Just a bad memory...

    I have postponed writing this, but someday like all of my disasters it will be funny and I will be able to laugh about the happenings of my DISASTERS! I don't want people to think that I have a perfect life, and for my posterity, I am going to write this because someday they will talk about Grandma's disasters and maybe think some of their disasters aren't quite so bad. A couple of weeks ago, we went to Henry's Lake, (check out the previous post.) I guess I am getting ahead of myself, because I must first tell you about a previous disaster. This one happened about 20 years ago and we had been on a trip to the Uintah's and had been gone for about 4 days. We had a great time fishing and camping and when we returned home, we came into the house and found that someone had forgotten to close the back door tightly when we left. We had about 20 to 25 chickens and they roamed freely about the back yard and by the river. We let them roam freely because it was summertime and they kept all of the bugs down around our house. Because some one had forgotten to close and lock the door the wind must have come up and blown the door open. When we walked into the house we found that the chickens had been roosting in the house at night. There was chicken poop everywhere in my house and they especially liked my dropped counter top and stair railing to spend the night sleeping and pooping. I spent months trying to get rid of the green stains in my carpet. I can laugh now, because we live in another house and we have new carpeting and it is just a bad memory.

     Well, fast forward to Monday evening, when we returned home from Henry's Lake. I did notice that the dogs did not come out to greet us. Caitlin had left her 2 dogs and we have 2 dogs and 5 puppies in the garage. I worried a little about not seeing the dogs, but didn't think much about it until I opened the back door and Maggie came running down the stairs. Now, she is the mother of the 5 puppies in the garage and I am sure she was frantic being inside and them being outside. I walked up the stairs thinking Oh, no, the dogs have been in the house the whole time we have been gone! I walked around the hallway and into the doorway of my bedroom and was met with a horrifying sight. Okay, I was hoping to see the sight below, because this is how I had left it.

No such luck, what I saw was this!!!

     The four dogs had been in the house for the 4 days that we were gone. Then the smell hit me and I saw all of the dog poop. Yes, I know dogs need to eat and drink to stay healthy so they had pretty much found whatever they could find to eat, which was mainly oats, pearl barley, wheat pasta, chocolate protein powder, and a box of Snicker candy bars in the bottom of Ryan's closet. Now if you give a dog this diet they are going to be sick and they had, it wasn't just runny dog poop, but vomit as well. Of course, I started screaming and literally was viewing "My Hell!" I really think this is what hell would be like. As Ryan came around the doorway he thought that someone had broken in and ransacked our house.

     The only reason I took pictures is because it was a disaster and I was sure that the insurance was going to have to cover the damage to all of the carpeting in my home. I'm sorry Caitlin, I am blogging about it only because it is pretty unbelievable. Caitlin was feeling pretty bad and responsible, because her dogs were here too. We  started cleaning and I didn't take pictures of every room, I now wish I would have, because it was unbelievable around every turn. We picked up about 3 big garbage bags full of things that had to be discarded and then set about cleaning the mess. Caitlin would not let me touch the carpets, because she was determined that it was her fault and she didn't want me to have to touch the poop. I will be eternally grateful for her and all of the hard work she did that night. She worked her little tail off.(no pun intended) Ryan ran over to the store and got special pet cleaning and deodorizer. He cleaned all night as well. We didn't find Lola (Caitlin's bulldog) until later when, we found her locked in the pantry.  You can imagine what the pantry looked like.

I was glad that it had rained while we were gone because the little puppies at least had some rain that had drizzled through the garage door and they were able to lick it up.

This is what the master bathroom looked like if you notice there is no toilet paper left on the roll and I think every magazine I had in the house was dragged into the bathroom.

 Again, I can't thank Caitlin and Ryan enough for all of the hard work that they did that night. Caitlin vacuumed and cleaned every carpet in my house! There were some stains that I thought she would never be able to get out, but after she was finished my carpets looked better than they did before. So, thanks Caitlin, I love you for all of the hard, stinky, work you did that night.

Now, isn't that better!!!!!