Dog Bath on the Patio, or a Dog's Tail.

YES, I am a Good Girl and I Got a BATH!

Yes, after thinking about this for a good week or so today I committed to giving Molly a bath.  The issue at hand has been if I wanted to do this as always by placing all 35 pounds of her in the bathtub.  Then having to clean up the mess from having done it that way.  Or, I have thought it warm enough to bathe her out of doors on the patio and keep her outside until her lovely long curls were dry.

I opted to adventure out back!  I thought that by assembling a large bucket of warm water plus two large (a couple of gallons each) watering cans of warm water and the back up of the hose if needed I could make this work.

Off I trudged.  Two of her favorite dog treats in one pocket, the camera in my other pocket, the leash looped across the back of my neck, and a watering can of warm water in each hand.  After delivering these out of doors I slipped back inside with Brian's big blue work pail and filled it with warm water from the Jacuzzi. Then grabbed the dog shampoo on the way back out of doors.  Lastly I slid the access panel shut so she cannot reenter the house until she is dry.

My plan was to loop the leash around the heavy wooden rocking chairs that stand on the patio then attach her to the business end as I sat down in the chair to further corral her.

Molly being the good girl she is, sat right down when asked to do so.  Then I gave her the first treat.....the Annie bar the door!!  When I "showered" her with warm water she was literally "fit to be tied."  The shock and awe quickly subsided as I stroked her and applied the suds.  Actually, I think she loved it as there was no further flutter from her.  More like a swoon!

Thus there we were in the sunlight as it filtered through the trees and a gentle breeze fluttered the leaves.  Molly was having a ball and enjoying every minute of this!  As I finished up scrubbing her down she didn't mind a bit when I showered her with first the remaining warm water from the bucket that that from the watering cans. 

YES, I know how to shake, shake, shake.

I quickly loosed her from the leash and the shaking commenced with great fervor! She looked back at me and I heard her swish as she dashed up the side steps and flew across the back yard like a streak!
She was having a ball as she dried and ran like the hunting dog she is.

All the while I am thinking this is the way to go!!  No dog hair in the tub drain.  No dog shaking off water through the house.  No splattered water and paw prints all over the bathroom.  Success is sweet.

And of course Molly is thinking all of the while, "I'm out of here."  And she was.

Top Posts ( I really got a kick out of this and hope you do too!)

Fruit Cream, a lovely salad.

It is so very interesting to me what takes off and gets the most attention from those of you who are so kind as to follow this little blog.  I go into the statistics and marvel at the things I never dreamed would be of interest.

One lesson I have learned is that I do not have a clue as to what to expect in the way of reaction.  Therefore I am very interested when readers, friends, and others ask for or make suggestions, and comments about things they would like to see explored or shared.  I welcome you to do so.

I decided to share this with you so I searched out this morning the top read posts ranging all over 900 and up to the hundreds of thousands of hits as it is such a diverse list of titles.  Some are regular blog posts (listed under Topics) and some are pages (found at the the top right on the first page of this blog).  In all there are 7 pages and posts that meet the criteria.

Chocolate Scratch Cake in a mug.

#1 Post is Aunt Betty's 1-2-3 Cake in a Mug

#2 Page is Helpful Hints for Scrubbing Bathtub and other.....

#3 Post is Fruit Cream, a lovely fruit salad

#4 Post is Chocolate Scratch Cake for One in a Mug

#5 Page is Easiest Stove Cleaning for Enamel Tops and.....

#6 Chocolate Chocolate Pudding Cake

#7 Page is Produce Codes Explained

This is not to say there are not tons more posts and pages of interest.   More interesting numbers are that there are 490 published posts, 488 published comments, and 234 followers.  The blog was first published on 4/19/10 so we are a little over 2 years old.

Chocolate Chocolate Pudding Cake.

So thank you all.  If you would like to look at any of these topics you can click directly onto the "PAGES" section in the top few inches at the top of the right hand column.  Or type the "BLOG" subject into the finder box in the lower portion of the right column.

Thank you my friends for making my days such fun with this.  I leave you now to go give Molly, our dog, her bath this fine sunny day.  Hummm.....sounds like an interesting if not comical upcoming post.

Diane

Shrimp, Pasta, & Fresh Pesto

When I spoke with Dave Goss this morning in addition to sharing his favorite method for making and freezing pesto (see preceding post) he shared his number one favorite way of eating pesto so I had to try it!!  Wow so good.  And easy too.  Especially because once the pesto is made you only need to boil your favorite pasta, saute some shrimp in a bit of olive oil and butter sprinkled with a toss of red pepper flakes, then toss it all together with about 1/2 cup pesto or to your taste.  i added a squeeze of lemon to my dish and wow a great meal.  Brian loved it too. 

BIG THANK YOU going out to Diane for growing and giving me the basil starts and to Dave for his recipes.