Alfie's Big Fat No-Phooey

“Without my dog my wallet would be full, my house would be clean, but my heart would be empty.” --Anon


The only sounds this morning as we hiked up the ridge were my boots on the gravel path and the occasional squawking jay. Oh the silence of this place. There were shallow layers of heavy frost or perhaps light snow on the blackberry bushes, giving the scene a holiday air. The sky was a creamy clouded autumn 'til the sun poked through its brumey eye and as we reached the top, the clouds turned to those light amorphous shapes of the winter sky. Alfie was securely on leash after last night's "incident": the no-phooey to end all no phooeys.

I'm just coming up for air after the big family weekend here, contracting and then kicking the bronchitis, attending the Big Gender Reveal of my great granddaughter and coming down with a cold caught from my son-in-law. Ugh. Then all the weather's done is rain for days. Still weak and languishing late last night, I had been allowing Alfie to come and go via the doggy door, since I was not in any condition to be taking him out in the cold wet night. It has been a challenge to get him to sit still to be wiped off each time he arrives wet. Last time he came in, oh Lord. He brought golf-ball-sized lumps of mud on his paws and his muzzle was pure black with dirt. Seems he had been amusing himself--since I hadn't hiked him for a few days--by digging for small burrowing animals in the night. Plus it was raining, so the dirt was our rich farm soil turned to black mud. He was covered.

I leapt out of bed, picked him up, held him at arm's length and plopped him into the bathtub, saying in a grave voice, "Stay," while I found the dog shampoo and dog towels for a wash that filled the tub with mud. So not only did I need to shampoo the dog, I needed to wipe out clumps of mud to clean the tub afterwards. They say anyone who doesn't know what soap tastes like has never shampooed a dog. Oh yeah. Strangely enough, though, I feel ever so much better this morning, and Alfie, if I have to shut the doggy door for good, is going to stay clean.