We not only had to change clothes but we had to mop also!

Three cheers for her vet!