With so many dogs in my house and four vacation rental properties I feel like I spend half of my life cleaning. Believe it or not even with so many dogs my house is really clean…and I have a few secrets!
As much as I love pets…I can’t stand for my house to smell like pet. I also allow pets in one of my vacation rentals and there is no way I can let that apartment ever smell like pet. I have tried pretty much every cleaning product on the market and I have a few that I absolute
ly can’t live with out.
The first (and definitely my favorite product) is Angry Orange. Angry Orange is the best cleaning deodorizing product I have found and trust me I have tried almost everything. I add it to my bucket of mop water. I keep a spray bottle of water and Angry Orange for dusting. I sprinkle it on my steam mop. I also use it to clean and deodorize the outdoor pet yard. If I find I spot where someone has had an accident I clean it up with clorox first and then let Angry Orange sit on the spot for about 30 minutes and then wipe it up.
Besides the effectiveness of this product being really good it is non-toxic to pets and it is safe for tile and wood floors (which is all I have in my house).
The second product I cannot live with out is Zep Wall Cleaner Foam. Let’s face it…dogs shake slobber, water, food, boogies and other unmentionables off of themselves and on
to the walls. Wiping your walls with most products ruins the paint job on the wall. I use this wall cleaner in the house and in my vacation rentals and I LOVE IT. It doesn’t take the paint off and it cleans most marks off the wall. My vacation rentals constantly get scuffs on the walls from people dragging in suitcases, dog crates, etc….this product makes the walls look clean again. For the record I use really high quality paint from Sherwin Williams. I don’t know how this would work with a lower quality paint so if you have cheap paint on your walls I would spot test it first. In general I like all of ZEP’s products. I use their shower cleaner in my rentals (it is fabulous) and their glass cleaner works far better than say a product like Windex.
The third product I can’t live without is my steam mop. Because I don’t want harsh chemicals on my floors that are dangerous to my dogs I don’t use any product on the floors but Angry Orange. But Angry Orange really isn’t, at least for me, sanitizing enough. I vacuum and steam mop my floors every morning. Let’s face it…dogs scooch their buts across the floor, they drool, they drag lord knows what in on their feet…the floors just have to be sanitary. I use a Shark Steamer. Its the only steamer I’ve tried so I don’t have any opinion on how it works relative to others. It does last quite a long time though and it does the job. I have a weeks worth of pads for it and toss them in the washer with hot water to get them clean. I do sprinkle Angry Orange on the pads when I use them.
The last tool I use is my diffuser. I buy the Innogear diffusers. I usually don’t need it in the house but sometimes in my rentals someone will have cooked something that smells horrid or they have a dog in there that smells like it hasn’t bathed in a year. I run my diffusers in the apartments while I’m cleaning with a mix of orange oil and lavender oil. I’ll run them for a day if necessary. Along with a good cleaning the diffuser will eliminate most odors pretty quickly. A tip on using diffusers…they need to be cleaned. About every 10 times or so that I use them I empty them and put a little vinegar in the chamber for a few hours to clean the residue off from the oils.
For all the dog moms out there fighting the good fight on keeping your house clean I hope you find this helpful!
Don’t forget our Pawty Shop of you are planning a special day for you pups!
Rescue On!
Nacny
While for most people the build up to the holidays is about decorations, party planning, shopping, baking…and all sorts of other fun things…for me it’s about getting ready for cyber week and the flood of sales that come the weeks leading up to Christmas.
There is no such thing as a dull moment at Misfit Manor. While so many of my days seem filled with routine…routine is pretty crucial to juggling a large family of dogs…nothing about life here is ever dull. 
She loves wagon riding! Initially she would just lay down in the wagon the whole time. Now she is stronger and she sits up or stands while she is in the stroller. I’m guessing she has covered more ground in the last few weeks than she has in her whole life.
nicely with her housemates. I am always grateful (and frankly fairly amazed) at how well all my Misfits do together…there is an energy level in this house that I do not understand…but am eternally grateful for. All of my Misfits come from difficult backgrounds…yet once they are here they are very gracious about welcoming new family and helping each other grow.
Rosie has been a lovely addition….Betty adores her (and so does Buster). Betty continues to amaze me…she remains so strong and determined yet she is the gentlest creature I have ever met. She shadows Rosie…wherever Rosie goes Betty follows.
But I’m in a different season of life and now I look forward to burrowing in for the winter. My work load on the property slows down considerably and I can allow myself more time for art, play, cooking and spiritual pursuits…perhaps even a vacation this year. I can’t wait to have this time to slow down and re-charge. The older I get the more clarity I have into the relevance of the cycles and spirals of all life; the agricultural seasons, the cycle of birth and death and the constant sprials of evolving as an older woman. I find the this latest cycle to be one of the most empowering times in my life.
Probably one of the most profound experiences we have had was with Snoopy. Post his let amputation Snoopy was in agony. Even with maximum pain medication Snoopy would wake from a deep sleep and scream (like really scream). He hadn’t moved or been bumped when these episodes happened and there was nothing we could do to comfort him. I posted on Facebook during one of his incidents about his crying and how my husband and I felt so helpless. A few minutes later, Snoopy sat up and his demeanor completely changed. I looked at my Facebook, one of the mediums we use regularly had read my post and communicated with Snoopy. She messaged me their conversation right away. Snoopy thought the pain was permanent and that he wouldn’t be able to walk again. He was very scared that this was it for him. She assured him the pain would go away and he would walk soon. Apparently he believed her because the screaming incidents never happened again after she spoke to him.
Every pet in our home has a background story…none of them are pleasant…some are much worse than others. But, for the most part, our pets are “over it” in regards to things that happened to them in the past. They live happy and carefree lives. Even Turnip, who has deep emotional scars, has come so far and embraced joy. Mom though, being the flawed human that I am, doesn’t always “get over it” as quickly as they do. I have moments, when I am reminded of their painful stories and I quickly retreat to feelings of anger and heart break.
When I had that moment the other day when I saw his “tripod shadow”…a poignant reminder of the cruelty he suffered…I became angry all over again…”he shouldn’t have to live as a tripod”…”he shouldn’t’ have had to suffer through an amputation”…I was wishing again I could get my hands on the S.O.B. who did this to him.
given his health history…we don’t feel surprised that his time came…but we are taken back at how bad we hurt. Returning home to a house without Sam simply…sucks. He was always waiting at the door for us…up on this back legs…smiling. Home will never be the same.
Sam’s ashes were ready first thing Monday morning…Bret left work as soon as we got the call and hurried to bring Sam home. We sat in a bit of stupor as we looked at his ashes and then solemnly went on with our day. Keeping busy is the best we can do for now.
trustworthy and constant…his presence was very big in this house…because we could all count on him. I now know how much I leaned on him…because I feel it in his loss. I wonder if he knew how important he was to all of us?
The worst thing about fresh grief is that it reopens the old holes…each loss brings back a bit of the sting of previous losses. I think we are grieving the loss of Luna and Kringles all over again. But it also reminds me how richly blessed my life has been by so many of God’s sweet creatures. Grief can only exist where true love once dwelled. There has been so much love in our home.
This morning I ran in to my friend Jan who gave us the “Lean on Me” canvas at the grocery store. She asked me what day Sam died. I said Saturday. She told me that it was Saturday that she bought this canvas when out shopping for a prom dress for her daughter. She knew she had no place for it in her house but for some reason she knew she had to get this piece. The next day she saw my post about Sam. I am grateful for such a profound friend.
We also put Snoopy on the 
The first day I picked up Snoopy from our local Humane Society, despite his broken leg, he seemed a typical rambunctious and happy puppy….until I loaded him in my car. He began to howl (like really loud), squirm and was clearly very agitated. If he wasn’t harnessed in a car seat it would have been chaos. He calmed back down when we got out of the car. I ended up taking him to the vet within a few hours as it was pretty clear he was having pain issues. When we got back in the car…it was the same howling and anxiety all over again…which then recurred every time we got in the car throughout his several week ordeal (broken leg that was eventually amputated). It was clear that he was associating riding in the car with bad things…who could blame him with all he has been through in his short little life. Years ago I adopted a two year lab (Sparky) who had extreme anxiety in the car…it made life a lot more complicated and it took years to work him through the anxiety. No chance I was going to let this happen with Snoopy.
Facebook, every once in awhile, pops up “memory pictures and posts”. I have mixed emotions about this feature because sometimes it brings back a memory I don’t want to revisit. Recently, Facebook delivered pictures of a fox hound we fostered last year, named Marge.
I posted her on every possible rescue and shelter site within a several hundred miles. I paid for a pet “amber alert”. 
We held out for quite a while. But it was crickets. No one was looking for sweet Marge. We loved having her with us for Christmas. Eventually, after zero contact from her family, our local Humane Society put her up for adoption. She was adopted quickly by a lovely couple. We said that terribly sad “foster dog goodbye” but knew Marge was headed for a great life. Both Bret and I moped around the house for days after she left. Maddie and Buster missed her a lot. Her new dad called us daily for a while with reports on how Marge was adjusting. They clearly loved her and had compassion for how hard it is to say goodbye to a foster. Good people.
And thus, the “paradox of rescue”. I exist on the periphery of rescue. I adopt only rescues, foster and volunteer where I can. I use my art to raise money. But I do not work deep in the trenches of rescue like many of my friends do. But I see more than enough to make me angry…a lot…it is steadily costing me my faith in humanity. Neglect and cruelty are rampant where I live…I realize these problems are every where…but here in Kentucky there are no laws to protect animals…no deterrents…and there is certainly no justice for animals.
There is no grey area…too many animals suffer in this country at the hands of humans. Only humans can fix it. The moral of the Marge story is this, and it didn’t hit me until I finished this post, Marge completely understood the “paradox of rescue”…in fact…most animals do. She had every reason to hate people…to resent the creepy bastards who left her behind in a yard to starve…yet she chose (or you could argue she was created) to put her faith in people. Maybe the only solution to the “paradox of rescue” is to think more like the dogs.
My husband and I recently finished up decorating some new vacation rental properties…one of which is a pet friendly unit. I needed some coasters for the unit…when I attempted to shop for them I was surprised at what stores charge for coasters these days…so I made some of my own. After a little research on materials they were super easy and fast to make.
travertine tiles (at a reasonable price) was Home Depot. I purchased two different styles of these Premiere Decor tiles…both worked fine. Be careful when you buy them…inspect the package as best you can to make sure none of the tiles are cracked, chipped or broken. Your results will be best if you rinse the tiles well before you use them (let them dry over night).
I used a variety of stamps I had in the house to decorate the tiles. You will need to use an archival stamping ink. I use the Ranger Archival Ink pads for most projects. You can get these pads at Michaels or Hobby Lobby…they are usually about $12.00 and they last a really long time. After you stamp your design on your coasters let the ink dry (I would let it set for at least a few hours).
on coasters because it does not interact well with water. I wanted a waterproof coaster…not smudged by or stained by a sweating glass. Since my husband and I just finished remodeling several bathrooms we had a bottle of grout sealer on hand. I gave it a try and it turned out to be a great solution for waterproofing these coasters. I set my stamped (dry) coasters in a box..took them outside (grout sealer smells) and sprayed them (soaked them actually) with the grout sealer. I let them dry and repeated the spray two more times. The end result was washable, non-smudging coasters.
glue for projects that need a really heavy duty glue. Beacon’s has a wicked odor…so open a window and don’t get it on your fingers. Once Beacons glue is completely dry the odor is gone. I set my coasters upside down and let the glue dry overnight.
I also tried this project with coasters that I hand painted with acrylic paint. The grout sealer worked well to waterproof the hand painted coasters.
There is a dog person saying, you’ve heard it….”the more people I get to know the more I like dogs”…its kind of a funny saying…and often it can be true. But it also flies in the face of the essence of “dogness”…the very glory of a dog is its unconditional love and tolerance for humans. If there is no human for them to love…than there is no “dogness”. The intrinsic nature of a dog is rooted in its relationship to us. We rob dogs of their wonder if we don’t afford humans the same space, grace and effort that the dog’s give us. Perhaps the main reason dogs are here for us to reflect them…to reflect their “dogness” in to our own relationships…I want more “dogness” in my own essence…
t (Zilla)…and several more quirky creatures. You would think it would be chaos…but what makes it special is that when all of us misfits get together…somehow it all works. I believe its grace. Bret and I…and the animals…are more whole together than we are when we are separate. I know that I am only fully me when I am with all of them. I wish this sort of peace and “foundness” for everyone…
