A Romantic Day and Night in Halifax

We have had many visitors this summer!  Between all of our children, their spouses, our grandchildren and various friends visiting, we have had a lot of people around the house.  We love sharing this place with our family and friends.  Keep in mind that for most of the year we are alone together.  We also spend a lot of days and nights alone since TJ travels for work.  This being said, the prospect of getting away together before we leave Nova Scotia was attractive.

We planned to drive our last visitors, Mr. and Mrs. NYC, to the HFX airport and then go into the city, maybe have lunch, wander the streets, stop in a few shops, eat a nice dinner at a nice restaurant and then spend the night in a hotel downtown.  This was the plan, it was a loose plan.  We probably both needed to get away and maybe actually talk to each other.  It's been a while since we actually have been alone and able to just be Lisa and TJ.

We woke up this morning and our guests were busy packing, TJ was busy trying to do a day's work before skipping out of the home office and I was upstairs drying my hair before my romantic getaway.  Sadie the dog was just wondering what the commotion was all about.  She went to the door to go out and was let out.  Apparently she was in hot pursuit of none other than Pepe Le Pew who was under our deck!

"I was enjoying a nice morning under your deck and was very surprised by your dog!"
 "She scared the PEW right out of me!"

The people downstairs heard Sadie crying and then......the smell!  Mrs. NYC came running upstairs saying, "Close the windows! Sadie found a skunk!"  By the time I got downstairs TJ had Sadie on her leash, the house wreaked of skunk and so did the dog!  Did I mention the smell?  Yikes!  We all started our emergency readiness tactics by searching the Internet for skunk smell removal mixtures, closing all the windows and making "what's that awful smell" faces.  This was when I saw my romantic day and night plans go right out the stinky window.

TJ bathed Sadie (because at this point she is HIS dog!) in Dawn dish soap, it was all we had available at the moment and swift action was needed.  The smell seemed to lighten and we tied her up to a tree far, far away from the house to dry off and waft her perfume to the great outdoors.  Meanwhile the house still stunk!  We discussed plans for the rest of the day and decided heading out early was a good idea if for no other reason than to just get out of the stinky house!

"What is that horrible smell?  Oh, it's me!"

Things settled down until we were loading the car with all the luggage and it started to rain.  TJ went to untie Sadie from the tree and get her under the porch when she made a bee line straight back to her old friend Pepe Le Pew!  NOOOOOO!  Yes, she was skunked a second time and this time was worse than the first time.  This is when I sacrificed my day and said I'd drive to the airport and give up 4 hours of my day, TJ could stay home and relax.....and clean the dog again and live with the skunk smell, in the rain.  I'm such a giver....I don't think I knocked him down when I ran to the car but I might have.

TJ did the peroxide, baking soda, Dawn treatment and the tomato juice treatment just to be on the safe side.  We also heard if you use blue Listerine it gets the smell out so we have done that too.   Now our dog has lighter hair with a reddish tint and smells like mouthwash and skunk.  The good news is that it finally stopped raining and the sun came out!  The house does not smell like skunk anymore and we are hoping the mothballs TJ put under the deck have made Pepe decide to relocate.  How romantic is that?

Alone, at last.....

I have thought about what to write in the blog over the last few weeks and imagined I would write about something beautiful, inspiring or thought provoking when I finally had time to sit and reflect.  Then it hit me in the face, literally!   This is our last week at the farmhouse.  It will definitely be one to remember.  I hope Sadie smells more like a dog and less like a skunk by the time we have to spend 40 hours in a car together.  Yes, isn't that something to look forward to?!