edited to add...

the day turns more interesting. about an hour ago i heard a loud bang. i looked outside, thinking something had fallen, but didn't see anything. about a half hour later i let the dogs out. hetty came right back in, wanting nothing to do with the ice. my mom looked outside a few minutes later and said something along the lines of "oh my god!" i thought that an old person had slipped and fallen at the post office or something, unaware that the post office was closed due to the holiday. instead, she said "judson's outside!"

turns out the loud bang was a HUGE branch from our giant maple tree that had cracked and fallen under the pressure of the ice, thus creating an opening large enough in our fence to allow dogs of all shapes and sizes to sneak out and create heart attacks. luckily exhibit a was dumb enough to forego his newfound freedom and came galloping right over the second he saw a bag of treats. so now i am stuck on dog duty... no dog is allowed out without a leash. and at some point we're going to have to remove that damn branch.