It's Friday morning, and I'm already predicting this won't be one of my most productive days. I'm exhausted from all the work I did last night for Tick Remediation 2009.
It all started last week when Branden found a tick on my dog Jock. (He's the one on the left in the picture there.) He removed it, and we didn't think much else about it. Two nights ago, I was watching a movie (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, if you must know) on the couch. After it was over, I got up to tuck the corners of the slipcover back in (it NEVER stays in place)...and found a tick, right there on the couch! EW EW EW EW!!
That was IT for me, and I do mean IT. I stripped the slipcover off the couch immediately, and threw it and the blanket into the washer. Then I made a Plan of Attack.
Plan of attack began last night with a trip to Petropolitan, our favorite (and only) downtown pet shop. I talked to the owner, Chris, for a while and he pointed me in the direction of the flea & tick shampoo I'd want. After a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up vitamins and kitty litter (unrelated to TR '09), I headed back home and steeled myself for what was ahead.
Bathing dogs really isn't that big of a deal, normally. Pepper is actually pretty good at it, from his years as a show dog. Baths for him used to mean showtime, so even now he's pretty good about complying. Jock, on the other hand, has never enjoyed getting wet, and last night was no exception. After struggling with him for a bit, I finally got him into the tub, and then it was a battle of wills to keep him there. Once he got wet, he was mostly resigned to the fact that he was stuck there. Then the fun part came...the part where I had to leave the shampoo on for 15 minutes. Of course I knew I couldn't trust him to stay put, so I stayed right there next to him.
Let me tell you, toilets do not make good seats for 15 minutes. But I did get some reading done while I thwarted his attempts at escaping. When it came to be Pepper's turn, he was a bit more cooperative and mostly resigned to the fact that he had to stay there, soaking wet, until I said it was time. He even laid down at one point. Probably thought "Might as well make myself comfortable."
After the dogs were taken care of, it was on to the rest of the house. I already had the dog bedding in the washer. I went ahead and filled the sink with dishes to let them soak while I tackled the floors (we wash our dishes by hand...it's a water conservation thing that Branden started, and it gets the dishes cleaner than our dishwasher can anyway). On to the floors...I hauled the vacuum cleaner down the stairs and vacuumed the entire downstairs, including the hardwood floors. Got a lot of dog hair cleaned up too, so that was an added bonus.
After all of that, plus doing the dinner dishes, I was ready to crash. I landed on the couch (still sans slipcover...Branden agreed to put that back on for me), and enjoyed the root beer I had purchased earlier at the grocery store. Phew! What a night!
The upside of all this is that it offered a tiny little glimpse into how I might be as a parent, and I'd say I passed this test. I was pretty proud of myself after all was said and done. I know it's small in the grand scheme of things, but I felt good about it.
In other news, Branden's ACL surgery is next Wednesday, and it looks like he'll be off work until at least May 11. I know he's going to get bored & restless around the house...so if anyone has any suggestions I could pass along to him of things he could do while laying around, feel free to post them in the comments! Note: We don't have cable TV, so that's just a slight challenge.
