As expected

Today I can laugh. Yesterday? Not so much.

I had to be up at the crack of dawn yesterday; nothing different than every other day, but no food for the dogs. My dogs are used to routine, expecially Henry. In fact he demands it. He demands it quite loudly. Following me step by step through the house. Demanding it. This time it was food. He was having a minor surgical procedure and food was restricted after midnight. He demanded. I could not explain, and am not sure I would have even if I could have. He demanded. I yelled. He demanded. I got the water bottle. He demanded. I went back to bed. Boy did THAT confuse him!! The other two seemed to watch in amusement, until they realized that they were not getting their breakfast as well. There is nothing sadder than a droopy eared, droopy tailed, Cardigan Corgi.

Anyway. I needed to be on the road by 7am for an 8am appointment. I got Henry in the car and ran back in to feed the long tails. Kate could wait, but I didn't know when I would be back and felt the need to give the pup his breakfast. They both got fed. I headed out.

Four hours later I was back home. When I walked into the house I was greeted by a mess of epic proportions. Truly. My kitchen floor is white ceramic tile. (Yes, I hate it, but it came that way and until I spring for laminate for the whole house it will stay that way.) It was no longer white. The entire floor was brown. Strange. the odor was not as one would assume. Yes, a tad, but nothing like the mess should dictate. The pup's bib, normally a stunning white, was also brown. Then I saw it. A chewed bottle of chocolate syrup. Sugar Free. Panic rose in my throat. Luckily I had recently picked up a nice fresh bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide. I grabbed it, the two dogs, and a syringe and headed to the dog pen. Two happy, glad to see me, doggies hopped alongside. My pants quickly getting coated in a mix of chocolate and uh, well, poo. The H2O2 did the job and I found that Kate had consumed a container of Top Ramen. (I don't "do" Top Ramen, so likely moved it with me over nine years ago.) The pup? His breakfast, chocolate, a few noodles, chocolate, some styrofoam, chocolate. Panic now ensues. Back to read the container and a call to a friend. She makes it worse by telling me how deadly the sugar substitute is. I quickly hang up and call the vet. I am fearing liver failure, kidney failure. The vet gives me the option of the Emergency Vet for 24 hours or watching at home. Since he is not dehydrated, acting fine, although tired from purging, I opt to do my own 24 hour watch. I can watch him each and every second, not crate him and do an occasional vital sign check. I had instruction on what to watch for in chocolate toxicity, but was told all was likely fine. It seems that the sugar substitute that is so deadly to dogs is Xylitol. This was Sorbitol. Had I stopped to think I would have known it was fine as we used it quite a bit in the hospital to help with a sodium/potassium imbalance in the lower gut; it is also, dum, dum, dummmmmm... a laxative. sigh. yet again...

So, now I am stuck, literally, with cleaning the kitchen. I have fenced it off so no dog could help. It was bad. Overwhelming, actually. My little floor cleaning system mop was shivering in the closet. Thanks to a Costco trip I had bought a monster box of the disposable pads. My first "step" (ewwww) was to scrape as much up as possible including the bits of Ramen cup, shredded potty pad, plastic from the bottle, and other nasties. Then soapy water to soak a bit. 6 pads later I was ready to use the spray that comes on the mop. By now the floor is almost white again. The grout is an interesting chocolate brown, but I am getting there. Now it is time to turn the puppy white chested again. Into the tub and grab the nice lavender scented baby wash. The vet said to keep him quiet as increased heart rate is what can exacerbate the chocolate toxicity. "Soothing. Relaxing." The bottle states just that in quite large letters. Besides, he smells nice! At this point anything but fake chocolate would probably smell nice, however. Clean, relaxed, sleepy puppy is deposited on a towel onto the bed. Henry hops up. Oh yes. Henry. He is recuperating. Hopefully he appreciated that I kept the other dogs away so he could just chill. I informed him of that fact and he gave me a nudge as if to say "yeah, right." As I towel dried the pup the other two snuggled in and we all napped; blissfully smelling the lavender fields of Sequim...

When I awoke I did a check and all three dogs were fine. They all rolled their eyes at me not unlike my human children as I did the head injury checks in the middle of the night following a fall all those years ago. I felt the same happy relief when they stirred. I got up and began the work on the grout. Again, Costco saves me. I had bought the big pack of sponges. The scrubby side did the trick and the kitchen was back to where it started a few hours earlier. The carpet was aided by the Nature's Miracle. Yep, it works on chocolate too. Cool!!

This morning starts fresh and new. The rain has taken care of the dog pen clean up. My brain is busy trying to come up with a way to lock down the turn table cabinet. Even if I empty it someone could get stuck or hurt in the thing. (My theory, for what it is worth, is that Kate was after the fake chicken smelling packet in the Ramen cup. It was on the top shelf of the turnstile. She got on her hind legs and shuffled through until she found the Ramen, knocking a bottle of syrup on the floor. Puppy sees plastic bottle and thinks "toy." First puncture and it becomes tasty as well as paw paint. The rest is now history.) Until I figure out how to lock the thing down the dogs will be crated when I leave. No big deal; I just like the idea of giving them more room if I will be gone for a longer period of time. There must be kid proof locks for those cabinets; I need to take a return to Lowes sometime and will check into it then.

For now, I sit here with sleeping dogs at my side. Smelling lavender, and smiling. Yep, I can chuckle about it today. Everything is back as it should be.

Song of the day(s):
Yesterday? "How Much is That Doggy in the Window?" Patty Page
Today? "Everything is Beautiful" Ray Stevens

G2