Let me just start by saying that this is one of those nights where I really should be asleep. I’m so tired I’m actually putting off going to bed because it involves stairs and moving the baby, who is completely comatose on a friend that is sitting beside me. A quick recap of the last 12 hours:
- 2 hours in the car to Tallulah Gorge
- Hiking down however many hundreds of stairs
- Lake time
- Getting everyone fed. Perpetually.
- Smashing my iPhone while loading Jude into the Jeep
- 2 more hours in the car to get home
- Bathing or facilitating bathing of respective beings that I am responsible for
- De-fleaing random dog that made her way into our yard
- Settling random dog into our basement because we can’t be jerks that leave sweet dogs on the street
We had an amazing day. Truly. A friend is visiting and we took the kids up to Tallulah Gorge to hike and swim. We took the top off the Jeep and drove a couple hours, did stairs into the gorge until we wanted to throw up, and then pulled over on the side of the road and jumped in a lake.
So. The end of the day. We arrive at home, ready to take the dogs to the park to wear them out and then grill some burgers and play some Mario Kart. While we’re changing and handling life, the dogs took their respective windows on either side of the door and started losing their minds. The kind of bark that says there’s actually something there.
Sure enough, there’s a dog hanging out in our driveway. My first instinct is to run out after it and see what the situation is, because obviously I don’t have a guest to feed and a baby that needs me and a zillion other things going on in my house. She comes right up to me and just stands there. No tags or anything to ID her, and apparently nowhere to be. A couple neighbor kids came over with a bowl of water and said she’d been around all day. I instantly noticed fleas crawling all over her, so I can’t just bring her into the house to discuss an action plan. On the list of things that I do not need in my life right now, a flea infestation is pretty high on the list.
Because I don’t think anything through, I grabbed the dog and told the kids to follow me. We barreled into the house, two strange kids and a flea covered dog. My husband was holding the baby, and our two mutts were losing their ever-loving minds because I was dragging a strange animal out onto their beloved deck space.
BUT LOOK AT THIS SWEET FACE YOU GUYS.
She’s a little dollface. Now, I love dogs. My husband, though… I’m pretty sure some days he likes dogs more then he likes me. The expression on his face when he watches Dakota sometimes is similar to the one he gets when our son smiles or rolls over for the first time. If he had his way, we would have all the dogs. ALL OF THEM.
So, basically, I brought a new child into the house for him to love.
He immediately went to PetSmart and gets flea medication and shampoo. We gave her medication. Then we fed all the humans in the house, bathed everyone that was jumping in lakes today, and waited for the fleas to magically jump off her and start dying. Meanwhile, I have posted her picture in every social media group I can think of, really hoping someone would claim her so I can avoid transporting a flea infested dog in either one of our cars. And also so we can avoid adopting another creature for me to keep alive.
She didn’t even flinch when we combed put her in the tub. Not when we shampooed her or combed her over and over with a little flea comb. She is a perfect little angel, you guys. Someone started calling her Rotisserie because why wouldn’t you. Little Rotisserie is currently in a crate in the basement (on loan from Dakota) with a security camera on her so my husband can watch her and make sure she’s not melting down while she is in flea quarantine.
So. That was our day. Hiking and swimming and a dog named Rotisserie. Hopefully we find her family in the morning. And now everyone else is asleep and it’s time for me to join them.