My first post!

OK, so I don't know you, and you don't know me. A first blog post should set the stage for those to come, many include introductions to the author. Well, I hate writing bios, I never know what to say about myself. How do you compress all of your pertinent thoughts and personality into a few lines? I figure if you stick around and read my posts you will come to know all you need to know (and maybe some stuff you really didn't need to know) about me. So I'll just say my name is Meg and I am a mother of 3 and a Dog Groomer. Scratch that. I am not 'just' a Dog Groomer. I live and breathe dog grooming. Anyone that knows me can tell you that I can link anything back to my job as a dog groomer in some way. But you will learn this.

So, what to write about for my first post? I'll just write about my day, treat this sort of like a diary. So here goes:

Today was a mobile day for me. I am still new at it and still have a few hiccups to go through. Today my Onan generator actually decided to work so I didn't have to bother with plugging in shoreline, YAY! That thrilled me to no end, let me tell you! I'm not exactly sure what did it, whether it was the warmer temperature today, or if me and my husband inadvertently got something right when we were trying to bungle along to try and get it running again. Change of propane, oil change, and spark plug change and now it is working fine. But we'll see how it does on another cold day. . . :/

Well, as I was doing my morning inspection of the rig and discovered the genset actually ran I said a little prayer of thanks to the Grooming Gods. "They DO love me!" LOL! But alas, the Grooming Gods were just setting me up for a cosmic joke. I had 3 stops, 5 dogs. The first one I was a tad bit late to, but only by 7 minutes. (Yes, 7 minutes exactly). That groom went easily enough. A little Shih-tzu/Westie mix. Somehow, though I was ending up a little more behind by the time I got to my next appointment. (Even still only about 10 minutes). That stop was little Dixie, a cute-as-a-button black and white shih-tzu. I groom her in front of her Daddy's work--Jone's furniture, where Dixie goes to work with him. That groom was uneventful as well.

My last (and most challenging) stop was back in Bennettsville. I was running out of gas so had to fuel up and get a tea to drink and a bite to eat for lunch because with 3 guard clip shelties at the next stop I knew I would be there for awhile. So, with all the stopping and minor set-backs I ended up arriving about 30min late. :P I hoped to make up the time by bathing all three shelties together. So off I go . . .

It took me about an hour and a LOT of elbow grease to just get those three bathed! I left two to air dry a bit in the tub and began HVing the third. The humidity was HIGH so it took about a half hour to dry just her! Then I brushed her out, combed through her coat, popped my guard on the clippers and commenced to clipping--NOT! The blade just would NOT cut the hair. Okaaaay. . . so I popped another size blade on under the comb to try that. Nothing. Is it the comb? Switch combs. Nope. Try just the blade by itself on the inner thigh. Nope. WTH? I then inspect my equipment closely and notice that with the exception of the #30 blade the clipper is not even moving my blades. Oh, and even though it is moving the #30 won't cut. I figure then it must be the drive. Great. Now I have 3 guard clip shelties and no clipper to clip them. What's a girl to do??

"Oh, Honey. . . " ;) I called my husband to beg him to bring me a spare set of clippers from my shop. Because of COURSE I have not thought ahead to bring spares of anything with me! That would make life FAR too easy on me and I can't have that. . . I live to be challenged! Ha! So he promises to bring me my spare set. However, he is going to an appointment and can't get them to me quickly. . .

This is where I strategize. What to do. I have one clean, dry, ready to be clipped dog on the table and 2 clean ready to be dryed dogs in the tub. Now, you would *think* the easiest way to do this would be just start drying the other two dogs while I wait. However, you fail to remember that I am in a mobile rig. Space is at a premium and I have NO WHERE but the tub or floor to put the clean dry dog while she waits for the clippers. She is dry so going in the tub next to a wet dog is out. She is clean so going on the hair-encrusted damp floor is out. Hmmm. I can't just sit and twiddle my thumbs until my husband gets to me. SO. . . I opt to HAND SCISSOR the whole sheltie!

Wow! Do I now have a new appreciation for the groomers of yore before clippers and guard combs were invented! I managed to do a not too shabby job fairly quickly, but I was SO glad to see my husband pull up mid-way through me drying the second sheltie!



So, did the Grooming Gods play a joke at my expense today, or did they teach me a lesson about what this groomer is really made of? ;)

This is Kaylee, the totally hand-scissored sheltie after I finished with her today! :)