Dogs+Mud= Mess

So it finally rained after 40+ days of no rain here in God's country. A whole 2 inches. A whole 2 inches on dry ground means mud in the morning. Well today is also grocery shopping day which means that the dog goes in the (muddy) back yard. The escape artist dog, whose escape route (digging under the back yard gate) I block with the trash can. Unfortunately it is also trash day so the trash can had to go to the curb. But no worries, me thinks, because instead of a hole to squirm under, Uc has a big ol' puddle, and she wouldn't want to stick her whole face in the water, right?
Well we set off for grocery shopping. We return to a very excited dog. Nay, two excited dogs (we are dog sitting) covered in mud. And ever so pleased to see us return and show us how industrious they have been with their time. So after convincing them that they didn't need to visit the interior of the minivan nor jump up on us, I herd the children inside while keeping the dogs outside. Then I set about throwing rocks into their escape hole. Squish squish go my feet in the gloppy mud. I coral the dogs into the back yard again, bring the groceries in and get lunch together for the kids. The dogs meanwhile look forlornly at us (as much as they can see) through the back door.

Apparently they dug all the water out of the puddle to leave a gloppy muddy mess to squeeze under. Too bad I just can't fully appreciate the ingenuity it took.
They were finally let back inside after much hosing off and scrubbing dried mud off their fur. They acted somewhat insulted that they should have to get a bath after all they had been through to create such a welcome back party for us. And now we get to clean the inside of the house too!