♫Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo....♫

Closing on the refi went fine. I'll have some vaguely related photo stories from our travels to and from downtown at some point.  Our other important task of the day was getting Pepper to her first grooming since October.  She went about three months just before COVID hit last winter, then a good four months until last June when I was finally able to sneak her into a Rochester salon while things here were still more on pause (paws?).  Another four went by before we got her into her last local shearing baaaack in October. And that was her last trip to a groomer until today.

It wasn't for lack of trying. I think the attempts began in late March when she first started to look a bit grubbier than we usually like:



Our usual place, at a nearby Petco, would not return phone calls. I tried back at the joint next to my Rochester office with similar non-results.  A friend mentioned one south of here that sounded a bit too fru-fru for this workin' dog. Finally, I tried scheduling online for the Petco and got an appointment offer sometime in mid-May- but they did eventually call, down to a single groomer but able to get her in today.

The routine involves dropping her off, giving them at least two hours and, as today, closer to three, for the full treatment of bath, haircut and nail trim.  When the closing got cleared for as early as today, I grabbed it but scheduled it for as late in the day as possible, because it would have required some pinpoint turnarounds to get the dog home, Eleanor picked up from work and then to the attorneys downtown.

That got easier, though, because after all the work she put in on the bathroom redo over the weekend and some other stressful recent work experiences that will eventually be recounted here, Eleanor took a sick day and she was able to do the doggie dropoff.  I still went to reclaim the pup in time for us to leave for the closing, but as I drove home, looking at how much fur they'd taken off, I joked that the cats wouldn't recognize her.

It was no joke.

Soon as she came in, without collar and smelling of shampoo rather than dog poo, both of the kittens went into scary big tails, hair on backs poofed up. Even Bronzini, who doesn’t have much of a tail to poof out, did his level best to fight the scary new dog we just brought into the house.

Ten minutes later, the boys had settled down. The little guy was camped under my desk. The dog walked in like she normally does, like she’s passed this cat 1000 times. Bronzini freaked out, tried to Wile E. Coyote his way out the window, got stopped by the blinds, turned, and struck the pose you see in the third photo.



They've settled down more since then; the feeding just now went relatively quietly, and the oldest one Zoey, who's still mostly trying to avoid everyone, got as close to Pepper as the others and seemed to know who she is.

We now have her next grooming already booked for Labor Day Sunday; their one groomer is cutting her hours even more and they have some clients already booking into early next year for multiple schedulings.  At least it shouldn't take as long, between the wait being only four months this time and the dog herself being quite less to deal with. Last June, she was up to over 60 pounds, 10 more than when she came to us two years before. She was down to 45 when Eleanor brought her in, and at least a pound or two of fur came off her during her spa visit.

If only it were that easy for the humans....