Big Trouble

Yesterday, Emme got in BIG trouble. Ken and I took the dogs to the lake house where we were going to paint the garage floor. You can see where this story is heading already, can't you? I put the dogs in the kitchen and we went out to the garage to work. Ken rolled grey epoxy paint on the garage floor and while it was still wet, I sprinkled blue and white vinyl chips on top. It really does make a nice looking, durable floor. I checked on the dogs twice while we were working and they were lying on the floor in front of the sink, waiting.

When we were done, both dogs needed to go outside. There is a landing just outside the kitchen door with a door leading outside. Since both dogs needed to go outside, I didn't want to put the leash on only one, because I was afraid the other would push out the door instead of waiting. Then it would be just a few steps to disaster for a dog without a leash. Turn left, take two steps and the dog would be on the wet floor. So I put collars and leashes on both dogs at the same time, stepped out on the landing, opened the door, and got them outside to the deck. With some difficulty, I got both dogs and me down the steps to the grass and they both took care of business. So far, so good.

Then we came back inside the garage. Just before I got the kitchen door open, Emme jumped under the railing down to the wet floor. Then she immediately jumped back on the landing. Her paws were covered with grey paint and she made little puppy paw prints on the dark brown landing. They looked just like they were made with rubber stamps. I swooped Emme up into my arms and immediately got grey paint all over my blouse. I wasn't sure what epoxy paint would do to her paws, so I got a kitchen towel and tried to rub the paint off. I got grey paint all over the towel but I couldn't get all the paint off. Then Ken yelled into the kitchen that the paint could be cleaned up with soap and water. I got a soapy dish cloth and washed her paws. Grey paint on the dish cloth but still more on her paws. I decided that I would give her a bath but I couldn't figure out where to put her down that she wouldn't walk paint all over the floors. So with Emme still in my arms, I went downstairs and got the puppy shampoo and towels. I came back upstairs, ran a sink full of water and gave Emme a bath. I finally got all the grey paint off of her. Meanwhile, Ken scrubbed the puppy paw prints off the landing with a wet rag. I stripped off my now wet clothes and filled the washer with them and the dish towel, dish cloth, and puppy bath towels.

A little while later, the puppy was dry, the wash was done and the crisis was behind us. We got paint out of every thing but my aqua blouse which still has little grey paint smears on the front. This is going to be a story that we laugh about in a few weeks. Yesterday it was not funny.