My Pets Are Worse Than Children

I started coming down with some kind of bug during the day yesterday. Could be a cold, could be a flu or just my allergies / sinuses acting up. The weather has been so crazy here the past week it's a small wonder that everyone here isn't in the hospital.

I assume that was the reason I fell asleep on the couch much earlier in the evening and woke up about an hour ago with a scratchy itchy throat and itchy ears, probably caused by the massive amount of drainage in the back of my throat. When I woke up, the cat and dog were on the sofa with me. The cat was curled up next to me, like he does whenever he decides he wants attention and Ginger was at my feet, where she often sleeps or will lay while I am watching television. Unless there's a thunderstorm, then she's up in my face and won't get but a few inches away from me.

Right now our weather is on the wintry side... after a week of yo-yo-ing temperatures with one day in the 70s the next in the 40s... one day rain, the next sunny, with strong gusty winds during most of that time. Right now it's in the low 30's (feels like temps are listed as low 20s) with a good possibility of freezing precipitation. As a matter of fact, I thought I heard sleet or freezing rain when Mr. Woody K. Nibs, the cat, decided he just had to go outside to investigate and check out potential prey... as if anything would be out in this weather but a stupid cat!

Of course Ginger decided she wanted to go out as well once she saw Woody head that way. At least the cat will stay on the porch when the weather is bad so maybe he's not so dumb after all. Ginger, who hates wet grass and often refuses to go outside when it's raining, took off as soon as the door opened and ran straight into some icy cold water that's standing in the low spots of my yard because our ground is totally saturated from the big rainfall we got last week. Normally, if it's misty or a light rainfall, and I can get her to go out, she will do her business and come right back in but not tonight. She splashed in every bit of standing water she could find. I had to make her come in this time and she was soaked. All that wet fur will not be smelling too good as it starts to dry. She was so energized (I assume by the cold air) that when she finally responded to me and decided to come in, she flew by me before I could get the towel around her to dry her off. My carpet looked better when all three of my children were still at home!

All I had to do was call Woody and he came right back in behind Ginger... only to start whining meowing at the other set of doors five minutes later. I swear my kids weren't as bad as these two. At least by the time they were the age of these animals I could go to the bathroom by myself. The one good thing is that I don't have to worry about boots... and mittens... and coats... and hats!

All I am dealing with now is smelly wet fur!