I'm sure I'll be able to laugh at this at some point in time. My head still hurts & I can still smell Mufasa. I must have manure on my shoes, I changed my dirty sweatshirt & washed my face & hands, but didn't change my shoes.
I slept until noon & still felt like I could have slept another hour or 2, but it was NOON. And good mornings start at noon. It took me another 10 or 15 minutes just to get up into a sitting position, much less jump up like a piece of toast. I fed the cats, cleaned their litter box & I could smell my towels in the washer. I had washed them on Monday & forgot to reboot them by putting them in the dryer. Yesterday, Wednesday, I went out in the laundry room & could smell them. I run them through a cycle with vinegar. So, I put a scoop of Borax in the washer & ran them through another cycle. I took my meds, got dressed & decided I'd better care for Mufasa. It's much easier to care for him in the morning than at midnight.
He hadn't been let out of the kennel since Monday & I could see that there were quite a few piles of manure. So, I got his purple rope, put it around his neck & let him out. He was so excited he was dancing around & jumping up on me. I went over on my back like a felled tree. I didn't even have a chance to yell timber. I hit my head, hard. I laid there & yelled & yelled for Don-Mike until my throat was raw. The dog was still, but as soon as I moved, he was right there, pushing me back down. Finally, he stood still & let me use him to stand up. I was dizzy & felt like I was going to throw up.
Don-Mike had driven a fence post in the middle of the garden so we could put Mufasa on a leash & let him be out of the kennel. I put him on that, gave him some water & walked on up to the house. Don-Mike had the radio on in the garage & there was no way he could have heard me screaming. I'm just glad one of the neighbors didn't see or hear & call the police.
I took a rake & went down & raked out his kennel. I felt like I was cleaning out a cow stall!! Then took a garbage sack & filled it up with straw & manure. I didn't put any more straw back in. I thought I'd save the straw for his bedding. Then I put feed & water in the kennel.
Don-Mike brought this very long nylon rope down. I said I didn't want to use it because I didn't want him to get to me. When I was finished, I took the long nylon rope & tied one end to the kennel and tied the other one around Mufasa's neck. I used slip knots because they are the only kind I know how to tie that won't come untied. I didn't want Mufasa roaming the neighborhood.
By then, I was sweating freely & felt even worse than I had earlier. I put the towels in the dryer & went in the front room & sat down. I was dirty & sweaty & tired. I can't be disheveled because my hair isn't long enough to be disheveled. It's always disheveled. You can't tell whether I've combed it or not. Don didn't even notice or speak to me. He was reading The Preston Citizen. That irritated me. I said waspishly, "At least Don-Mike asked if I was all right." Don asked what was wrong & I told him. I said that now I'm afraid of Mufasa.
Finally Don got off of Runescape long enough to go to the convenience store & get some refills. First, I wanted to go tell Mother that we hadn't forgotten her. We were still planning on having dinner at her house.
We got our refills & I went down to check on Mufasa. He barked at me from under the trampoline. I thought that was clever, he'd shaded up. I had pushed the lawnmowers & tiller over under the tramp so they'd be sheltered a little bit from the weather, since Mufasa now occupied their shed.
I had noticed earlier that the sleeping bags that Don & I had used in the camper were in a trailer that Don-Mike uses to put garbage in. When it fills up, he takes it to the land fill. So, I decided to pull one or both of them out & put them in Mufasa's kennel. They were at the bottom of the trailer, wouldn't you know it? I tugged & pulled, moved other garbage & finally got one out. It was wet, so I walked over to the tramp to throw it over it to let it dry out.
I walked around the tramp to check on Mufasa & he was in a predicament. The rope was wrapped around an aspen tree & several times around the frame of the tramp. The rope was wrapped so tightly that he was hog-tied to the tramp.
This time I decided that I wouldn't try to untangle him alone. I went back to the house & asked Don & Ed to come help me. I was trying to undo the slip knot around his neck. It was so tight that at first I couldn't even get my fingers under it. I finally loosened it up a little & here came Eddie. Mufasa, of course, wanted to go greet him. He stood up & was trying to get to Eddie, &, in the effort, was tightening the rope. My fingers weren't strong enough to loosen the knot. Eddie decided to go get some wire cutters. I said to let Don-Mike know we were going to cut his rope. It will have to be cut anyway because Mufasa had been gnawing on it & gnawed through one of the strands. Don asked to let him try. I let him & in a matter of seconds, had it untied. By then we had the purple rope back on him. Eddie & Don took him over to the kennel to put him in. I stayed by the tramp & untangled the rope.
When I finished with the rope I walked over to help with caging Mufasa. Don took charge of this activity. He took the short blue rope, put it around Mufasa's neck & had Eddie hold it through the fence, back by the food & water. I was door keeper. I held the door shut & as soon as Eddie had the rope, I opened the door & Don walked out, with Mufasa lunging on the leash. I shut the door & Eddie let go.
To lock the kennel gate is quite complicated. First, the traditional latch on a kennel door is latched. Next, a bolt is slid into place at the bottom of the gate to hold it shut. There is a metal hole, held in place by a brick. After that, a tie down is put across the bottom on the outside of the gate. There is already one on the inside that is not removed. The outside tie down is even with the inside one. Then, there is a tie down across the top even with the latch. Meanwhile, the whole time you're securing the gate, Mufasa is jumping & whining, wanting to get out.
It took almost 3 hours to do all of this. I went to get the rope off of Mufasa & in all of this commotion, his food bowl had been tipped over & the food was all over the ground, sigh.
After caring for the dog, I feel like I've had my exercise. Why pay money to go to a gym? I get paid to work out by dog sitting.
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