April 1, 2018

White Dog said, "Well we WERE on quite a roll for a while there!" And we all had to agree she was right. "But who would have expected the water trap," Opal droolly finished.

This weekend had been targeted as a "get things done" call to action. "We wouldn't want Lainie to think we were little piggies with long hair," Bella said looking at the dust bunnies under the sofa.

We have a friend coming into town this Wednesday who is staying in our Studio for ten days while she helps produce a charity event for the Youth Symphony. She undertook the project before her recent move to Florida and is returning to see its actuality.

The Studio has not housed guests in a while and as a result needed a thorough cleaning, ant spraying, and general "making pretty." All weekend Steve and the White Dog Army put clutter in its rightful place, tidied up, got rid of ants, washed, scrubbed, dusted...cleaned.

It was break...treat and lunchtime...when Steve muttered "damn!" His tone brought Zsofia and Roman running to his side at the kitchen sink. Roman stretched up to put his front paws on the counter and look. The sink was backed up.

Steve sighed heavily and went for the plunger. He put water on to boil. The train was going off the tracks. We had a bite to eat while we waited for the chemicals to do their magic and unclog things. No go. We tried the cycle again but when Steve went down to the basement for more supplies, he noticed the pipe was dripping. "I have a bad feeling," he told the WDA supervisors. "I see a plumber in the future." "Well, not at triple time on Easter Sunday," I responded. "I can wash dishes in the bathtub for tonight." Bailey suggested that the WDA could take care of the dinner remains.

Steve did another round of ant spraying in the Studio then closed everything tight to maximize its result...and we headed out to pick up needed items for the dogs...YES! treats are "needed items."

We returned with dried sardines and mussels, as well as lamb training treats. Sardines and mussels were well received immediately. The lamb was sprinkled over the top of dinner to add a sense of sharing the lamb shanks the humans had. Paper plates and plasticware lessened the dishes load and ant temptation of dirty dishes. Later, the WDA gathered in fascination with watch us do the meal cleanup in the bathtub.

Shortbread cookies took the place of the planned almond torte as we  wound up the evening with only two items remaining on the pre-guest list..."oh," White Dog added, "and let's not forget getting the sink fixed." "Inexpensively, I hope" Steve muttered under his breath.