pics and tunes and skunks

Since having Eliot, it has become harder to remember to bring music (CDs or an iPod) on car rides. Our iPods have mostly been commandeered to make white noise in our home, either for ourselves or Eliot. And they are often out of juice. And we rarely update them with new music. And we usually forget to bring them anywhere.

This weekend, Eliot, Brady, Blondie, Osito, and I went to a friend's home on Mt. Adams, in Washington. Brady's friend Dylan, a soccer/college friend, was visiting his parents (Dylan is living/teaching in London right now, and next year Brussels), who have retired to a lovely home with views of Mt Adams and Mt Hood. They have a small little geodesic dome-shaped cabin on their property, too, where we stayed. The World Cup final was this weekend, and Brady and Dylan (and many others who were visiting as well) were excited to watch it. Anyway, we were in the car, well on our way, and Brady was changing radio stations, and I said, darn it, I wish I had remembered to bring some music. Eventually we popped in an old Simon and Garfunkel CD we had in the car. It's on of the few non-kid CDs we have in the car. I still have 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover in my head this morning.

Anyway, so we were on a little hike around this property with Eliot and the dogs, and I realized, we also forgot the camera. Darn it. So I said to Brady, "One of us should be in charge of music, and one of us should be in charge of pictures." And he said, "Yeah, that's a good idea." And then he paused, as if he was considering which one he would want to be in charge of. Finally he said, "I'm not good at either of those things." And it's true. He's not. So I guess we'll just have to be content to only sometimes remember the pictures and music. Oh well.

The really crazy thing that happened over the weekend though was Sunday morning. Eliot and I and Brady slept outside (I still worry Eliot wasn't warm enough all night; I dunno though. He survived in any case!). And in the morning, Brady and Eliot got up and got a banana and went for a little hike with the dogs. I went down into the cabin to make some oatmeal. Suddenly, Brady opens the door, holding Eliot, and says, "We have a problem!" At first of course I thought immediately, oh no, something has happened to Eliot. But Brady is holding Eliot, who seems to be perfectly fine and content. So I figure whatever has happened can't be that bad. I say, "What?" Brady says, "The dogs got sprayed by a skunk." "Really??" I say. Wow.

We walk outside and up the hill to where the dogs are. I take a whiff of Osito. I should have been more careful and taken a more hesitant whiff. I took a big whiff. I almost threw up. It was horrible. I've never smelled skunk so bad. Brady says they were approaching a little tiny hill in the trail, and the dogs were out ahead, over the rise, and Brady couldn't see them; Brady was pushing the stroller, and holding Eliot's hand as they walked behind it. The dogs suddently turned around and came back over the rise, as if maybe they were running from something.... Brady stopped, thinking, what's going on? Suddenly a skunk came behind the dogs. The dogs stopped in front of the stroller and turned. The skunk was kind of coming after the dogs, and looking like he might come after Brady and Eliot too. Brady picked Eliot up and kept the stroller between him and the skunk. Osito, one of our dogs, faced off with the skunk and seemed to be protecting Brady and Eliot, and the skunk walked up to Osito and sprayed Osito all over the face. Osito whined and rubbed his face with his front paws, and the skunk finally walked off. Brady said it was a pretty aggressive skunk. Ugh. Brady gave the dogs got about 3 or more baths yesterday -- two at the cabin, and another at home, plus a dip in the Columbia River on our way home when we stopped at a riverside park. They still smell a little bit. They are relegated to the kitchen, with the door open and a fan blowing out, for awhile. They may get another bath tonight. The trouble is, the things that are supposedly the best at getting skunk smell out and are safe for dogs' skin are not safe for anyone's eyes, and the worst smelling part of Osito is his face. So we haven't been able to clean his face with the strong stuff. I'm going to call a groomer today and see if they can do it any better. On the up side, Eliot learned the words skunk, yuck and stinky.