The Leaf Collector

Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Dale came to visit today on their way to visit Rebecca’s father.  We didn’t realize how long it had been since we’d seen them until we counted back and realized it was last year at Olivia’s graduation party when we all were together.   How is it almost a year can go by like that?   Time, I swear, passes faster and faster the older I get.

This morning shortly before their arrival I brushed the dog, on account of she is perpetually in need of a good brushing.   She likes being brushed and will roll over in any position so I can get to various parts of her.   She’s also in need of a bath for almost one hundred percent of the time.   The exception being the brief period from when she’s just had a bath until the next time she goes outside.

She loves being outdoors, and I am, of course, exaggerating, but she likes to be in nature and nature likes to get all over her.   Today we all went out into the back yard and we let the dog run loose, with a long leash on her in case she decided to head elsewhere.   Typically though that’s not a problem—she wants to be wherever we are.  

In this case, that meant being under the platform swing my daughter was on.   The swing is high enough so the dog could comfortably lie under it while my daughter swung back and forth above.  The dog was quite pleased to be in the cool mud from the rain.   She ran around and got muddy paws and then lay down in the mud under the swing.   She went into the bushes and collected leaves.   She rolled over in the mulch.  

I don’t think I’ve ever seen her as muddy or messy as she was today—so I left her outside on orders to make as much of a mess of herself as she wanted, because a bath was imminent.   Only I couldn’t do the bath without some help.   I couldn’t walk her into the bathroom with the state of her paws, and I didn’t want to ruin my clothes with the state of her fur, so I enlisted my daughter to help.  

She and I went over the plan: first I would start the shower, then I would get the dog on leash and bring her to the door where my daughter would wait with her.   I’d come inside, get undressed and then come to the door where we’d have a dog handoff.   I would carry the dog to the shower and then spend however much time it would take to get the dog clean.

It turns out, it was quite a lot of time.   Matisse is a leaf collector.   Leaves love her.   They stick to her fur and don’t want to leave.   She and I were in the shower for twenty minutes with a brush, trying to get the leaves out that didn’t wash off with the shower wand.  

She likes being washed and is very calm, standing there, letting me run water all over her, getting her clean all over.   She is very patient too, which is helpful, because the pile of leaves in the picture had to be picked out one by one.

After getting clean she went into her cage to sleep for a few hours while she dried.   When she came out I brushed her and she is back to her super soft and fluffy self.  

Tomorrow I’ll be stingy on letting her stay outside, because I’d like for her to stay clean for at least one day before she starts her leaf collection again.

The Bad Big Boy, Tiny Girl and Mother Day:  Today was a challenging one for my son, daughter and me.   The three of us just weren’t getting along.   There was inconsiderateness, lack of respect, lack of gratitude, anger, yelling, rudeness and general not getting along across the board.   I won’t tell you which ones I’m guilty of, but it’s more than one of the things on the above list.   My children and I agreed tomorrow is another day and we are all going to try and make it a better one.