Blonds, Red Heads, and Mr. Salt and Pepper

What a day! What a week!  I’m exhausted and very happy the weekend has arrived. Today I had an epiphany, which is surprising considering how busy I’ve been, but Gretchen tells me that epiphanies happen when you least expect them so I guess that’s what happened to me.

Here it is: Most of our clients are blond haired or red headed. Ollie and Gemma are red heads and everybody else, except for Monty and Lucy, are blonds.  Well of course, there is Woobie who we see occasionally and she’s most like Monty in her salt and pepper appearance, and there’s Argo who is also salt and pepper, but the majority of our clients are blond-haired or red headed.

I know, not a huge epiphany. Just one of those ah-has that pops into my mind while I work.  Gretchen says her epiphanies happen in the shower.  I may have to give that a try and see if I have any more ah-has, but frankly, I’m not a big fan of bathing.

So let me get on with the day…interesting as it was.

First, we picked up Monty and Quillette and went for a nice walk in the morning when it was still cool out. We all came back to my house and watched Gretchen start to clean the house when the phone rang. I’m not sure what was happening, but all the sudden Gretchen was taking everything out of the refrigerator and putting it into a cooler and a crate.

What’s up with that?

Then the three of us — Monty, Quillette, and I — were put into the backyard and two strange men came into the house wheeling something really, really big. I went crazy, barking as loud as I could. Quillette joined in, but Monty looked at me like “What’s up, dude?” But I was lost in my alarm and didn’t pay any attention to his calm demeanor. “There’s strangers in the kitchen. Bark already!”

Instead, Quillette and I stood at the sliding glass door and stayed as vigilant as we could watching the strange men wheeling the strange big box. Gretchen stayed outside with us to calm me down, but that made me a bit more worried. “Why are you out here with me when two strange men are in our kitchen?”
“Just wait, Rubin, you’ll see,” is all she said. Cold comfort, eh?

Meanwhile, Monty tried to figure out why Quillette and I were so focused on the kitchen.

“What’s up, Gretchen? Why are they so stressed out?” Monty asked.

“They are nervous about the men in the kitchen, but they don’t need to be,” Gretchen responded. “It’s all going to be okay.”

“Duh,” Monty said.

And then he tried to play with me. That didn’t go over very well because I was really still nervous and so I snapped at him. I didn’t mean to, but it was not the time for playing. “Monty, two strange men. Need I say more?”

Eventually the men left and we were let back into the kitchen and what do you know…a brand new refrigerator stood where the old one used to be. Well why didn’t she tell us they were delivery men?

Humans.

Once I saw the new appliance, I was ready to play. So was Quillette.

And Monty continued to chill out by making faces at us…

Are all black and white dogs this goofy? I think not.

Eventually we all got hot and rested in the shade until it was time to go to work.

First up, Oshi and Perrito. Monty and I had to stay back on this walk because Monty needed to eat lunch and I still hadn’t eaten my breakfast. So while Ann put all the goods back into the new fridge and we ate, Gretchen leashed up the blond (Quillette) and headed next door to get the two other blonds — though they have darker highlights — and off to the park they went to play fetch.

Only it got hot pretty quick and Oshi set the tone for the rest of their park visit…Perrito and Quillette soon joined him!

Yes, it was getting warm, but there were still more dogs to walk. Next up? The red head — Ms. Gemma. Gretchen returned Quillette to our house and she set off alone to pick up Gemma. Gemma was already hot and while she was happy to see Gretchen, she wasn’t her usual energetic self. It was too hot to be an energetic red head, but she tried.

…but she didn’t try for very long. Gretchen ended up walking her around the park and then headed back to our house where Gemma was thrilled to see the hose filling up the pool!

I was pretty excited, too. There’s nothing like cold water to revive your energy levels!

Game On!!!!

Eventually, though, Gemma had to go home and Monty, Quillette and I hung out while Gretchen cleaned the house and Ann finished up cleaning the windows on the second floor.  We went for another walk before we took Monty and Quillette home and then Gretchen headed out to pick up Wilson. I was kind of sad because I thought I was being left at home while she fetched another blond, but when Ann put the leash on me and we met up with Gretchen and Wilson, I was very happy. I knew exactly where we were going…SWIMMING!

It felt great to get wet on such a warm day and I know Wilson appreciated it, too.  He was bouncy all the way back to his house, but me? I was dead tired. It’s been a long week and a long day and I’m ready to hit the sack. Are you?

I’ll leave you with another shot of Mt. Rainier. If you live in Seattle, you know how rare it is to see it in all it’s glory, so best snap as many pictures as you can when it’s out.

Have a good weekend! Until Monday!

Rubin