All Creatures Great and Small

We had a week of happy dog-lovin', thanks to Elizabeth's visiting dog Casey, who came over to be with us in the afternoons this week. Casey is a gentle giant, a 100-pound beast of a dog who literally would not hurt a flea. Even when boys stumble and fall on her head while she is sleeping (ahem), her response is to open one eye, look around, say the dog equivalent of "eh?" and then go back to sleep.

When we first put Casey in the car to bring her back to the house Luke was literally shaking with excitement. I thought he was going to cry. And who knew he would be such a good dog walker? Walking a dog allows him to be the boss he always wants to be. But he's gentle and encouraging, and it really seems to bring out the best in him.

Zach loves Casey too, but in a different way. Casey just seems to fuel his excitement for the day, and gets him running around in circles. When Casey first came upstairs, the boys were set on creating a dog bed for her out of pillows, and Zach enthusiastically contributed his blankets and all of his stuffed animals to the collection. And who knew it would be harder to walk a two-year-old than a dog? Casey will pretty much go wherever you want her to go, but Zach will gleefully run off without a care, giving the rest of us a minor heart attack. Luckily Casey will pretty much just hang out in one place if you let go of her leash to chase down your two-year-old.

And then... beach day. What a great afternoon we had, hiking down to the dog beach, collecting rocks, throwing sticks to Casey, and watching Casey make friends with an impossibly small, fluffy Maltese.

Later, after we had said goodbye to Casey, I was washing Luke's hair and I noticed all sorts of creatures living in there. I spent nearly an hour combing and plucking them out (and if this makes you feel itchy, imagine how I felt). I assumed they were fleas left over from a day at the dog beach, but Dave saved one and studied various pictures on the web, and shortly after we finally got Luke to bed, told me, "I hate to break this to you, but..." Yep. Head lice.

So today, Valentine's Day, the blissfully lice-free Dave and Zach are off at a train show, while Luke and I are doing loads of laundry and getting lice shampoo. I don't think I have any, but I feel just itchy enough that I'm ready to jump in a vat of lye if that's what it takes to get rid of this feeling. De-lousing: It's every woman's fantasy Valentine's Day, and I'm living the dream.