Beach Bummer

We spent the past week on vacation at the beach with my parents, the first such vacation for nearly a decade. I've been looking forward to the trip for over 6 months. We rented a place within sight of the Calibogue Sound and a short walk to the beach, so my allergies would be pretty much nonexistent.

The trouble started a couple weeks ahead of our trip. First, our 13 year old Sheltie suddenly started to show her age. She couldn't seem to get her bottom out of the way when she used the bathroom, necessitating frequent baths. She's also been really grumpy, snapping at me when I tried to groom her. As a result her fur became matted. I thought she was having mobility issues so I've been rubbing pain oil on her joints. Then I caught a cough and sore throat and ear ache I couldn't get rid of. I tried to boost my immunity with nutrition and essential oils but in the end had to go get some antibiotic ear drops. I was worried about leaving the dog but know our extremely capable pet sitter would take care of her. I arrived at the beach full of hope for some relaxation so I could just recover and de-stress.

I had a couple blissful days before the worst case reared up: the pet sitter called to say Ilse, the dog, was very sick with what later turned out to be colitis and pancreatitis. So Ilse spent two nights at the vet's, during one of which she chewed through her IV line, picked the lock to her cage, and ran around visiting all the other dogs! So the remainder of the week was spent taking the family to pre-planned activities while at the same time negotiating the dog's care with the vet and pet sitter long-distance. We also had record-breaking heat, both at the beach and at home. We visited Savannah on a day when the heat index reached well over 100 degrees. On the last day I ran out of sunscreen and couldn't reapply it after swimming and before a boat cruise, so all the non-Chinese members of the family got sunburned. We arrived home to find several of the vegetables and plants dead, despite our setting up a timed watering system. It's just so hot there's not much you can do for some plants.

So, it wasn't our best vacation ever. I am grateful for the moments of peace in the water I enjoyed, and I got to go horseback riding and experience many favorite activities. The dog is much better than she was but still pretty shaky and our other dog showed some possible signs of illness yesterday. The vet bill so far is $800 and with the pet sitter's charges we are over $1000 in the hole. It's the worst possible summer for it to happen, since we also have our 10 year reunion in Kansas City planned with the other girls from our daughter's orphanage next month. Therefore, I am having a sale in my Atelier Mandaline store to (I hope) raise some quick cash. I hope you'll check it out. You can also browse my catalogue.

Here's our Ilse girl, on the mend, we hope. She was so stinky the groomer went ahead and just gave her a short summer clip. She doesn't like it at all and hid under the table when I first tried to take her picture. It's so much easier to keep her clean, however, I'm thinking of giving our Spitz the same treatment!

The dog on the mend.