Day Seventeen: Water
I am wet. My shorts are wet, my shirt's wet, even my bra is damp. Until I dried them off so I could come back in the house, my legs were dripping water and my feet were sloshing in my shoes. Levi and Gimpy are wet, too, but air drying as I write this. They've just had a bath, which explains how I got so wet.
It's so much easier to bathe them in the summer, when I can do it outside. Bathing them in the house involves luring or tricking them into the bathroom, then lifting them bodily into the tub while they stiffen and stretch their legs to foil my efforts. Indoor bathing also involves a lot of mopping that doesn't have to be done when they're bathed outdoors.
Today was a perfect day for this chore. At first the water coming straight out of the garden hose felt almost too hot, but after it ran awhile, it cooled off to a lukewarm, comfortable temperature for my dirty boys.
Our outside dog-wash setup consists of two wrought-iron chairs, one facing the other near the edge of the patio, with just enough space in between them to park a large dog. I sit in the chair closest to the house, the hose on the ground near my right hand. The chair across from me holds towels, no-tears baby shampoo and unscented, hypo-allergenic coat conditioner. Whichever dog is standing at my knees wears a leash, the other end of which is wrapped securely around the arm of the heavy chair in case he has a sudden, overwhelming urge to bolt.
They were good today, uneasy as always with the face-washing part, but patient overall. Levi wore a chagrined expression from the time I turned the water on until the towel-drying part at the end, then he was happy again. Gimpy licked my chin occasionally, showing that he still loved me in spite of my betrayal, then chose to sit through much of his bath. That made it more difficult to suds his rump, so I leaned across his body--which is how I got so wet--and eventually managed to get the job done.
If I can keep them from rolling in dried grass clippings or dead anythings for one day, I'll be happy. That's all I ask: just one day.
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For this week's Saturday Song Selection, I've chosen one I remember from 1959. I'll bet your mouth starts drying out by the end of the first chorus.
The song is "Cool Water," performed by Marty Robbins.
Thanks to fatjud1 for posting the video on YouTube.
Click here to read the lyrics.
Love that song. Used it in a post myself once. At one time I had a cocker spaniel and would end up drenched after his bath, so I can't imagine dealing with your two boys!
ReplyDeleteJust did a keyword search of your blog. Not only did you post that song, you did it in response to this same series of prompts. I didn't recall that, but my subconscious must have remembered, because I considered posts about rivers, the sea, rain, etc., and this one kept pushing its way back to the top of the list. Well, at least I know the idea I stole was a good one.
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