An Eventful Forced March

Hi all, Mabel here. I am posing in my warm, sunny and wonderful back yard. The snow, ice and cold are gone! I had to do a little "Diva Dance" when I went outside today!

When Mama #2 took me and my sisters out on a forced march it was still sunny and warm. 

Exciting!

Actually, the march was much more exciting than any of us expected!

All of us, including my anxiety prone twin sister, Harley, marched up and down the streets of our neighborhood. We marched by houses with objects in the yards. When we march at night, the objects are lit up with brightly colored Christmas lights. I love the lights, but the unlit objects look a little spooky in daylight. We'd just marched by a house with many, many spooky, unlit shapes in front when we turned a corner and came face to face (literally!) with shapes Mama #2 called, "Mr. and Mrs. Claus."

They were right by the street we were walking on. 

They were huge! They looked spooky!

And Harley went BESERK!

Harley barked and yipped and jumped and ran back and forth. Her eyes bugged out and her anxiety soared off the scale.

Mama #2 tugged and pulled at Harley's neck rope and urged her to keep marching.

Harley refused.

She wanted to find a way to "take out" Mr. and Mrs. Claus. 

I marched over to her and firmly gave her a gentle shove and told her to move on.

That's when Harley ran under the gray fence.

When Harley ran back under the fence (still barking), I saw she had a gray stripe down her back.

Uh oh!

Mama #2 tried to get Harley to quit barking and march, but Harley (grey stripe and all) kept barking and bugging her eyes out until Mama #2 grabbed her and started to jog.

I picked up my paws and we all ran a couple of blocks. I don't really like running, but I'll do anything for Harley. And Harley really, really needed to move on.

Mama #2 finally put her down and started to look at Harley's new gray stripe. I was afraid my sister might have just turned into a skunk!

Mama #2 rubbed and rubbed, and finally, rubbed that stripe right off Harley's back.

Whew! My sister is not a skunk.

We'd just started marching again, when we marched right into a Schnauzer. Yes, a mid-sized medium gray Schnauzer came out of an alley right on top of us.

Shocking.

Harley had just started to calm down and to catch her breath when she just had to start barking again. 

Sometimes, she just has to bark and a collision with a Schnauzer is definitely barking time.

So, we were off again. We jogged down yet another block. We'd just slowed down to a march again, and guess what?

Here comes that SAME SCHNAUZER waltzing out of yet another alley!

So, it's jogging time again.

We'd barely jogged to the next corner when,

two great, big trucks with big red, blue and white flashing Christmas Lights came screaming around the corner! 

I mean, these trucks were noisy! They zoomed up to house that had some gray smokey stuff hanging around it and then, dozens of people in coats and hats jumped off the trucks and ran up to the house!

Harley had no time to even bark once before Mama #2 tugged on our neck ropes and we were off, jogging yet another block.

I wanted to stay and watch the trucks with the lights, but Mama #2 insisted we keep marching. We marched on, but passed a lot of cars and people that were following those trucks. I wonder if they like big, bright Christmas lights too? 

I wonder if those trucks with the big, flashing Christmas colored lights sit in someone's front yard at night? 

We kept marching and finally, we were home.

And Harley was worn out and semi-calm!

I was so glad to get home! 

I took my chewy bone marching reward and settled down on my favorite comfy couch to catch my breath and get a quick nap.

Maybe night marches in the cold aren't so bad after all.

Here I am, Mabel, keeping my identical twin sister, Harley, calm.

(She's the one in front with the blue collar, just in case you can't tell us apart).