I have a length of large jingle bells on my front door that Kimi has learned to ring whenever she wants to go outside. Today she has set those bells to ringing louder and more urgently then bells on the shoes of Santas elves when they run. She wanted OUT! I tried to warn her how strong the winds would be for one so tiny, but my warnings fell upon deafened ears. Kimi simply didn't want to listen to mommy. As they say there is no lesson better learned than one learned first hand. So I let her go outside.

As soon as I opened the door wide, wider than I intended for the wind nearly tore it from my hand, Kimi let out a loud "RRRR!" and out she jumped. Paying no attention to the slight wind blowing at that very moment, she ran out into the back yard. Where there is no protection from the side of the house. Where there are no BIG trees to block the strong westerly winds. Where the winds come whistling across the ....open neighborhood landscaping. Relief in sight, Kimi took up her position to do her business, with her back to the wind. Okay.... lesson number one. Never turn your back on your enemy lest it strike without warning. As it did. Just as Kimi set about relieving herself, a ferocious gust of wind tore across the yards whipping the leaves into a whirlwind of frenzy, yanking papers, plastic buckets, and other odds and ends along with it. As the first bite of wind landed on her fur, it blew it straight forward past her tiny face. One could barley make out her grin. Then the cruel strong wind hit her full force just as she placed herself in a very unstable position of balance. I held my breath as I watched her totter on her feet as the wind hit her. Kimis tiny eyes went from their normal almond shape to wide open in shock as a second and stronger blast hit her. Before she could regain her already shaky balance this gust of wind tore at her in an evil blast of humor and over she went! Kimi sommersaulted tail over appetite in the wind!! Quickly jumping to her feet, Kimi whirled to face her unseen foe. With her ever present grin, Kimi braced her feet onto solid ground, nose into the wind and opened her tiny mouth to bark out a reprimand. The hair surrounding her face was standing straight out behind her, mixing with her ears that could not stand up to the force of the wind either. Each time she opened her mouth to bark the wind would blow her backwards by half an inch or so. It was as though the wind entered her mouth, whipped its way through her petite sized body and shoved her backwards as it hit the tip of her tail behind her!

And forget barking! Have you ever stood in gale force winds, facing them with an open mouth and tried to yell? To make a noise of any sort? The wind tears your voice from you and sends it flying behind you so fast that your ears can not pick up the sound! I could see by the sudden jolting of Kimis body that she was indeed barking, but no sound could be heard! By the look on her face she could not hear herself barking either and I just know she had to wonder where her voice had gone. Her body would make its little jump forward with her soundless attempts to bark, and her ears would lift ever so briefly in surprise at this empty noise coming from within her. I saw the sparkle in her eyes when she looked up to me with a grin. Her mouth opened as she barked at me and I laughed when again, she looked confused when no sound came forward for us to hear. Her tiny tongue unfolded and fell from the left corner of her mouth as she laughed with me. As the wind again tore past her tongue, it flopped like a wounded kite, and I laughed again as I watched her trying to see her flopping tongue from the corner of her down-turned eyes.

Kimi must have decided to try making for the safety of the house and she began a struggling walk against the wind. Head held low and stretched out in front of her, Kimi worked hard at fighting against the wind to move forward one step. Her hair was whipping behind her like she was in a wind tunnel and her eyes were squinted almost closed in her efforts to battle against Nature. She lifted one tiny paw and forced it against the wind to place it in front of the others. UUUNNNGGG..there...one paw was down..... NNNNUUUUHHHH.....okay....two paws are down.. Just as she picked up the third paw to move it forward the wind hit harder and pushed her backwards again. Kimis tiny feet were shuffling backwards as she braced herself. Her head raised in surprise, and her eyes opened wider with shock for even though she was moving her paws FORWARD she was going backwards! Losing four steps for every one she tried to go forward with!

Kimi, being who she is and a quick thinker to boot, suddenly whirled around so her back was to the wind. After all if she wanted to go toward the house and the wind was pushing her backwards away from it, wouldn't it stand to reason that facing it backwards while being forced to back up would land her there eventually? Wel, no Kimi, not exactly. No matter what direction you are facing you are going to have to go with the wind if it is to strong to battle against.

This time with each step she tried to take BACKWARDS the wind pushed her forward in a rush. I watched her grinning smile take shape on her face beneath her blowing hair that now covered it. Kimi tried to turn her head to the right to look over at me, but in this hurricane force wind even that was to much for her. She stood there like a lone mustang on the open plains, tail to the wind, her head hung low and waited for it to pass. With each giant gust of wind pushing her from behind, Kimi was forced closer and closer to the fence in front of her! Once, the wind died down to a weaker strength, and Kimi dashed out to the back yard. She barely had time to make it there when the next gust hit her tail end. It blew her tail out straight to the east while her nose was pointing south! Kimi turned to try to catch her tail before it could be blown away but everytime she turned the wind blew her tail around as well. Round and round Kimi went in a circle trying to catch up to her tail Round and round her tail went as the wind kept it from her. Making her circle twice, and failing to catch it still Kimi stopped. Against the wind she looked at me through eyes tightly squinted. Again she laughed at the wind, at me, and at herself and again her tongue was blown from her mouth. Kimis eyes rolled up as she tried to spot her tongue and she yipped once. "YIP!" Hey! We heard that one! She threw her head up into the wind and yipped again, "YIPP!!" And laughed as the wind tore her yip from her and sent it on down the street, rolling the noise over and over.

With her tongue flopping madly in the wind, and her tail still eluding her, Kimi set herself to going in circles again, trying to catch both. The wind played games with her and the faster she spun the harder it stirred them up. Just as she began to spin wildly after her tail, another ferocious gust of wind roared across our yard making leaves blow straight up into the air from underneath her tummy. With the leaves lifting up and small branches blowing across and bits of papers and small kids toys bouncing around her, it became to much for Kimi to stand. Or at least to stand up too. She tried to duck them all, but one small dog can only duck in one direction at a time. Just as she reached a crouching position, the wind and all it carried with it hit her in the side. With a startled "OOOF!" over she went again. Kimi rolled over once and jumped to her feet, barking madly at all that dared to hit her. Racing around the yard grabbing at everything that bounced, rolled, and flew, Kimi soon had a mouth full. She stopped to look at me and around her mouth full of treasures came a muffled "YYYIIFF!"

Just then the wind caught her again and spun her around. All the treasures she had worked so hard to catch went flying around her like a sprinkler. Spinning around twice more just to show the wind that SHE was boss not it, Kimi was off again grabbing up another mouth full of treasures.

As all strong winds will eventually do, this one began to share the leaves from trees up the street. Kimi had not seen leaves of this size before and she stood there amazed as these plate sized leaves began to land in our yard. Over and over they skipped across the grass that had just been blown clean by the winds that came before this. Stock stil she stood as she watched, sizing up her newest opponents. Her legs askewer as she tried to brace herself against the wind she waited. And in between the harsh gusts of wind I heard her growls. From deep within her tiny chest came forth a rumbling equal to a freight train! A steam ship! A jet airplane! Well....equal to something big anyway. "GGGGRRR" "RRRRrrrr" she said. ""GGGGRRRRR!" "RRRrrr!"

As one lone hapless leaf bounced past her chin, Kim stuck with lightening speed and nailed that leaf right on its edge! HA! That one will bounce and flutter no more for Kimi stood upon one side of this leaf and shredded it as she held it down! Spitting and spluttering pieces of wet, musty, shredded leaf from between her tiny dark lips Kimi looked for more. Spotting one rolling her way she lowered herself to the ground to wait it out. Closer it bounced along in the wind.....lower she slunk to the ground. Waiting.....waiting....HA! Kimi jumped up to tackle the leaf just as it drew closer to her. And just as she leaped into the air the air leaped upon her! Another giant burst of wind rushed across the yard and slammed into Kimi head on. Already having lost her grip to the ground, when she jumped up she was lost to the force of the wind as well. With a startled "YIPES!" The wind blew her backwards, upside down and over and over again.

This time it appeared the wind was to much for Kimi and as she rolled to her feet, her feet took off for mommy! Mommy of course was already at her side as I bore witness to the force of the wind and how it treated Kimi like a spinning top. I gathered her close to me and whispered in her ear. She showed her thanks as she always does by lightly chewing on the end of my nose all the while saying "yyaarryyaarryyaarr"

I carried her inside the house where I knew she would be safer. Kimi however wasn't quite finished playing with nature and headed straight for our deck. This atleast afforded her some protection by the lattice fencing that surrounds the deck. It works to break up the strength of the wind. Not entirely but enough that she could stand up to it. I sat at the table to keep an ever watchful eye on her as she stood there with her tiny sable nose poking through the lattice. And as the wind would burst between the lacing, I watched as Kimi learned to brace her feet against the wind. Her body would shift with the wind enough that it could not blow her over. Sort of like one would see an oak bend and blow in a wind of this strength. Kimi learned to keep the wind to her back so she could breath and be heard when she barked. And as I watched her learning new lessons from Nature, I learned yet another lesson from Kimi...

One must live their life like the mighty Oak in a wind storm. If you don't want life to break you, you must learn to bend and give. Groan if you must, but learn to work WITH what blows your way and not against it.

(Oh yes....and it is much easier to be heard, and to move forward in your life when you keep the wind at your back.)

walk in beauty
Kristi & Kimi