Too hot to stress!

                It has been a frightening week for me so far. I’m talking threat level midnight here people! It started out with Tia going to the dentist and being prescribed steroids and antibiotics. The latter is of no concern to my current state of distress but the steroids….oh the steroids. At first things seemed normal but on day three of those evil little white pills, Tia became the epitome of the phrase “roid-rage” with the charming addition of her white hot distain for the oppressive heat. It has been over 100 degrees here in The-Center-of-the-Sun, Oklahoma for days on end and even the nights are in the 90’s. This week the air conditioning fights an unending battle to keep the house below boiling point and Tia fights off her desire to eat all the chocolate pudding in the house. In fact as I type this, I can hear Tia having a crying fit over the last crumbs of a box of Cheeze-itz while watching Season 2 of Glee. She has managed to keep the “raging” to a minimum despite being kept up for hours by the throbbing of her steroid filled veins in her ears. Thank God for those Zumba classes she goes to, or I’d never get a quiet moment to myself.

                My story isn’t over yet though. In a wonderfully loving and grand gesture, Dave and Tia took me to this amazing park on the east side of town. It is a wonderland full of giant holes that are inhabited by squeaking critters called “prayer-ee” dogs. I find this name confusing because although they live in holes they are not holy and neither are they dogs. Anyway, it was very funny chasing them around and being pulled out of their burrows by my halter leash. However, along our walk I happened to be inhaling a little too much of the outdoors and managed to snort a giant amount of pollen and possibly a portion of a weed. This caused me to immediately slip into a sneezing fit that lasted over 5 minutes. Thanks to Tia and Dave I was able to compose myself long enough to make it to the car. However, when we got home I only got worse. I couldn’t stop sneezing and my nose hurt so bad! Tia was in total mommy mode and set me up with a humidifier, Benadryl, and special doggie allergy vitamins. I didn’t even know they made those! I guess I finally sneezed out the nasal irritant because that afternoon I seemed cured. It was a little scary there for a few hours since apparently here in Oklahoma there are weeds called foxtails that have barbed bits that can get lodged in my nose and then in my lungs! That can be fatal and when Tia discovered this little factoid on google, a steroid induced freak out session occurred. Since this was a Sunday, luckily, she was calm enough to see that I was getting better and avoided the $300 trip to the emergency vet.

                Can you see how this has been a stressful week for me and Dave? Not to mention the horrible heat…it’s past 10pm and its still 87 degrees outside! I am beginning to like the idea of Germany more and more as I see from weather.com that its only 67 degrees there right now. I hear growling coming from the living room… either Tia realized that Swamp People is a re-run or we’re out of the orange Flavor-Pops! Perhaps I can hide under Dave’s helmet in the guest room since I think he’s taken to wearing his Kevlar vest to bed since the steroids started. Tia has frighteningly ninja like skills when it comes to kicking off the covers in her sweaty fits of rage. I heard her say that the pools have finally opened on the base so she will be basking away her frustration in the sun and washing away her worries in the deep end tomorrow. I will continue to keep guard over the house in my new favorite spot on the couch where the AC blows just right. Anyway, be safe out in all this heat and don’t forget to thank a soldier and love your pets. 

Toby