Seen any porcupines lately?

I haven't actually seen a porcupine, but I know that one lurks in Cleveland Neighborhood.

I woke up early this morning to workout. Biscuit, who normally is a very chipper puppy in the morning, hears that I am awake and comes down the hall to say hi. She is her usual happy self, wagging her tail and making soft happy-snorty noises. As my eyes adjust to the light in the hall and bathroom, I notice that she has slender white spikes poking out of her muzzle.

What on earth is that?

She gets closer to me, and I then realize that she has what appears to be porcupine quills all over her face!

Are you kidding me? I go in to tell Coby I need help.

C: What's going on?
S: Biscuit got smacked by a porcupine and now has the quills stuck in her face.
C: Are you serious? We don't have a porcupine...that doesn't make sense (remember, it's 4am, and nothing is really making sense at this point).
S: Well, it's either a porcupine or a hedgehog. And neither one of those makes any sense.

Let me emphasize that Biscuit is now estatic that both of us are awake at 4:30am. Her entire body is now wagging. She really is a "morning person". Oh, and Cub and Scout are completely oblivious to what's going on-both are still asleep.

We can't pull these things out; not only are there too many of them, she has several in her tongue! If you've ever seen Biscuit, you know that her tongue doesn't really fit in her mouth. So we put her in the car and drive to the all-night vet down the street.

When we walk in the door, the vet techs can barely contain their muffled laughter. They take Biscuit to the back for the vet to assess her. If she doesn't tolerate the removal well, then they will have to sedate her. Thankfully, Biscuit's winning personality and overall joy in life perserveres, and she continues to wag her tail all through the quill extraction. Ten minutes and $116 later, Biscuit is returned to us, quill-less. They even waived the after-hours fee b/c of how easy going she was during the procedure.

One of the quills broke off and is imbedded below her nose, so she has to take one week's worth of antibiotics to help prevent infection. And she's also acting a little weird after getting a pain shot. And by weird I mean standing in one position for about 30 minutes. I offered her a treat when we got home-she put it in her mouth, and it was still there when I left for work over one hour later.

How was your morning?