Skunked!

Jacob Dingel – WildlifeHelp.org

I put our 94-pound yellow lab puppy, Amber, out right before we were going to go to bed, about 11:30 last night.

When I let her in, she didn’t come in alone! She had been skunked! She was all upset, spitting and swallowing, and simply reeking!  And it was COLD and dark outside, so we couldn’t take her back outside to hose her off.

We took her upstairs to our tub. My husband JUST missed being pulled into the tub with Amber. (She is really strong and has little concern over the frailties of her humans.) He managed to run warm water in the tub while I mixed up our deskunking stuff: hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and Dawn dishwashing liquid. I grabbed a plastic pan we use when we’re sick and poured a whole bottle of hydrogen peroxide in it, then dumped in what was left in a box of baking soda and then squirted some dishwashing liquid in.

I ran out into the hall for washcloths. We got as much of this stuff as we could on the areas that needed it most – the side of her face, her left chest and her muzzle. Then I poured what was left over her head as my husband shielded her eyes.

Then we spent a LONG time trying to get her rinsed. I rushed back out into the hall to grab two large bath sheets. Two of them were just enough to get her dry enough to go back downstairs with my husband while I tried to mop up the bathtub area.

When I got back downstairs, we both stripped – putting our clothes right into the washing machine, since now WE were skunked, too, then took long showers trying to get the smell off. Febreeze is no match for skunk!

We thought we had done as well as we could to get the smell off. Just in case, I took several clothes pins to distribute to our friends at Lunch Bunch, plus the two long-time good buddy waitresses who bring us our food. Everyone got a laugh out of us and our story of washing the dog at midnight.

I’ve done three loads of wash trying to get things back under control today.

Amber seems to be her normal, doofus puppy self today, smiling and laughing her way through the day.

Tonight we will take the dogs out on a leash one at a time. My husband will be armed with a 22 just in case the skunk has decided to make a return visit.

Laughing Out Loud

source unknown

We’ve always thought that being able to see the humor in most situations is something that helps us through life. My dad did this, and I’ve always been grateful he instilled it in me. I can’t tell you how many times being able to stand back and see what is happening as though it’s happening to someone else has diffused possible strife in our home, saved friendships, and made for saner people (at least we like to think so!)

Lately, we have a LOT to laugh about –

• The Internet God is unhappy with me for some reason. She gives me access only to snatch it away without rhyme or reason, without warning. We have a new modem that we can see is working. My husband has Internet. The problem seems to be in MY computer – though we put in a new network card, new cable between my internet card and the modem, unplugged, rebooted, etc. It all boils down to HER mood…
• Our smart thermostats are old and tired – but still smarter than my husband and I. Today we’re tackling trying to reprogram our two thermostats once again. We follow the directions step by step, think we have them programmed correctly, and then find out we’ve either screwed up again, or they just don’t work with our geothermal system the way they should. Our geothermal checkup guy is looking into our options for replacing our thermostats with ones that are more compatible with our system. We got these when we had heat pumps. Our geothermal system doesn’t need “emergency heat,” but our present thermostats don’t seem to understand that….
• It’s too cold to change to our snow tires on the truck – hopefully, when it warms up a bit Friday and Saturday, we can make the switch without freezing our parts off – and then we probably won’t need them until December or January…
• At the grocery store I saw a young, quite flexible girl cleaning out a shelf at the head of one aisle. She was sitting with her knees bent, one leg going one direction and the second leg bent in the opposite direction, moving around quite comfortably, concentrating on moving the cans around. I got down beside her and told her that I envied her youth, her flexibility and agility, and the ease with which she moved around. I laughed when I admitted to her that in my yoga sessions, my biggest problem – once I finish folding myself into a paper airplane – is getting up off the floor!

‘BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO CAN LAUGH AT HIMSELF, FOR HE WILL NEVER CEASE TO BE AMUSED.’ (UNKNOWN)

Getting Older is SO Much FUN!

holyapostlessoupkitchen.wordpress.com

A little sarcasm – maybe a LOT. :0)

 

My husband wanted to go to an auction this morning. He said he wanted to leave at 9:00. Knowing him, I set the alarm in the office where we were working and having a first cup of coffee (me) and sugar-free hot apple cider (him.) When the alarm went off, I said, “It’s time for you to go.” He said, “Where?”

He searched until he found his phone. He only takes it when we aren’t BOTH going somewhere. Then he came back in because he didn’t have the address. Then he came back because he didn’t have money. I programmed the GPS in the truck and he was off.

The above is told with a smirk at one of his foibles. He’s the smartest person I know. If he can’t figure something out or fix it, we ask our son. If neither can fix it, it can’t be. He’s really good with electronics, bending things to do his bidding. Sometimes the fight is long, but he gets it done. I look at it and figure it’s ‘magic.’

While he was gone and it was cooler and not raining outside, I swept out the garage where the truck had been. Then I weed whacked beside the sidewalks and around the flower beds. I was finishing up, coming around to switch the weed whacker for the leaf blower and he was back!  He said one of the things he was interested in sold, but for much more than he was willing to pay. The other thing he thought might be interesting was junk, so he came home. I got the leaf blowing done and put things away.

It’s amazing to me how quickly I tire these days. I’m very lucky that I can work until some part of me is yelling, stop and rest and drink some water, and then do another session until the job is done. It also takes me a LONG time to cool down and for my breathing to be normal again. One of the joys of becoming ‘mature,’ I guess.

“As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning.” — Criss Jami

“Getting old ain’t for sissies.” – Take 1

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“Getting old ain’t for sissies” ~ Bette Davis

Getting old sucks. There’s no getting around it.  The list of ‘what-you-can’t-do-anymore’ continues to grow as does the list of ‘what-you-can’t-eat-anymore.’  Your body goes on strike, yelling at you from one area or another. You move more slowly – and many times, stiffly – as you move through your day. Your memory begins to fail. But every once in awhile – if you can stand back and pretend you’re watching a MOVIE of an old person – you can laugh at yourself.

I did that this morning. My husband and I get up each morning groggily wandering through our list of what we need to do to get the day started, doing things out of habit, rather than having to think right after awaking. One of the things I do is wash my hair in the kitchen sink after my group of things is done and we’ve eaten breakfast. I take off my watch and put it on the counter beside the coffee thermos and my waiting coffee cup.

I had just finished washing my hair and was walking while drying it with a towel on the way to the hair dryer in the bathroom when Amber was clamoring around, wanting to go back outside – after just coming in again – and was doing her best to herd me toward the garage door. I managed to NOT fold up like a tent when our sweet 91-pound ‘puppy’ hit me in the exact right spot behind my knees that has brought me down many times.  I managed to get a gate between us. When I saw the pile of clothes and towels on the utility room floor, it reminded me that I was planning to do several loads of laundry this morning. I stopped and started a load and then dried my hair in the bathroom.

When I went back to the kitchen to pour myself some coffee, my watch wasn’t there!  I walked around, checking all the surfaces in the kitchen, on the divider between the kitchen and the dining area, the dining table, the bathroom counter, but no watch! I checked everything again – KNOWING it HAD to be SOMEWHERE, but it wasn’t.

I looked at the washer and thought, “Oh, no!” I must have scooped it up with the first load of laundry… I paused the machine, stuck both hands in and felt around in the soupy combination of clothes and soapy water. I even turned the bin several times and felt all around again. NO WATCH.

I had decided that ‘it must have been eaten by snakes” (something that happens around here all too often) and prepared to tell my husband that we needed to add getting a new watch for me onto today’s errands list. I steadied myself to look down at the clothes remaining on the floor and put my HAND on my WATCH on top of the washer!

The mystery is solved, but I guess I’ll make good use of ‘standing-back-and-watching-myself’ more and more over the coming years. I really need a good laugh now and then…

Laughing

Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl via Lisa Bearnes Richey