Cockroaches, Slugs and Poo… Oh My!

So the last week and a half has been interesting at my house. We had a very dry season for several months without a single drop of rain. Two Saturdays ago, however, that all changed. Torrential rains began all of a sudden. We had two days of rain, followed by a week of sunshine, followed by spurts of rain the last 2 or 3 days.

Rainy season at our house was ridiculous last year. To explain, we leave our back door open during the day when we’re not home so the dogs can go outside to do their business. (We have a back gated door as well, which remains closed. The dogs can slip out to the backyard, but no one can get in.) Anyway, when the ground is wet, my snobby princess poodles don’t want to get their precious little paws wet… which means pee and poo on my living room floor when I come home. (We hadn’t had a single incident in MONTHS, and now we’re back to square one.)

This year, however, has been far worse than last year’s rainy season at my house.

One on particular occasion last week, Suki got diarrhea and decided to leave evidence all over the living room and stairs. She also thought it would be productive to smear it around. That was a fun afternoon.

We also get some large cockroaches here in Cancun, which everyone’s kinda used to. We kill them on-site with chankletazos (meaning “hard blows with a flip-flop”… I love the Mexican language). A few days ago, I put the dog’s food bowl on the counter and poured some dog chow. I went to the fridge for yoghurt, and when I turned back around there was a huge cockroach in the dog bowl. Jorge and I looked on in horror as the cockroach grabbed a large piece of kibble, carried it out of the bowl and on to the counter, and began to eat it. A cockroach eating dog food on my counter. I don’t think I can even begin to describe how gross that is.

We also seem to have a slug infestation. I didn’t even know Cancun had slugs, much less our backyard. Since we’ve been leaving the back door open, on several occasions we’ve found a slug in the kitchen near the back door. Last night we went to the movies and got home to find about 30 – 40 slugs all over the walls and floors of our kitchen, hallway, living room, downstairs bathroom and stairs. I wish I’d taken pictures, but my memory card is broken. 😦 But they look like this:

So anyway, after a nice movie date, Jorge and I finished off our romantic evening by cleaning puddles of dog pee (me) and scraping slugs off the walls with a floor squeegee (Jorge). Then we watched an episode of Law and Order, because there’s no way I was going to sleep after that horror of an evening.

I’m happy to say that soon we will be fixing up the backyard with grass, shade and a doghouse so that the dogs can stay outside while we’re not home. That way we can finally actually USE our living room and keep the back door closed so the slugs and cockroaches don’t get in. *shudder*

If I don’t invite any of you over to my house until 2012… you’ll know why. On the bright side, our trees and plants look lovely.

 

Dog Updates

Suki and Dolly have been progressing just fine after getting spayed last week. They are as active as normal, even though we try to keep them from moving around too much. They also still have their “cones of shame” to keep them from licking their wounds.

As I mentioned Thursday, Konan had some complications and had to have her wound re-opened and re-stitched. The vet came up with a snazzy little t-shirt corset device to keep her from scratching at the wound with her foot… and, I suspect, to keep Jorge and me from panicking constantly.

Konan is not very happy with the situation in general and has been very vocal about it. She spent the entire weekend glaring at me for ten-minute intervals. Moaning/howling/evil glares aside, her health seems to be great. Today she was able to go up and down the stairs on her own!

Jorge and I have kept ourselves busy pointing and laughing at them in their cones and misery.

Just Thursday

Outside my window.. 83 degrees and BEAUTIFUL! Unfortunately all this sun means I’ve had to water my plants for the first time since we moved in.

Today I feel.. happy and cheerful.

I am thankful.. for my coworkers

Tomorrow I am going.. to work, then the gym, then home to relax before a busy weekend.

I am wearing.. my work uniform.

I wish.. for nothing right now. Life is pretty good.

This weekend.. is my BIRTHDAY!!!!! I’ll work a half-day Saturday, then spend the afternoon with Jorge’s family, then go to Xel-Ha on Sunday.

I am reading.. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

I am working on.. getting the living room all fixed up! We painted a wall last weekend (turquoise!!), hung curtains and hung some artwork.

Yesterday I.. ordered sushi and watched Jersey Shore.

I am hoping.. to watch Survivor online tonight (no spoilers!). I’m still not sure who I want to win… Boston Rob probably deserves it.

I am hearing.. the clicking of keyboards at work.

I bet you didn’t know.. that my dogs are adorable. Here they are helping us paint:

One of my favorite.. drinks is the Passion Hibiscus Tea at Starbucks.

Show Me Your Poodles

For Show Me Your… , Magpie from Dazzled for Life asked to see my most treasured possession.

Magpie won a Jersey Shore costume contest this weekend. Congrats on your achievements!!

Well, folks… you’re about to be overwhelmed by cuteness.

My most treasured possession is my dogs. Here’s the story:

My in-laws have a white french poodle named Sisi. Almost 2 years ago, she had a litter of 8 puppies. EIGHT. ridiculous for such a small dog. For about 2 months, these puppies overran my in-laws’ house.

All 8 in one picture. 🙂

My in-laws kept one and named her Dolly. She was the smallest one, and almost died when she was born. The vet was able to revive her, and I’m happy to say that today she is a very very healthy doggie (but still small!)

Dolly as a puppy and Jorge's foot 🙂

Jorge gave me one as a present. I named her Suki, because the name is so gosh-darned cute.

Suki!!

A few months ago, my future mother-in-law was diagnosed with some heart issues, which often cause some blood pressure issues. (She’s fine, no worries) She was told she shouldn’t have as many dogs in the house, so she asked me if I could take in Dolly. Since we already knew and loved Dolly so much, I said no problem.

Around that same time, Suki and Dolly’s brother (Tedy), who lives with Jorge’s uncle, had a litter of 7 puppies with his “lady friend”. Six were sold, but Jorge’s aunt and uncle couldn’t seem to sell the last one. She won our hearts, and being the suckers that we are, we decided to take her in as well after some careful thought.

(Yes, I realize this family of poodles seems to have huge litters, and yes, I will be getting all 3 of my dogs fixed this year.)

So we took in this new puppy (who is 3/4 poodle and 1/4 terrier). She has no official name yet, but her nicknames include “La Negra” (the black one), “Coco” (short for cocodrilo, bc her mouth looks like a crocodile when the chews on my hand), and “Frijol” (bean… what my roomie calls her).

This weekend, they all got sent to the groomers. They looked so cute with more fur, but my house is incredibly hot. I have some interesting before and after pictures.

Suki before the haircut

Suki after her haircut... look at those ears!

 

Dolly before her haircut

Dolly after her haircut

Coco before her haircut

Coco after her haircut

And now for some bonus pictures:

Suki, Dolly and Coco (being cleaned after playing in the yard)

feeding time

"I'm so cute! Look at me just prancing around."

"Where's the leash? Where's the leash? I can smell the leash."

Suki says "Please don't go to work! Don't leave me with these two intruders! I love you!"

fluffy ears and skinny dogs!

Yum!

"This is my come-hither look."

"ooooh, what's that bright light?"

"We have come to Earth to kill you. Sleep with one eye open, Gringa."

There they are.

When people heard we decided to adopt Coco (after a short trial period), they said that’s too many dogs! However, all 3 dogs have awesome personalities and don’t destroy my stuff. Coco was potty trained in just 1 day. They’re extremely well-behaved, and we’ve found that 3 dogs really isn’t any harder than 1 dog, but it’s a lot more fun!

If you can come up with any cute names for Coco/La Negra/Frijol, I’m open to suggestions. We’re thinking a Mayan name would be cool, since we already have one with a Japanese name and one with an American name.