Midnight Madness

If you could have been a fly on the wall last night, I think you would have laughed--deep, big belly laughs. You see Payton our lovable pup got a bath. Why you might ask? Well, suffice it to say that it that is was yours truly's idea. Payton had been biting at her front legs all night and had developed a new, weird behavior of biting into the couch. Bill in his infinite wisdom suggested that she might have gotten something on her when she was outside. Well, all kids of images races through my brain--everything from fleas to some type of plant irritant. Needless to say, I decided then and there she had to have a bath. Now I don't know if you've ever tried to give a dog a bath, but this is not easy task, not under the best of circumstances. Add in this was way past midnight and I was the only one willing to do the task. With lots of water, soap and only a couple attempts of escape, I managed to accomplish the task with only half on the water getting on the floor!! The trickiest task was attempting (notice the word choice here) to get Payton dry. Two towels later, I gave up. She would just have to air dry in our air conditioned house. I thought, "Can a dog get a cold from being cold?" This is one bit of knowledge my mother forgot to teach me. So, I took a deep breath at let Payton go. What ensued next was truly comical, as if up to this point weren't bad enough. Off she runs wet fur flapping, running around the living room wanting to play. I decided that sleep would not be easy for me with Payton in this current frenzy, so I took my pillow and blanket and sat on the couch. And. . . Payton played, and played, and played. I tried to avoid her gaze, thinking if I didn't make eye contact she'd get tired faster. Not to be--nope! At one point she started barking and growling at a pile of dirty clothes. With repeated attempts to calm her unsuccessful, I got up to look at the clothes, ready to convince her to stop barking. Low and behold, sitting on top of the pile of clothes was her toy. She must have "flipped" it up there when she was playing. Lack of sleep had gotten to me at this point and I collapsed in laughter. If it hadn't been so late, I would have looked for the hidden camera. Content with her toy, Payton climbed up on the couch, snuggled down by my pillow and promptly fell asleep. What a sight!! As for me. . . I'm still sleep deprived and just a little "punchy." But what else would you expect from a round of midnight madness? And I thought all this was over now that my kids are teens. Silly me!