A Tale of Fur, Couches, and Glory

We have a long-haired dog.  You may remember the drama of our receiving her into our home last summer.  Turns out she gets just as stinky as every other dog.  I mean, I didn't expect a stink-free dog, but a girl can dream.  The dream was just a dream.

She was stink-y.  Stinky.  Last night she came in the office and the kids shut her in here with me.  Seriously, she about knocked me out with her doggie odor.

You know what this means, don't you?

Bath time.

I worked last night until just before midnight and this morning Darling inadvertently woke me up, so after 5 hours of sleep, I was up for the day.  Yes, that was a run-on sentence and I could not care less so deal, okay?

The dog needed a bath and we were both awake.  The kids were still asleep.  Kinda.  Little One got out of bed, but she was tucked back in and sleeps as I type.  Amen.

Now, I don't know how the rest of the world does it, but when it's 28-degrees outside, my dog takes a shower with me.  I am not going outside with a hose, getting all wet in the dark, in the freezing cold.

So, kid toy bucket in hand, I snatched up the dog by her scruff and we took a shower.  She got clean after multiple passes with a child's beach bucket.  When we're done, I grabbed a towel and started drying, drying, drying her.  Fat lot of good it did with all that fur.

When I opened the door of the shower, she glanced back at me, then stepped gingerly out of the shower... and took off like a shot.

She made a beeline for her food bowl.  Dripping wet.

I followed her with the towel.

So there I was sopping wet in my kitchen, in all the glory in which the Lord delivered me unto my parents, woolling around a dog with an old towel, trusting the Lord wouldn't use this as one of those "the Lord has such a sense of humor moments" with my sons.  Thank God, the boys were still asleep and did not walk in on that scene.

Then I remembered a friend offered us her white couch.  It's almost new, but they're redecorating and are passing it on and she gave us first right of refusal.

I stood up in my kitchen, stock still like a deer caught in headlights - about as dressed as one, too - and shuddered at the thought of wet, long, dog fur rubbed alllll up and down the sides of that white couch.

Maybe God's sense of humor right now is shocking me with these visions of domestic havoc?

I'm going to pass on the couch.

Unless I can slipcover it.  Thoughts?

So there's the tale of fur, couches, and glory.

~ G

Some Day

Some day, some day soon, I would like to be the one who gets to sleep in and pretend I don't hear, in this order:

- the dog whining because she needs to pee after being in her crate all night

- the cats crying because they are hungry

- the boys whispering in our doorway, deciding to let us sleep (AMEN)

- the little girl asking for her morning sippy and a snuggle, and oh - a report that she wet the bed

Some day the house will be quiet and I'll remember these days with a wistful smile.  Right now I'd just like an extra hour or so of sleep.

~ G, who is The Mom

Dogs Have Some Serious Sniffing Power

Let me be the first to tell you that dogs have some serious sniffing power.  Okay, I'm probably not the first to tell you this tidbit.  Unless you're 4.  Or have never been around a dog.  Or have a short term memory issue.  Or is it a long term memory issue?  I don't remember.

A friend and I traded rawhides for bones.  Yeah, I'm that kind of girl.  Some girls trade cups of sugar for frozen veggies or baked goods for baked goods or I don't know what else.  I trade rawhides for bones.  I just roll that way.

Seems my stealthy attempt at keeping the bones out of sight and out of mind didn't work.  She (the dog) found the bag.  The dog, not the friend, found the bag of knuckles, bullies, and assorted cured skeletal bits.

The bag (of bones, not the friend) is almost empty.  Seems the dog has the same problem with moderation as I do.  Well, at least we deserve each other.

I think.

~ G

Gone to the Dogs

A new study shows that the carbon footprint of a medium-sized dog equals that of a SUV.  No, really.  Evidently:

"The Vales calculate the carbon footprint of a medium-sized dog as 2.08 acres, more than twice the 1.01 acres needed to create enough energy to build a Toyota Land Cruiser. However, the pair said the average driver travels about 12,000 miles a year, making the carbon footprint of the Toyota and the dog roughly equivalent."

Read more about it here.

I wonder how many of my vegetarian friends because of their concern over global warming (or is it climate change?) who have large dogs will have a crisis of conscience over this?   How many of them who get lathered up about how horrible it is that we're negatively affecting the earth will give up their large dogs?  What will PETA say about it?  Where is the line between enjoying your life and caring for the earth?  And what does "caring for the earth" really mean?

My thoughts?  Well, I don't believe global warming/climate change is man-made.  The earth goes through climate changes as a matter of course.  The earth was warmer and there was more CO2 in the Middle Ages than today.  That said, we should definitely be good stewards of the earth and not abuse our resources, but I'm not giving up juicy burgers or air conditioning.  Plant a tree.  Go organic when you can.  Don't dump waste into rivers.  Keep the A/C at a reasonable temp.  No need to get all nutty with the legislation.  Or to euthanize the pups. 

At any rate, there you go.  Hmmm... does this go in I'm Just Sayin' or Right-Wing Rants?  Eh, we'll call it a rant.  ;-)