I am back from an eventful trip to visit our home in Florida. Our little paradise on Cape San Blas is still in major recovery from last October’s Hurricane Michael. As a result, a few uninvited guests decided to take up residence in our home.  Yes, my friends, we had a few pesky rats. In all fairness, it had been a few months since we had been to our house and the rats probably thought we wouldn’t mind if they moved in since so much of the landscape was torn up in the storm.

Typically on our trips, I am the first to arrive to set up the house. This time I was fortunate to be on a girls-retreat, and it was Robert who arrived to find the mess! He had a great deal cleaned and taken care of before my arrival, but there was still work to do when I got into town.

We sealed all the possible entry points with steel wool and a special expanding foam and completed our sheetrock repairs from the storm damage and put out traps, bait boxes.  Next, we bleached all the surfaces and threw out anything in the cabinets that might have come into contact with the pestilent beasts that could not be washed or was easily replaced. Then we washed all of the upholstery covers, blankets and bedding that may have been trod upon.

As we were having the floors professionally cleaned and disinfected a rat ran out from behind the oven! I hid in a bedroom and Robert grabbed his golf club, and the two men who were cleaning the floors helped corral the beast. This is the only time I can say I was just fine with Robert swinging a golf club in the house! He accomplished his goal, and the dead rat was unceremonially tossed into the woods behind us to become bird food. Then, Robert took the oven apart to clean it by hand and then ran the heated cleaning cycle to make sure not a trace of any creature was left behind.

Fortunately, they were only in our downstairs outdoor storage, kitchen and living area. The rats did not enter any of our bathrooms or bedrooms. Needless to say, our home is now spotless and has probably never been cleaner.

This trip was also the first visit with our now six-month-old Cardigan Welsh Corgi Zeus. He was an excellent travel companion and friendly community ambassador. I had let folks know that I would be bringing Zeus to Florida for Spring Break. I encouraged them to stop us and say hello and that they did. Zeus made many new friends.  It took him a while to get used to the waves, but we did get him to swim through a few of the beach “lakes” where the water sits onshore in troughs left behind during low tide.

This trip also started a new sleeping trend. I’ve had a dog almost all of my life, but I’ve never had a dog sleep in my bedroom before.  Zeus wasn’t getting settled in his kennel at night in a house that was strange to him. I don’t know that I can blame him. We were still working through the rat mess, and I’m sure he heard and smelled them in the living room where his kennel was placed.

So after a few nights of failing to get him to adjust to his new surroundings in the doghouse, we gave in, and he slept with Luke in his room. The last few nights in Florida he slept on the floor in our room at Robert’s suggestion. Here we are back in Houston, and instead of kenneling Zeus, he is on his dog bed in our bedroom at night.

I have mixed emotions about sharing my room with a dog. Part of me is comforted by this and part of me holds an old belief that animals don’t belong in the bedroom. I’m still so surprised at the latitude that Robert has given this puppy. It is nice though to see Robert’s soft side shine through and watch him find comfort in Zeus’s company.

I would say that this year’s trip to Cape San Blas was filled with challenges that pushed my limits. We still had a lovely trip, and it will certainly not be forgotten anytime soon. It was nice to see many of the restaurants and businesses back in operation. It was wonderful to meet more of my community members and visit those we hadn’t seen since November.

If you want to help support our friends still recovering from Hurricane Michael please consider booking a vacation this summer to Cape San Blas or Port St. Joe. There are still stunningly beautiful dog-friendly beaches and places to stay, dine and visit.

You can contact the Cape Escape Vacation Rentals to find a property to rent and go fishing with my friend Captain Lee Thompson with Shallow Seas Charters in Port St. Joe Bay. For more things to do and see, go to www.visitgulf.com.  If you have a favorite place to visit or restaurant around the Port St. Joe area put it in the comments section and I’ll check it out this summer when we go back!