Evolution of Erin: Waterfall Walk

Last Sunday Mom and I took the dogs on a walk out in the fields by their house. The almond orchard was in full bloom and I wanted to try out my spiffy new camera and see my mom and exercise my dogs. All of those goals could be met by going on a innocuous walk.
I told all this to Jimmy before I left and all he said to me was, "Well, be careful. Don't let them go in the aqueduct." (Foreshadowing)

It all started out fine. The trees were beautiful, the dogs were full of energy, Mom was getting used to me not having any hair.

Ahhh...Almond trees in March

I'm warning you now, I have a love of high contrast pictures.

Mom telling Dad what we're doing, "Yeah, we're having a great time."

That's Lily running in the wheat fields trying to scare up some birds.

The dogs were being very entertaining with their frolicking. Except for Bugs. Bugs either sticks close to me or sticks close to Wickett. Her preference is Wickett, since he's her boydogfriend.

Bugs. She's not very photogenic.

Sadie frolicking.

Lily not really frolicking yet.

Sadie and Wickett uber-frolick through the water and almond trees.

Yee Haw

Then we pass the bee hives. Bees are Nature's wonderful way pollinating these trees so we get to witness their beauty and reap the benefits of their labor. That said, I hate bees. I'll punch a bee in it's face.

Dead Bee.
No I did not kill this bee, it was already dead. Ask Mom.

Let's look at the pretty trees again.

So we finally reached the aqueduct part of our walk. Now Lily (especially) and Sadie are known to go in the aqueduct. They are strong Yellow Labradors that were bred for swimming. My dogs were not. My mutts rather eat horse poo and pee on everything they can find.

Yummy

So Lily saw some ducks in the aqueduct and naturally she went over to investigate.

Lily investigating the ducks.
Wickett looks like he wants to go in but he didn't.

I didn't take any pictures of this part so I'll just have to summarize. Lily went all the way over to the other side and wouldn't come back over. So I trot down to the little bridge that crosses the aqueduct to get Lily back over to the other side. Little do I know that Lily doesn't like the bridge as it's over a waterfall. So I'm on the other side trying to get Lily but then Wickett follows me over the bridge. Lily gets back in the aqueduct right in front of the waterfall and heads for Mom. Meanwhile, I'm running after my dumb dog, trying to catch him so we can get back over to the other side.

Now, I'm not worried about Bugs. Bugs never goes in water without me having to push her; not even when I'm in the pool will she go in the water. But I guess the combination of Wickett and myself on the other side of the aqueduct was too much for her so when I turned around Lily had made it back to the other side and Bugs was in the water right in front of the waterfall. Bugs is 9 pounds. Bugs got sucked over the waterfall.

There are few moments in my life, real life, that I'm witness to dramatic happenings. But I will always remember Bugs' little face looking at me as she went over that waterfall. A couple things went through my mind, "There she goes." "Ah, she's dead." "Oh, shit."

But she popped right up after going over. Picture me and Mom running, one on each side of a fast moving aqueduct, frantically trying to get this little dog. Finally she pathetically swam over to me shaking and shivering. I picked up both my dogs and carried them back over the bridge.