A muggy morning.

 Today's sunrise was muted by grey clouds.  It looked like rain and it did drizzle for a bit, but nothing heavy.  I planted a few seedlings and took  a break at around 9am to admire the mountains.

And then four dogs ran past me, straight to Kim's place.  What the heck?  This is the second time this week that they pushed loose again.

I checked the latch,  It was turned up, but the gate was not entirely open as the collar I use to keep the gate from opening wide was still attached to the gate.  The dogs had squeezed through.  Fritz and Wolfie were still in the back.  They are too big to squeeze through a four-inch opening.

Hansel, Gretel and Zana came back to me within a few minutes.  I put them in the Honda.  Only Gretchen was still on the loose.  She took her sweet time to come back to me.  The other three were patient probably because being in the car means they are going to the river.  I didn't want to disappoint them. 

I don't blame Gretchen for breaking out.  She doesn't get the chance to walk off-leash when I walk her because she has no recall.  She loves to run and she likes being chased, but I don't chase her.  I simply wait for her to come back exhausted, with her tongue hanging out.  But obviously because of her break-out record and my neighbor Kim, I can't take chances with her running loose.

It was 10am when Gretchen came back,  She went inside to drink.  I took the other three to the Big Wash.  She looked like she was ready to chill.

I wanted to check out the Big Wash again.  I've  been taking the dogs to the Lehner Kill site parking area all week because the trail is not as muddy as other trails I use.  It's a short hike of just over two miles.  Today I wanted something more challenging,  It had been five days since our last big rain and the trail to the river would be dry enough to walk without getting stuck in sticky mud.

The dogs had a blast chasing each other.  We went to two miles out and then back. The creosote bushes are in bloom again and the trail is overgrown near the water.

We were back home again by noon.  From there I went into town to get new carabiners for the gate so that I have no more breakouts.

It was muggy all day, but despite the forecast, we never got a severe storm or dust storm that was predicted.  The clouds and storm stayed to our east.