The Peanut Butter Dog

Now that it is Saturday, I can finally put in the story that Carole wanted me to post....THE PEANUT BUTTER DOG story!
This happened about 8 years ago (I was big and pregnant with Stephen who was born in May, 1999). Paul was TDY with the military and I had three very active, creative and rambunctious girls that I was constantly trying to keep out of trouble. I had kicked them out into the backyard so I could take a little nap on the couch. Our living room looked out into the backyard and our dog would bark constantly if they tried to escape, so I didn't think there would be any harm.
Well, I fell fast asleep and when I woke up I realized that it was dusk so I got up praying the girls would still be in the backyard. I looked out and saw the dog laying down facing away from me cleaning himself. I opened the back door and immediately saw an empty 5lb. peanut butter cannister (the one I had just bought that day at the commissary). Peering through all the bushes in our backyard, I spotted three naked girls in a tree. The only thing on them was large spots of peanut butter. A better view of the dog revealed he, too, was covered in peanut butter--licking himself and then throwing up...over and over!
God always gives us moments to choose prayer or slip closer into damnation...it is a tossup at this point as to which I would choose...
I chose prayer. Saying "Hail Mary!" several hundred times over the next 30 minutes helped to keep me sane as I tried to extract peanut butter from long girls' hair--the dog would have to wait. Goo Gone actually worked well, as did the scaldingly hot showers. After they were all completely cleaned up I sat them down for plain bread and a piece of fruit and then put them to bed. Now for the dog!
I called a friend who had four boys and asked if she knew how to get peanut butter out of dog hair...she laughed uproariously and was of no use to me anymore. The goo gone didn't seem to work as well, nor did the dog shampoo. I decided he would just have to endure it until the morning. I went to bed.
The next day I called our vet and asked if I could squeeze in a grooming. They said, "sure, bring him on in." You should have seen this dog...dried peanut butter with grass and dirt stuck and matted his hair in odd designs and he was so sick from the peanut butter that he staggered when he walked. The whole vet office came out to look at him and of course asked what happened. I explained what my creative little devils had done and asked if they could possibly work on him and get it out. They said they'd do what they could....about 8 hours later they called to say he was done! From that point on, Barry was more affectionately known as the peanut butter dog by our vet clinic...