Panamageddon Day

My Wife in "Preparation Mode"
(Kidding!!)

So today, four additional Panamanian ladies descend on my life for about a month.  My wife’s sister, her cousin, her cousin’s daughter, and one of her sister’s friends are coming in for a visit that will last until January 30^th.

My wife has been frantically cleaning her already spotless house in preparation and trying to plan every minute of the time they will be here.  Buddy and I have been caught in some of sympathetic detonations.  My wife is not fun to be around when she is the heavy preparation mode, as Buddy found out last night.

She decided Buddy needed a bath.  I didn’t think his funkiness was off the scale but I’ve learned that you do not contradict my wife while she is in the preparation mode. (My kids know of whence I speak)  Since it was 6 degrees outside we wouldn’t be doing the normal garden hose spa treatment.  She had already cleaned the guest bathroom which is his normal winter bathing spot so we headed for the whirlpool bathtub in our bathroom.

Buddy was intrigued to be invited upstairs but realized what was up when he saw the towels especially used for his bath.  I had a lot of fun getting him into the tub as he stretched out his rear paws in a vain effort to grab the towel rack and arrest his progress towards the hated aquatic environment. 

I tried reasoning with him that a warm bath was much better than his normal cold water dousing while also encouraging him to blame my wife for this.  He was having none of it.  I even promised to turn on the whirlpool jets but my wife opined (correctly) that this would probably send the skittish Buddy into orbit.

I had to tackle him into the water after he was soaped up.  I tried to stay ahead of his persistent shake offs but the entire bathroom was soon coated with short, wet, black lab hairs.  I don’t know who emerged wetter, he or I, but Buddy gave as good as he got.  He does really enjoy the drying off massage and I was shortly chasing him through the house down to his basement drying station. 

I then had the unenviable task of returning the bathroom to the pristine condition prior to the canine hair explosion.  I was able to get most of that done before my wife viewed the room, probably a good thing for my stated desire to keep Buddy around.  She did say I smelled like wet dog (wonder why) and then snapped a picture of my t-shirt which said, “The Dog Likes Me Best”.  We both agreed that this was probably not accurate at the moment.

Today the decibel level around the house will be going up dramatically.  Panamanian women love to talk, almost non-stop.  My wife is the perfect example of this tendency. When you have a group of Panamanian women together whoever is talking loudest is the one who gets to speak.  So the introduction of four additional competitors for “air” time in the house with my wife should be cacophonous – to say the least.

All kidding aside (well most of it) I am really looking forward to this visit.  My wife’s sister and cousin are two of my favorite people in the world and I’m psyched to show them the US.  Neither have ever experienced snow before so this will be interesting.  My wife’s sister’s last visit was at the height of summer and she was cold then.  It’s supposed to be 4 degrees when I pick them up,  Yep, interesting.

Buddy and I at the Spa Last Night

The Aftermath