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Monday, July 19, 2010

How Many Times Before We Learn? - Tawny Weber

by Tawny Weber

My dog met a skunk last night. Again.

She's met this skunk before. Possibly not this exact same skunk, but the same general encounter. Strange animal ventures into our back yard, Sierra the dog chases and corners the strange animal and then gets sprayed in an ugly stinky way. Now, last time this happened, we had the whole miserable tomato bath with the nasally accompanying lecture (nasally because I was holding my nose and trying not to gag). We had to replace her collar. We had a moratorium on petting for a whole week. You'd think she'd learn, right? And yet, less than two months later, I'm hauling in the fan and opening cans of tomato juice.

Why didn't she learn her lesson? How many gallons of tomatoes are we going to have to go through - will we have to resort to ketchup?

Good thing we humans aren't like that, huh?

Hahhahaaahaaaa. Just typing that makes me laugh. I've got a bigtime history of not learning my lessons the first time.

Let's see. There was the black hair debacle. Then, two years later, a repeat, just to make sure I knew how I'd look when I was two-weeks dead.

There was this guy I dated in high school, with a really ugly breakup. Then because I apparently didn't remember the ugliness of both the relationship OR the breakup, I revisited the relationship in my early twenties. Just, you know, for a good ole miserable time.

Then there was the short hair so I can look like a bowling ball nightmare (yes, I repeat a lot of hair mistakes.) And the third drink at a wedding when two is my limit mistake (okay, so that one is actually kinda fun). And the being honest with a friend when they ask what I think of her new boyfriend mistake (I usually get the friend back after she breaks up with the boyfriend, though).

I mean, obviously I know better. I'm an intelligent woman. And yet, I keep repeating these egregious errors. Why? Because they were so much fun the first time? Well, the third drink one, maybe.


So here's my question to you. I can't be alone, can I? Have you ever made the same mistake twice? Care to share? And how does one keep dogs and skunks apart, for crying out loud? I mean, she soaked in tomato juice and she still stinks to high heaven.

12 comments:

practimom said...

Oh, Yeah you are not alone. I think we are hoping it will be better than the last time...but it never works out that way!

Tawny said...

Exactly, Practimom. I think that's a great point. At least, I speak for myself in thinking that. The dog and the skunk probably think so too, though *g*

Pat Cochran said...

I concur, you are definitely not
alone! I've been known to repeat
a mistake or two, or three!

As to the skunk/dog problem, not having experienced a similar problem, I can't assist you!

Pat Cochran

Tawny said...

Thanks, Pat :-) Its nice to know I'm in good company.

Fedora said...

LOTS and LOTS, Tawny! I think it's not in our nature to learn quickly--why do I have a closetful of similarly unflattering clothes, for instance? ;) And really, this has been well-documented even way back during Old Testament times--those poor Israelites couldn't get it right, just to remind us who read their story now that we can't get it right either. Thank God for second (or seventeenth) chances! ;)

Estella said...

You are definitely not alone. I have repeated myself several times.

I don't think there is anyting you can do to keep a dog and a skunk apart.
My pekingese got sprayed at least once every spring----never learned to avoid the skunk.

Tawny said...

Oh Fedora... the bad clothes choices. Over and over again. Yeah, (hanging head in shame) I do that. A lot.

It is comforting to know it's sorta built into our dna, isn't it? We're genetically predisposed to take a long time to learn lessons *g*

Tawny said...

Estella, I'm glad I'm not the only one doing reruns :-D

And... every spring? EVERY one? Oh man.

Dina said...

yes I have and sometimes still think I do, if can't remember what is was, lol

Tawny said...

LOLOL Dina - I'm thinking not remembering is a really good excuse to do it again.

Mary Kirkland said...

Oh yeah, I've made some mistakes that were bad and some funny. I think the worst one was trying to make friends with my friends bird...big mistake, darned thing bit me. Then I tried making friends with another friends ferret...another mistake and another bite. You'd think I'd learn...

Julie said...

We live out in the country, and our black lab seems to feel like she's naked without a little skunk odor. We gave up on tomato juice a long time ago. We have purchased products from pet stores, but have also had pretty good results from a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap. There are more specific mixing directions online. Try this article: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_remove_skunk_odor