A night neither fit for man (read woman) nor beast...

It's a toss-up I'd say. Which would you find more invigorating?

Being thrown to the ground and dragged by a rambunctious, strong, dog who sees another dog and wants to play?

Mind you, it's not just mud. It's more like muck, with dog shit, moss, algae, maple seeds, etc., etc., and I'm still picking it out of my ear and hair and teeth and nursing the shoulder, head, and butt I fell on. Trust me to find a tree root with my shoulder. The good news is that I managed to only get a little scraped, I don't think anything was broken--merely bruised, and I held onto the dog so she wouldn't run out into traffic. And no, she isn't mine, and no, I've never had this happen before. My motto is generally 'constant vigilance!' but she still managed to surprise me. I was heading in one direction and she suddenly went in another, dragging me up and out of my shoe and onto the ground. At least she didn't pull me down the hill into traffic. Still, I did manage to pull her back and I think I convinced her that she is not an alpha female after all. Later we made up and except for being a little sore, all is right with the world. In retrospect I wish I could have seen it happen--it was definitely rather cartoonish, I think. And no, she isn't a giant dog--maybe 80 lbs, tops. But her centre of gravity is much lower than mine. Don't you love science in action?

Or would you prefer having a cat suddenly start gushing blood all over the place?

Spock decided to lay down on Buns, which generally pissed Buns off, seeing as he's about 7 lbs and Spock's about 12 lbs. As I was trying to extricate the Stupid One off the ailing one, Spock's rear claw sliced into one of Buns' trouble spots (he licks his fur until he's raw). It took me a moment to realise that Buns was bleeding profusely--he ran away hissing and Spock had clawed me in the process. (Mind you, I'd just trimmed his claws, but I must have missed that one). Anyway, after a couple of paper towels didn't work too well because they stuck to the wound, I got my non-stick gauze pads and Co-Ban (a bandage wrapping that sticks to itself; they use it on your arm when you give blood to put pressure on the site) and wrapped him up really well. I think he's doing better. Once he'd stopped leaking all over the place he went to eat and is acting pretty normal, except he's giving Spock a very wide berth. He's sitting between my hands right now. I don't see any evidence of the blood making it through the bandage, so here's hoping the pressure's enough to get it stopped. I've stayed up a little later to make sure.

I love animals. Really. Truly. But they are sometimes an adventure. Sigh. Buns is okay, I think. I'm going to bed now...