Back to Reality

It's Monday morning and back to reality after a lovely weekend at Fall Fair in Ripley. Harrison and Heidi got to meet lots of their Aunts and Uncles and Cousins and generally snuggled with anyone they could find.

The fair itself was wonderful; hot and sunny despite the forecast for rain and Brendan rode the train, the alligator rollercoaster (his first!) and ran through the helter skelter (slide/rope/obstacle course thingy) over and over and over and over and over. Thank goodness for all day ride bracelets. We'd be broke by now if not for them. Harrison won youngest boy at the fair (he won a stuffed frog). Poor Heidi was edged out by a young 3 week old upstart.

Poor Blaze. Friday night he was running around the back garden for a late night pee with Rob when he must have met a skunk head on. Literally. He was sprayed in the face, and the whites of his eyes are just starting to turn back to white from red. The good news about the direct assault was that his "contaminated" area was very localized. He smelled daisy fresh from his shoulders back and even under his chin was fine (he must have had his nose down sniffing around). So his face and ears were absolutely covered, but not much else. Using the means at our disposal, we soaked him down with Bloody Mary Mix (thank you Uncle George for your generous donation), scrubbed him a few times with detergent and then rubbed a half a tube of Crest toothpaste onto his face and ears. He was not what you would call impressed. Then, we had to put the poor guy out in the barn with a pile of blankets for the night. He weathered the whole thing pretty well, but looked pretty dejected all weekend, and I think took it very personally that no one would pet him on the head. I've just given him another wash, and he's smelling pretty good. His predominant smell is now mint instead of skunk, even after many rinses. Oh well!