Yesterday I was playing outside in the snow with the dogs.  There was about 2 inches of fresh powder on top about 3 or 4 inches of semi-packed down snow.  After “losing” two tennis balls in the snow, I busted out the big 10″ Tug-n-Toss Jolly-Ball.  We were having lots of fun playing, until….  with frozen fingers and wet gloves there was a bit of an accident.  I was teasing the dogs by pretending to throw, when the big (and somewhat heavy) bally slipped out of my fingers.  I watched, helplessly, as the ball soared high into the sky in the direction of our screened-in porch.  My my eyes closed as I envisioned the result of a 10″ ball, with handle, flying through the screen, bouncing off our grill, knocking over the glass table, hitting over the chairs… and taking an unlucky bounce toward the glass doors (I stopped there.. I didn’t even want to think about that!).  I waited for the clamor… and waited and waited… but not a sound was heard.  I peeked open one eye… and all looked normal so I opened the other eye… nothing was out of place.  But uh… where was the ball?  The dogs were frantically running the perimeter of the area below the porch… it was then that I looked up.
Ugh… I found the ball… sitting securely atop vertex of the roof of the screened-in porch.  Given all the snow, there was no hope of it rolling down anytime soon (and it looks like I was unlucky enough to have the ball land with the handle preventing an easy roll down).
So I got to thinking… what else have I lost to the roof-monster this year (yes, just since 2011).  Then I got to thinking… what things have I lost to the dogs this year.  I figured two lists would be a fitting tribute to things lost so far…
Things Lost to the Roof-Monster

1.  Pink HeroDisc AIR235 disc–I live in a single level home on a hill.  In the front yard the house only has one level above ground and there is a hill in front.  It’s not a wise idea to be tossing the plastic on a VERY windy day on the hill…
2.  Orange HeroDisc AIR235 disc– see reason 1
3.  Blue HeroDisc Air235 disc–these discs are surprisingly effective icicle killers…they have enough UMPH to knock down even large icicles…but are no danger to windows.  Their drawback is one errant throw or gust of wind… and they get lost to the roof monsters
4.  Blue Hero Disc XTRA235 disc–see reason 2
5.  Pink Hero Disc XTRA235 disc–see reason 2 (and this is where it starts getting embarrassing)
6.  White Hero Disc AIR235 disc–see reason 2
7.  6 inch Jolly Ball on a rope (minus the rope)–while not as safe for windows as discs, it was more accurate killing icicles… that is until I wasn’t and this ended up on the roof**
8.  Blue “Whistler” Chuck-it ball–(these are hollow super bouncy balls for the Chuck-it) it took an unfortunate bounce off the railing on our front porch and landed on the roof (luckily it didn’t hit the window)
9.  10 inch Jolly Ball Tug-n-Toss–well, you know that story
**I was able to get the 6″ Jolly Ball on a rope (minus the rope) off the roof after I put together a make-shift icicle knocker-downer pole (made out of my weave poles, LOL) that was just long enough to pull the ball off the edge of the roof.
As an added note, we no longer have HUGE icicles hanging from the gutters 🙂
Things lost to the Dog Monsters
1.  Three stuffed Gingerbread-man dog toys
2.  Stuffed grunty-dog, dog toy
3.  Stuffed grunty-duck, dog toy
4.  Stuffed giant grunty-lion/bone, dog toy (weird I know!)
5. Five cheap-o “dots” stuffed squeaky toys
6.  Kong Wubba
7.  Grunty orange orangutan (Bandit’s “special toy”)

8.  Two bait bags/treat pouches
9.  Three coat pockets (two coats–had residual treat flavor… had to carry treats in pockets due to previous item)
10. Two partial rolls of paper towels
11.  Two rope toys
12.  Four cardboard boxes (dinner-in-a-box sacrifices)
13.  Countless tennis balls (my estimate is 8 this year so far)
14.  A “well-loved” car hammock (okay so it was old, but it FINALLY kicked the bucket)
Y’know … I think, for my own sanity, I need to stop the list there.   It has, after all, only been 28 days worth of destruction.  Oi–at least our house never lacks excitement or entertainment!  And really, with SIX creatures (and two humans) sharing the space… this isn’t that bad… right?  🙂
Have a great weekend folks!