Susan’s Journal

Leia’s had a rough week.

This whole story begins with the fact that Leia doesn’t like to be brushed. I have bought half a dozen brushes, and just lightly tried to brush her; and she presses her teeth against my arm, not hurting me, but saying “Stop it, dammit.” So I stop.

However, shedding season started a week or two ago, and something had to be done. It was beginning to look like it snowed in my living room, and I was vacuuming twice a day. I called the Pet Smart a town away and asked if I could make an appointment. A couple days later, on a Tuesday afternoon, I brought Leia in to get shaved. I explained to the lady that she didn’t like brushes, and she said she’d take care of Leia for about $100. I left.

Fifteen minutes later, my phone rang. Leia’s tried to bite me three times, she said, and she had to quit. I went back a while later to pick her up. She looked like this:

Leia’s back was shaved, but nothing else was. It was really weird looking. The groomer had suggested I call a vet and find out about getting her sedated (i.e. DRUGGED) while she was shaved. Well, I couldn’t exactly leave her the way she was, so I looked into it. I called my vet. They have a groomer on staff. We’ll just try it first, they said; then we’ll try to muzzle her; then we’ll try to sedate her. Fair enough, I said; and instead of $100, it was only going to be $40. While they’re there, I might as well get their annual exam and shots, I thought, so I dropped them off at the vet for the whole day.

At lunch time, I called to check on Leia and see how she was doing. “Oh, she’s fine,” they told me. “We got her shaved, no problem.” No muzzle, no DRUGS, just a nice lady with some clippers. It’s so interesting how dogs (or any animals, really) can like one person and seriously not like another.

That afternoon I picked up the two dogs from the vet. Through a little mistake, Luke had gotten groomed too. I didn’t mind. They both looked great and had their cute little bandanas around their neck, like this:

Hooray! All is right with the world… and suddenly I have a Greyhound instead of a Great Pyrenees.

Dylan went to his first air show today. Bud got him up at the crack of dawn and brought him out towards Fort Worth, and they watched airplanes together. They had a great guy day together, topping it off with an OMNIMAX movie and popcorn.

While they went east, the girls and I went north. They allowed me twenty minutes in Kohl’s to use the coupons I had, and in return I took them to Dave and Buster’s. I finished my unremarkable burger as they kept coming back to the booth with mounds and mounds of tickets. They spent 98% of them in the ticket-store, and we headed back home with our armfuls of ticket prize junk.

Somehow I managed to sleep until after ten this morning. It has left me feeling strange and overtired—like somehow I need five more hours of sleep. I’ve had trouble catching up on sleep for a few weeks now; and no matter how much I can catch, I don’t seem like I’m catching enough.

Back to work before seven tomorrow… and time marches on.