Happy Little Trees

Last night I didn't sleep well, because thoughts about all the details of my next day kept floating over me. I 've been trying to clean up the dog house, I mean, my apartment, for my mom's visit after Thanksgiving. I had cleaned the downstairs the night before, but by the next morning, the dog toys and chewed pieces of things were all over the floor again.

And then, I found a flea on Mickey's foot. I've flea shampooed her to the point she could have brain damage, bathed her in dishsoap, given her $51 Frontline, flea bombed my house, sprinkled magic white flea powder on all the floors, cleaned the bedding, have trash-bagged laundry, misted the furniture and curtains, sprayed the backyard with flea killer, and low and behold, a stinking flea! I actually caught it, and then the little sucker (literally) jumped off into oblivion somewhere to multiply, I assume.

I'm afraid my car might have fleas. I haven't seen one yet, but I know it's probably out there lurking. And I'll probably take them on my Thanksgiving road trip--spreading fleas throughout the Confederacy.

My boss told me that when he was young there dog had fleas, and when they returned from vacation, fleas coated their legs when they walked in the house. That thought has really freaked me out.

Mickey and I took our last long neighborhood walk today. I walk her about a mile down to a park and let her run around a tennis court on some mornings. She is a dog that just needs to run. I let her run with her leash attached for a minute, and she totally flopped and ate it on the grass because her feet ran faster than her body. She's a bit goofy.

Then, on the walk back home, I finally let her go sniff noses with the Airedale and Border Collie that always go nuts when we walk by their fence. When we got close to the driveway gate, the Airedale started attacking its Border Collie sister, then they chilled. The fence has a corner with some spacing in it, and Mickey kept looking back with her ear perked and the Border Collie with the blue eyes looked at her wistfully as if to say, "Please, get me away from this crazy dog! I want to be with you!"

I think that Border Collies feel a connection and immediately like each other. Last week, Mickey met a Border Collie at the dog park, and I promise, they both did a brief syncronized swimming routine. They both ran around the blue dog pond, and then made eye contact at each other at across the pond, swam to the middle, and did a turn facing each other. Mickey is the Esther Williams of the dog park, but I never expected her to have a routine down with another dog.

Today work ends early, so I'll rush around doing some errands, pack up the car, and head out to our first stop in Jackson, Mississippi. Then, Thanksgiving Day, we'll head out to Louisville and go meet Marissa, Emily, and Paws.

I'm going to try to document as much as I can of the adventure, so stay tuned.