Just about the WORST hike ever, if not THE worst

WARNING: Ticks, Field Mice, Dry Heaves, and Tears involved. Read at your own risk

6:11 am – Open eyes and realize that I am late (after being up from 3 am - ? 5:30 ? am)

6:44 am – Leave house late

7 am – Start hiking on trail we haven’t done in awhile because the rains washed out “the favorite” one of the three possible trails to take.

7:11 am – Realize the trail is completely tick infested. Get to an open area/out of that field and pick hundreds of ticks off of Lucky (who was first and got most of them), Shadow, and myself.

7:20 am – Lucky catches a field mouse and refuses to drop it. I yell at her, ignore her, dry heave. She will not drop it. At this point, only the tail is showing. I can’t look at her without dry heaving (I was running so late I didn’t eat anything before going so there was nothing in my stomach).

7:22 am - I have a choice of going back through the tick infested trail or through an overgrown one with lots of prickly weeds. Prickly weeds win. I am still ignoring Lucky.

7:27 am - Arrive back at car and try to get Lucky to trade the mouse for a treat. I alternate between turning my back on her, in which case she just gets in my face again, yelling at her, gagging, and by this time, crying. Nothing works. She will NOT drop it.

7:30 am - I load Shadow in the car and REFUSE to let Lucky in. I close the back and get in the driver side. I start car. Lucky FINALLY drops the mouse (observed through side mirror). I hope out and praise her “GOOD DROP”, “GOOD DROP”. She thinks about picking back up the mouse. I promptly lead her away and give her a treat saying “GOOD DROP” through my tears.

7:32 am - I let Lucky in the car and we leave. What is usually a nice relaxing 60 min. hike is cut short with me traumatized and driving home in tears trying not to have a complete melt down, and I am not typically a cryer.

7:45 am - I arrive home. Lucky is trying to play and make up. I am still pissed as hell at her and continue to ignore her. I brush out Shadow to ensure that I have found and removed all of the ticks. Shadow is black and has a thick under coat. This is hard. I find several. I finally call Lucky over and check her out. I find three more on her. I think I have gotten them all and an itchy all over.

8: 03 am - I take off my clothes item by item inspecting everything and my intire body. I find one crawling on my toes after I take off my socks. I can’t truly express how disgusting this is.

8:30 am – I am feeling calmer and am ready for work. I still don’t like my dog very much.

5:30 pm – After working all day and setting up the polls for tomorrow (City of LA Mayoral Election). I am feeling more kindly toward my dog again and not quite as emotional. I have kept my eyes open for more wayward ticks and haven't spotted any. Thank goodness!

How’s that for a Monday? I sure hope my week gets better cause it is jam packed with work meetings and appointments and other stuff. It sure did start out sucky! I am used to ticks, but not in that number at one time. Lucky caught a field mouse one other time, but promptly dropped it when I told her too. After years of training, I KNOW that she just gets more stubborn the angrier I get with her. This is a proven fact. I should not have freaked out. I just could not put on the happy face and pretend that I was okay that she had a mouse in her mouth. I couldn’t. I can’t even think about it without wanting to vomit. I have had scary hikes that involve packs of coyotes and, once, a mountain lion. These seem better somehow than today’s hike. I don’t usually get so upset or freaked out, but I just wigged this morning. Probably, if I wasn’t pregnant, I could have better dealt with the situation.

On a pregnancy note, I am feeling a bit crampy. Not like the vice grip ones that had me calling the on-call dr., but sore enough for me to notice.

Off to walk dogs, take out trash (which I really hate!), and make dinner for tomorrow night for the poll workers. It must be all prepared to bake tomorrow so I can cook it after lunch and before I need to leave for my Dr. Dan appointment.

I still did not call a painter and get something scheduled. I did find out that both hospitals in Dallas/Plano (where I will be for my work trip next week) that came up as 1 and 2 choice for Preterm Infant – Major Complications are Level 3 NICU’s. I have good personal referrals for both from my boss and her administrative assistant. So, just in case something bad happens while there. I have a plan and a back up plan.

I keep thinking that things will slow down soon. It isn’t happening. I guess that is life.