the joys of spring

i love dogs, i really do, but it's march, and march means melting snow. and melting snow means... mud. lots of mud. and my dogs find it all. gleefully, they track it through the house, and make it look like a war zone. i had just finished mopping the floor, when nick let both dogs in. they made a beeline for their waterdish, which just happened to be... you guessed it -- in the kitchen. where i had just mopped. the literally covered the floor with muddy footprints. and so i had to mop again. nick was amused. i was not .

now we have a new rule. dogs stay in laundry room until feet are dry. wait... i made that rule last spring. *sigh* i tried (unsucessfully) to get nick to try to mop the floor, but he theroized that the dogs would just get it dirty again, so it was a futile and pointless excercise, and a waste of time. exactly, which is why keeping them in the laundry room is not futile, nor pointless.

unfortunately, the dog is huge. and the laundry room is not. so she doesn't like being in there. in fact, she is a huge dog, and really probably too huge for the house, but she is family, and leaving her outside is unthinkable, although probably wise.

after all, letting a 108 lb malamute into the confines of any house is probably quite foolish, and one cant' expect to keep an immaculate house if one lets a great hairy beast of that size inside. think flecks of drool, constantly shedding hair, and huge muddy paws. then we have the little dog, who insists that the best place for him is on the couch. he feels especially drawn to the couch when he is completely soaked and/or muddy.

i think we need to get a dyson vaccuum. the one i currently have (which we paid alot of money for) keeps getting the hose clogged with cody's hair. i literally have to clean tightly packed hair out of the whole lenght of the hose every so often because it just gets jammed - much like a clogged sink pipe that has too much hair in it.

too bad its dirty and full of bits of whatever from the vaccuum -- i read about a lady who actually used dog hair to make yarn which she then made into sweaters and hats, etc. of course, after reading it, i immediately thought: does this stuff stink like dog when it gets wet? gross. can you imagine getting caught in the rain and then having the permeating smell of wet dog engulfing you until you could change? ughhh! okay, maybe salvaging cody's hair isn't such a great idea.

and i am realizing that little boys are every bit as adventerous as two dogs, and i will be dealing with muddy footprints for the next 18 years. and i'm smiling because i think, i'm so lucky to have this sweet little boy, and if i have muddy footprints in my kitchen it no doubt means i have a happy little boy, and so i'll be a happy mama.

so in the end, exasperating as it may be, muddy prints are a good thing. it means i still have a house full of animals and people who i love. maybe they are God's way of reminding me how lucky i am.