Springing Forward

Did you remember to change your clocks?
And check your smoke alarm batteries?
How about the carbon monoxide detectors?

(Our answers:
Mostly
Not yet
We're all electric so we don't have them)

No mini-Y2K issues here, from the early springing, but I was rather annoyed to have to change the computer and cell phone manually.

I wasn't sure I remembered how to change the time on the cell, because I've never done it since the initial set-up. When we fly to Texas, it even knows when we've crossed time-zones and changes automatically!

The good news is that the clock in my car will show the correct time again for the next six months or so.

I put a new CD player / radio / clock in the car last winter and, while I evidently managed to spring it forward last spring, I never bothered figured out how to fall back.

It was a loverly springish day here in our little corner of the world. Low 50s, sunshine and just enough snow and ice still on the ground to really make you appreciate it.

We took the dogs for a walk and they visited with a couple of neighborhood kids for a good while.

The little boy, who is probably around six or so, said that he'd seen us (ok, he'd seen the dogs) walking before, but I didn't recognize him. I'd not seen the little girl before either. She is evidently the boy's next-door neighbor (they were at her house) and seems to have cerebral palsy or something similar.

The dogs were really good with both of them. I was really worried about BigGaloot jumping on the girl, but he didn't. I held onto him pretty tightly at first, but then he settled down and let them pet him, and then chased a stick for the boy (on leash) a bit. PerfectPup just stood there while the girl petted her for quite a while.

After we'd been there for several minutes, a woman came out of the house. I was a little worried that she was going to ask who the hell we were and why the hell we were letting our vicious beasties maul her children.

Instead, she said "You don't know what it means that she's (the little girl) standing next to a dog. She's usually terrified of them."

Aaaawwww! Yea us! Yea our doggies!

When we got home, I fixed lunch while Shrike went on poop patrol. After lunch, I went out to help her, because she wasn't even close to being finished.

Oh. Good. Golly.

I don't think we've she's scooped poop since it got cold outside and, up here in BlueState, it's been cold for quite a while. Possibly not since we I hosted a barbeque out there in September!

Did I mention that we have two dogs? Weighing a total of about 130 lbs? Who are both (evidently) full of shit?

We don't have an actual poop-scooper on a handle, so we were crawling around on our knees (carefully!) scooping it with tiny shovels, and put it into empty dogfood bags (seems appropriate that it should go back from whence it came).

I think we used three bags, and they were all pretty heavy by the end of it.

After the poop-fest we bathed the dogs, which also hasn't happened all winter.

PerfectPup handled it pretty well, especially considering that it takes for-fucking-ever for each step (wetting, lathering, rinsing, drying) because she's got so damn much fur.

Then we tried to bathe BigGaloot. Ha ha ha.

The irony is that he loves to splash around in water and will often hop into the tub while I'm filling it for myself. (Only when his feet are good and muddy, of course.) But, the actual bathing? Not so much.

We did manage to dyke-handle him into the tub, and keep him there long enough to rinse the worst of the mud from his feet . . . and legs . . . and belly . . . and chest. (Did I mention that it's spring and snow's been melting?)

Of course, since we're smart that way, we had pretty much stripped down before we started, which was a good thing, because we were soaked (and muddy) by the end of it, requiring a whole 'nother shower for us!