Ok... I have to write this... confession is good for the soul and all that..

A couple of days ago I let the puppies out of their pen; we have been letting them out in the mornings for a couple of weeks now, watching them closely, trying to train them to stay close to home so they don't have to be in the pen all the time. They had been doing great! Seth and I both watch them like a mother watching babies, checking on them every 5 minutes sometimes.
Monday when I let them out, after feeding and walking them, I went inside. I had checked on them several times. Seth and I went upstairs to do school. I opened the shades so I could see them, they were playing in the front yard. Ten minutes later I went to check on them again and Rufus was laying in the middle of the yard (kind of an odd place to lay down to sleep since it was wet and cold) by himself, asleep.
I thought ... "oh, shit!" and we went downstairs to see where Fluffy was. No Fluffy.
We called and called and walked around the yard, down by the pen, down the walking trail by the pond.. no Fluffy. I knew and so did Sethy where she was. He couldn't go look. So, I did.
I walked up the road to the gate and didn't see anything and then went around the house, down the lease road and to the highway. There is a bridge immediately to your right when you come out the lease road onto the highway. I walked up on the bridge and there she was. Damn, damn, damn.

Seth knew where I had gone so he followed me in the golf cart. He stepped up and became a man. He took my gloves and went and got her off the road.

By that time Emily had heard us calling her, got out of bed and followed us down the road. She hadn't gotten very far so she didn't see Fluffy on the road. I had to tell her what had happened.

We took Rufus and chained him up inside the pen, something I hate having to do, and there he will stay unless one of us is outside with him at all times.

I will not scrape another one of that freaking highway.

I feel like a horrible person for letting it happen. I took my eyes off her for 5 minutes and she sneaked out the back way and now she is dead.