Life with Arlo: Yucky-Yucky Poo-Poo Edition

Honestly, the yucky-yucky poo-poo part of this blog isn't the worst part... but it certainly factors in.

My friend Jody is in town, so I spent the afternoon having lunch with her at my parents' house. We sat outside and chatted about towns in New Jersey and bridges that are narrow and various types of plants. At about 4:11 (I had just checked the time; that's why I remember it was exactly 4:11), I got up and announced that I had some things to do.

The things I had to do involved grading some papers (I didn't do that), painting my toenails (I did do that), and packing a lunch for tomorrow (obviously, that got done... since it's a necessity). The things I actually did that I didn't intend to do involved preparing tenth-grade lesson plans for tomorrow (I totally forgot to plan ahead of time -- oops), laundry (many wet towels were accumulated this afternoon), tidying the laundry room after the ceiling collapsed (yup, you read that correctly), and bathing Arlo's bum. Allow me to begin at the beginning...

Upon returning from my parents', I thought I should check on the laundry room because this week's intense rain resulted in some water in my basement. The laundry room closet opens into the unfinished section of the basement, so I typically keep this door closed, but because of the damp that had invaded my home, I had positioned a fan to blow into the closet. This is important to note because that closet door allowed my cats to enter the unfinished section of the basement, and while this seems like a less-than-big deal... it is a big deal. Petey must have gone adventuring last night and ended up in the ceiling (he enjoys going up there), likely hunting mice (droppings do indicate that there is still a mouse living somewhere in my house...), and then I imagine he stepped on some panels that weren't sturdy enough to support his weight and... CRASH!

I sent a text to Tim (my very first childhood crush and also the guy who renovated my basement last year), told him what happened, and included a video of the damage. This is that video:

Tim called me right away because he is amazing. And he said, "Yeah, that's not great." The good news is that he's going to fix it this week and maybe also install some shelves in the basement closet.

So I cleaned up the basement, right? I used my regular vacuum. Ironically, I ordered a shop vac this week and it was supposed to arrive at 3:45... but it didn't show up until, like, 5:30. Therefore, I didn't have the shop vac for the basement catastrophe (sad) but I did get the job done (yay!) and my brand-spankin' new shop vac arrived as soon as I was done.

With the basement as tidy as it could be, I headed upstairs to check on the dogs. They were playing in the backyard -- very typical behavior -- and seemed happy to see me when I stepped into the carport. But then Arlo started acting weird. He'd sit down randomly, splaying his legs, and because my Airedale and I understand one another on complex levels, I immediately realized that this behavior meant he was having poo troubles.

I won't go into a lot of details about what was going on with Arlo's bum, but the gist is this: there was a big poop-a-doop stuck in his fur and he couldn't get it off.

This resulted in a game of chase, a quick scrub of his bum, another game of chase, a bout of trickery to get him into the basement, and eventually a bath... which then required me to clean the dogs' tub because Arlo's dilemma made a mess.

Needless to say, I am now tired. Too tired to edit this entire post because as soon as I finished bathing Arlo, that's when I realized I needed to make lesson plans for my sophomores, and I did make lesson plans for my sophomores, but after that? After that, I opened a bottle of wine. I am now going to drink some of that wine. G'night.

P.S. This is Arlo, after his bath and sans poopy bum. Isn't he handsome? That's why I keep him. And Petey, too... even though he collapsed a ceiling.