Achooo, Sniff, Sniff

Well, it's certainly been an interesting year weather wise. After having snow in May we had our first ever flood last month. Following two and a half weeks of non-stop rain, we're back to hot and dry. We actually kick up dust just waking across the yard. The plants aren't quite sure what to do. They're full and lush after all the early rain, but now the leaves are curling up from the 90+ heat each day.

One thing for sure, the pollen count is out of sight. Every time I walk out the door I'm hit with it and I start sneezing and my eyes won't stop watering. My throat is so bad that I speak in a croak. Rob has been taking the dogs outside for the past two days so that I don't get any worse.

His is not an easy job because while the older dogs know the routine and go out to do whatever, they come running right back to the air conditioning. Sydney and Mac, however, are still in training.We were set way back by the two weeks of fireworks followed by two weeks of thunder storms. We had to start all over with the girls.

They are both tethered to us most of the time so that they can't find a quiet hiding place to relieve themselves. Mac does pretty well as long as we get her out on a regular schedule. Sydney was having a much harder time of it. She seemed to be urinating far too often so I had a chat with Dr B and took in a urine sample for him to examine. Though nothing obvious showed up, her urine was much too dilute. We gave her a course of antibiotics and she finished them yesterday. Her urine looks more normal and she isn't going as frequently, so looks like she may have had a bit of an infection. She's even ringing the bells to go out now.

Good reminder, if house training isn't going well, check for a physical problem before deciding that the dog is dumb as a rock.

Sebastian's wound is healing very nicely. He had a visit with Dr B last week to make sure we were on the right track. The incision is closing and it looks like we may be able to remove his cone of shame in a few days. That'll be a big relief for him and me. Have you ever tried knitting with a seventy pound dog wearing a plastic cone on his head lying across your lap? Try it some time.

While I'm confined to the house awaiting a rain to cleanse the air, I've been cross stitching and knitting. I'll have some things to show soon, but for now this is all that's finished.

This is a pattern by Julie Williams. I've been following her blog "Little Cotton Rabbits" for years. She finally released a couple of her rabbit patterns and I couldn't resist.

Now let's see how productive I can be this weekend with a large dog on my lap and two small ones tied to my leg. Allergy pills, anyone?