Well, yesterday was quiet. I didn't post (sorry sorry) because I was on duty, and trying to get a million things done. I ended up going to bed at like 1 am, and juuuuuust as we were getting ready to unstaff at 6 am we got punched out for call with a woman 38 1/2 weeks pregnant with side pain. EEK! I know that some people love delivering babies, but I ain't one of 'em! It makes a mess in the back of my ambulance, so hang on sister and cross your knees - we're going to hit Mach 10 on the highway!
Well, I narrowly avoided having a kidlet in my ambulance, but then I got home late, walked in the door, got called to the daycare for my nephew's rage-out tantrum, got that under control - only to realize I had about 10 minutes to make it to the vet. I flew home, got the pups in the car (c'mon guys! It'll be fun! Yay! Exciting! Get. In. The. CAR!) and made it to the vet with about 47 seconds to spare, only to sit in the waiting room for about 25 minutes. I can't even tell you how much fun THAT was, me still partially in uniform, smelling like yesterday's dinner (the dogs there all LOVED me, natch, but they roll in dead things if given the opportunity) with Dora trying to intimidate everything that moves and Homer trying to yank my shoulder out of the socket so he could smell each individual floor tile. My vet, Dr. MacDonald (Yes, I know, and he's heard every - single - joke, I PROMISE, but he's MONEY, and the pups loved him) gave me heartworm and tick meds for braving the wilderness, and off we went. Homer did not enjoy the vet at ALL, even though the visit wasn't for him, the big pansy, and he spent the entire time scratching at the door and whining. Meanwhile, Dora was prancing all over the room, up on her tiptoes, headbutting and leaning like a champ. I jabbered all the way home about what fun we were all going to have in West Virginia, but, well, Homer was asleep, and Explora-Dora didn't seem too terribly impressed.
SO. Then I went home, did laundry, got my new camera in the mail ($20 for overnight delivery - YOWZA!) packed for West Va, and was in bed, CONKED OUT, by 8 pm. I LOVE IT. Of course, that meant that I woke up at 4:30 this morning, but nobody's perfect.
The whole morning today was spent getting the week's supplies together, food, sundries, dog food, etc. and loading everything up. Dora was pretty much into everything, and I think she nosed as much out of the bags as we put in them, but Homer did an excellent job supervising...
...and we were on our way by 10 am.
It was actually a REALLY quick drive (and I, uh, obeyed the speed limit the entire way, I swear), and even though we stopped for gas and 7-11, we were here in a little over an hour. I am super thrilled it's so close actually, since I forgot I had tickets to a concert at Wolf Trap on Friday night, and I'll be driving back for that.
Dora was pretty excited about the car trip actually...
...and Homer Jess just wondered when it would be over so he could go back to sleep in peace.
So here we are, in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, and the cabin is not what I expected. The directions to get here involve about 13 "roads" other than the main highway, and I think only one of them was paved. My poor Tangerina got her undercarraige exfoliated, and I can tell you indubitably that I will not be coming here in the winter, as I think the access road and the driveway become ski slopes.
The pups really like it here - the house is surrounded by woods, and the whole front of the house is a screened in front porch on stilts about 15 feet off the ground, so they have a great vantage point for watching the goings-on and barking at passers-by. Dora actually barks at everything - trucks, squirrels, leaves falling, other dogs, Homer Jess... All I have to say is that if she starts barking at the mosquitoes, she's sleeping the car.
In any event, within minutes of our arrival the pups were right at home, with Dora seeking affection and Homer Jess asleep.
I will tell you that it has become clear that Homer Jess is a country dog - he's been more active here than at home, although "more active" has to be understood in the Homeskillet context - he's spent a few minutes sitting up, he's dug a giant hole in the leaves, and he's gone from the floor to the couch to the doorway twice. I'm amazed, and worried he might tire himself out by overdoing it.
I mean, he walked around for a good 15 minutes when we got here, and nested in the leaves with vigor - leaves flying everywhere, ears flapping, paws furiously digging - I could just see him keeling over from a heart attack. Luckily, he cut all that craziness out after the initial spurt, and was then content to just hang out and watch us unload the cars and get things in order.
Dora was a little more adventurous (which sounds WAY better than recklessly foolhardy), but I don't know how long that will last, or how long she'll survive if that continues. She went with Homer to dig leaves, and found out the hard way that sometimes leaves can pile pretty deep, and just because the leaves on top are level doesn't mean the ground underneath is... luckily she slid to a stop about 5 feet down the hill. Bless her heart, she's like a little kid - don't you know she came back up and tried to do it again? I didn't know they let dogs that big on the little yellow bus.
She's the cutest thing, but she is NOSY, and CURIOUS, and her and Lou together in the wilderness somehow spells disaster. Lou kept asking me if he could walk Dora, and she only outweighs him by about 65lbs, so I can't see THAT being a good idea. Our compromise was that Todd would walk Dora, and Lou could go with. So I'm in the kitchen with Mom, and I hear Todd yell "LOU!" at the top of lungs - I look out the window, and there goes Todd picking Lou up one handed by his jacket and carrying him away, dragging the dog behind. Then he starts to beat at Dora's back legs, and I'm like "WTF?!?!?" so I start heading to the door, when all of them come piling in the house quick like bunnies. I'm all ready to rip him a new one, and then he says "Do you know what YOUR DOG just did?" Uh-oh...
Dora, evidently, in her passion for exploring, had unearthed a very large nest of ground hornets. Apparently not having any experience with stinging insects and possessing a survival instinct very like her mother's (hmmm...I wonder what would a puma feel like... let's pet one!) CONTINUED to dig, even when they started swarming. Todd noticed the hornets, grabbed Lou immediately and got him out of the way (thank God, we have no idea if he's allergic and getting stung in the boonies is always BAD MONKEY) and then tried to get all of the bees off of Dora with the end of the leash. Lou escaped being stung thanks to his father's reflexes and quick thinking, but Todd got stung a few times and Dora got nailed a few times herself. I pulled the rest of the hornets off her and tweezed the stingers out, but she went right on along as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and has since tried to return to the scene of the crime. I'm not quite sure if she's convinced it was an anomaly, or if she's willing to brave the risk to find out what else is under that rock, but needless to say it's a good thing she's so damn cute (cause otherwise I'm pretty sure Todd would've killed her).
Homer Jess, naturally, slept through the entire thing.
Well, nothing else really to relate for today - the sunset was gorgeous (damn you, point-and-shoot camera! Though you are fabulous for quick action shots, I miss my SLR for nighttime!) and the crickets are astonishingly loud (Mom wondered if West Virginia had a noise ordinance, but apparently not, or they never got the memo). Homer got a wild hair, and found the bag of rawhide bones that Dora's foster mom so generously gave us, and managed to sneak one out without Dora catching him. He's currently going to town, but I'm not sure the energy spurt will last through the entire thing.
So ends day one in the country - Bone Appetit, Homeskillet, see you in the morning!
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