Oh. My. God.

 I don't even know where to begin this.

I was out on the road walking Savannah tonight, just as always, between 8:00 and 8:30.  We were walking along towards our house and we were right in front of our barn when the across-the-road neighbors decided to set off some fireworks on their property. Not just little fire-crackers, but those huge cannon-sounding things that rattle the windows.

Not only did I get scared, but Savannah freaked out and immediately bolted. Thankfully, I didn't have the leash wrapped around my wrist like I usually do... I was holding it in my hand and when she bolted, my first instinct was to hang on tight, which I did. The result of that was that she pulled me to the ground, right smack down on the paved road. Both of my hands are bruised, as is my chin and my knees and my chest. I must have put my hands out towards the ground when Savannah bolted, and that's what probably saved me from literally breaking my chin on the ground, but the palms of my hands are messed up quite badly.

I remember my chin hitting the ground, and then I remember waking up so I think I must have blacked out. I don't even remember seeing Savannah as she ran away from the noise, which was just to the left of us. And it wasn't just one cannon sound from those fire-crackers, it was one after the other because as I was trying to wake up and get myself up from the ground, more cannons were going off. I wanted to scream towards the neighbors' property but my chin hurt too badly.

I couldn't walk very fast because of my knee but when I got myself to the house, Savannah was nowhere in sight. I walked all around the house, the backyard, the guest cottage, and then the barn. I even went into the barn to see if she was hiding in there... nothing.  Then I remembered the leash I had put on her... the long 20-foot leash that she was dragging along behind her and then I got to praying that it didn't get caught on something dangerous, like barbed wire or one of the trees by the creek.

Everything happens when my husband is at work and not at home. It was getting dark and I didn't know where to look first, but I also knew that Savannah was beyond scared. I called our friends up the road.... told them what happened and asked if they would look on their property for Savannah... they called other neighbors and within ten minutes, all the dog-loving people here in our hills had their vehicles out along the road and were shining flashlights into the fields and they even drove up and down the main highway looking for Savannah.  I called that puppy's name till I was hoarse, and then I called some more.

How can a 65-pound dog just disappear?  We looked all over our road, went to all the neighbors to tell them what happened......... and then J & J drove all along the main highway a second time, going both north and south, hoping that they wouldn't see Savannah on that road. Thankfully, the only thing in the middle of that highway tonight was an unfortunate skunk.

Another neighbor took her little golf-cart thing and drove it up and down and all around our 23 acres, all the way around the pond and down towards the woods. Savannah knows J very well and will go to her when J calls her name. But there wasn't a sign of Savannah anywhere out there in the pastures.

As I type this, it is 11:30 at night. I have left the porch light on and I've got the door open so I can hear through the screen door if Savannah finds her way back to the porch. One of our neighbors has a lot of experience with all kinds of animals and she seems to think that Savannah is hiding, and will stay hidden till morning. I'm hoping that she is right... that Savannah got so frightened of those damn fireworks that she found a spot that she thinks is safe and she's just staying there till daylight. But just in case she's out there walking around, I've been going out on the porch and calling her name out into the dark yard.

I've called my husband in his office.... he told me not to worry... that she will find her way home.  He told me to go to sleep and I'll find Savannah on the porch in the morning.  One thing I cannot do is go to sleep. I'm not even going up to the second floor tonight. I'm sitting in the breakfast room typing... the back door is open and I can hear the night-time sounds through the screen door. There must be a million frogs out there tonight.  I'm doing laundry just to have something to do. And I'm praying that I will hear her paws on the porch and the sound of that stupid long leash dragging behind her as she climbs up the steps.

I have no idea where Savannah is... no idea where she would hide... and I can't even imagine how frightened she must be right now. I hate this. I hate the damn neighbors and their damn fireworks. I hate the other neighbors and their damn gun-shots going off at any given time on any given day. I hate that Savannah is out there and not in this house where she belongs, safe and sound and sleeping in her bed.  And I'm grateful for our friends who spent nearly three hours out here tonight looking for Savannah.

 I hate the fact that when Savannah bolted, I couldn't hold onto her and I feel like it's my fault that she's missing now. I hate this feeling that I couldn't keep her safe.  My husband says not to worry too much till we see what happens in the morning. Savannah is wearing her collar and tags, plus she has that micro-chip in the back of her neck. Someone is bound to find her and call my number that's on her tag. But Savannah will not go to strangers if they call out to her. Especially if she's scared. I would be especially grateful if someone found Savannah.

I hate this. I absolutely hate this helpless feeling. And I hate that Savannah is outside in the dark somewhere, off in the pastures where the coyotes roam all night long. Savannah is petrified of coyotes, absolutely petrified. I don't even know what more to do. Waiting till morning sounds logical but it's so ridiculously hard.

As I type this, it's nearly 2:30 in the morning. I've cleaned up my scrapes and bruises and they feel even worse than they look. I don't think I'll be driving for a few days because I'm having trouble typing... I can't imagine having to grip a steering wheel until the soreness in my hands goes away. The house is deathly quiet. Sweet Pea has been sitting by the screen door for a couple of hours, either wondering why the door is open in the middle of the night or he knows that there's someone missing from this house. I've gone out into the driveway and down the road calling Savannah's name every half hour or so. If that wakes up the across-the-road neighbors who shot off those huge fireworks, I honestly don't care.

Timing. I guess everything is timing. Had I walked Savannah earlier than usual, the fireworks from across the road wouldn't have been shot off yet.  If I had waited till 10:00 to walk her, we would have been inside the house when those blasted cannons went off at 8:00. I can play this 'time' game all night long. It still doesn't change the fact that our year-old puppy is out there in the middle of these godforsaken hills somewhere, either too afraid to come out, or her leash and/or collar is caught up on something and she's stuck somewhere.

This house is deathly quiet. And it's deathly quiet outside also. Well, at least that's something... I haven't heard any coyotes tonight.