Hunkering Down for Ms. Irene

Re-posted in hopes of fixing the feed problem.
----
Quick weekend recap and how we weathered the storm.  Well to be honest, along with most of the DC-area, I definitely was expecting the hurricane to be much worse than it actually was.  I've mentioned this to a few folks, but Kairo hates going to the bathroom in the rain, so I was especially worried about the hurricane coming and the potential for days of rain.  My solution: buy Kairo a raincoat.  The hubby nixed that one right away!  But isn't this cute?

http://www.wag.com/dog/p/Dogit-Slicker-Red-111859

During one of the trips outside, I ran into a guy with a lab who had a coat on.  I of course asked, "Does that help him go outside in the rain?"  The guy's response, "My wife thinks so." Then he rolls his eyes.  Yup, apparently guys are very anti dogs in clothing.  And I'm not saying I'm a huge fan of it, but Kairo has very short fur and does not have the undercoat that most other dogs have (read: does not have the insulation in the winter that other dogs have), so I'm thinking of getting him a coat for the winter - you know, to stay warm.  It's a necessity.  What are your thoughts on this coat/vest with a removable fleece lining:

http://www.wag.com/dog/p/PetEgo-Dogrich-Hunter-Coat-113597

I digress...here's the weekend update

We slept later than normal for us on Saturday morning - waking up around 9:30.  We lounged around, I cooked a delicious breakfast (right G$?) of Eggs Benedict, sans the hollandaise sauce and poached egg (i.e. eggs over easy on top of a piece of Canadian bacon on top of an English muffin).  Delish!  My family was supposed to get together at my parents' for a Mexican themed dinner night, but due to the forecast changing and the hurricane coming in earlier than originally expected, we opted to postpone the event until Sunday evening.  So G$ and I had the rest of the day with no plans.  Since we new the rain was a-coming, we decided to take the K-Man to the dog park for some running around and swimming.  As soon as we get to the dog park, what happens?  It starts raining.  We powered through the rain, since we knew the rain was only going to get heavier and the wind stronger.  Kairo has a good time and we actually ran into one of our neighbors who has a chocolate labradoodle, who is probably the most energetic dog I've ever seen in my life.  But, very well-trained.  We (or maybe just I) call him Kairo's doggie role model. 

G$ and I crated Kairo and ran some errands later in the afternoon, then we pretty much just cooped up together on the couch.  Venturing out into the elements only for potty breaks.    We had to go outside about four times while the storm was really bad.  The first time, we started to go out the normal door - the exit by the stairs.  This is the quickest route from the elevator to the outside and opens under this tunnel/passway.  We cracked the door and the wind ripped it open and the wind started bringing rain inside.  I don't think I've ever seen Kairo move so quickly in reverse.  I picked him up, thinking if I could carry him to a spot to tinkle and he'd be ok.  Not so much.  We get out into the tunnel/passway and the wind is so strong that I feel Kairos legs flailing.  So back through the main hallway to the lobby we went.  I coaxed him outside under the awning and tried to get him to voluntarily walk to the closest mulch bed to potty.  He was a trooper and made it.  We had another similar potty trip a few hours later.  But for the last two trips, I believe Kairo became too smart for his (or my) own good.  I imagine him saying: "You crazy, why would I go outside in the rain and wind to potty, when I can just pop a squat right here on the carpet in the lobby.  It's not my house, what's the big deal."  So we had two "accidents" in the lobby and I use the term loosely since it was not in our den home. 

Around 11pm, we took our last trip outside and headed to bed.  We get into the bedroom where G$ says, "What's that on the bed?"  I almost ignore him thinking he's joking, but no there's an 8 inch by 8 inch wet spot on our bed.  Greeeeeeat.  We look up and see that there is a very slow leak coming through the ceiling and we can actually hear the water dropping from the floor above onto the piece of drywall above us.  Awesome.  Guess we are sleeping on the couch tonight.  G$ goes down to tell the front desk and a maintenance guy comes up to check on the leak.  He confirms (as we suspected) that it was coming from the terrace of the floor above us.  And back to the couch. 

I slept like crap.  Most likely due to being cramped on the couch with G$ and Kairo, but also worrying, "Should I have filled the bathtub with water? What if we lose power and don't have water to shower or run out of bottled water and don't have water to drink?"  Yes, all things G$ may be hearing for the first time, because I was embarrassed of overreacting.  Which quite frankly, I was.  Although, hindsight is always 20-20. 

We didn't lose power.  It did flicker a few times, but never actually went off.  We woke up on Sunday and the sun was out and it turned into a gorgeous day!  My family was able to have our Mexican Fiesta and sit outside on the deck to enjoy the weather. 

As far as the apartment repairs go, on Sunday morning, the maintenance guys returned with a carpet company that ripped up the carpet and placed a industrial fan under the carpet to dry things out. 

Loud industrial fan in our bedroom!

Then Monday they returned to remove the fan and re-nail/staple the carpet back down.  While there, they also cleaned the carpet in our bedroom as well as in the main hallway in the apartment since they knew we had a puppy and saw some stains (just to clarify: not tinkle stains, but dirt stains from where a tinkle stain once was that we walked on with dirty shoes while it was wet with Nature's Miracle). We definitely appreciated that!  Then on Tuesday, they came and replaced the drywall.  The apartment is back to normal!

Hope everyone weathered the storm!  I know - I'm only five days late in saying that! 

<3
K$