Suffering the Consequences of Lion and Blue

This past Wednesday, I had a strong desire to have an alfresco lunch in our lovely back yard. It was the first fully sunny day we've have in the PNW for a long time, so I had to celebrate. I made french ham and warm brie sandwiches on toasted baguette. Wicked I know, all that writing about Paris really affected my psyche I guess. I had a glass of crisp Pinot Grigio, which went beautifully with the creamy cheese and salty ham. Dessert was cold Perrier with lemon wedges and bowls of sliced oranges and bananas. Yes, it was a vitamin C and D fest.

It felt so good to be outside in the sun after such a long rainy season. Normally, I relish rainy weather more than sunshine, but I felt like my body actually needed the sunshine. After we had lunch and discussed our dream of buying a home here, I laid out a couple of blankets and some pillows so we could laze in the sun for a spell. As we stretched out on the warm ground, listening to the ocean breeze swooshing through a long row of juniper trees, I turned my gaze to my neighbors giant daisies which are starting to bloom. It reminded me of the story, Lion and Blue. It's about a lion who falls in love with a brazillian blue butterfly. "My lonely roars echoed far in a jungle that was old to me...until...my yellow eyes were dazzled blue..." I closed my eyes, enjoying the memory of that book, the sun softly shining on us, the smell of the salty ocean breeze mixed with juniper, and suddenly I was asleep.

Sailor woke me up, pawing at my face. "No boy. Lay down here." I said, patting next to my leg. He refused and walked over to Tony and executed the same action. "Go Sailor." Tony said sleepily, then he tried me again, this time whining. When I looked at my watch I was shocked. "Wow, we've been out here almost three hours." As I sat up I noticed the wind had blown my blouse halfway up and my stomach felt a little itchy. Micky was laying in the shade under a bench panting and Sailor was standing by the sliding glass door now. I looked at Tony and he was still sound asleep. While I was cleaning up, Tony finally awoke and when he stood up I gasped. He was burnt to a crisp. A few hours later as I made dinner I noticed I was terribly burned too, on my stomach, legs and arms. Luckily, I fell asleep with my napkin on my face.

After dinner I noticed Sailor kept going into the bedroom to lay in his bed. "Sailor, it's not bedtime yet." I told him, but he would return to his bed anyway and plop down. When we all finally hit the sack, I was awakened a couple of hours later by Sailor standing on his hind legs, whining in my face. Sleepily, I tried to coax him to laying back down, but he was acting strange, refusing to lay in his bed, which he and Mick share. "Sailor, go to bed. You're acting weird." Then I smelled it. Poop. Mick, who is a little incontinent had a bit of an accident. I let out a huge sigh, got out of bed, then tried to find it. Nothing. Mick was clean. Then I patted around him, what was I thinking?! Found it. "Ugh!" This woke Tony and he looked over the edge of the bed where I was kneeling. I showed him my hand, grimacing. "Nice." We laughed, but I was thoroughly disgusted. As I washed my hand, Tony was wiping their bed down and Mick's back paw, which had poop in it. "Let's try this again." I said, covering Mick, who didn't bother to get up this entire time, then Sailor. As I covered him with his blanket he shot up and ran out of the room. "What boy?! I got all the poop." Then I smelled his blanket and yes, I got poop on my face. "UGH!" Now I was really mad. Of course it's not Mick's fault, but it's still gross.

After I carefully lifted up their blankets and took them to the laundry room, I put down a brand new blanket on their bed, which Mick was excited about, but Sailor refused to lay anywhere near his brother. Poor guy was traumatized. "Alright, you can lay with us (a forbidden pleasure) just so we can get some sleep." This sleeping arrangement lasted about an hour. I awoke again to Sailor moving around the room and shaking like he was wet. This time I was concerned. "What is it Sailor?" He just looked at me wide-eyed and ran out of the room shaking, so I let him outside. He ran out, peed and ran back in. I tried to put him back on our bed, only to find Mick there - sneaky bugger, "Mick, get back in your bed." My patience was growing thin. Sailor briefly laid down then jumped off our bed, so I tried ignoring him, but I could hear him shaking over and over again. Maybe he has a fox tail in his ear! I got up and checked. Nope. I went back to bed and tried ignoring him again. By now it was 2am, and my heart was pounding with worry. Maybe there's going to be an earthquake? Dogs are known to act strange before one. My brain was racing.

Then I remembered our next door neighbor was spraying weed killer, which I am completely against, as it causes cancerous tumors in animals over a period of time. "Oh no! He and Mick were eating grass while we were outside!" I said aloud. When I got up again, Sailor was standing in the middle of the room staring crazy-eyed. This time I woke up Tony. He was worried too, "He's acting like he's on speed! Let's feed him so he'll poop out whatever he ate." Good idea. I found a can of Newman's dog food (yet another forbidden pleasure) and he gobbled it up like a starving animal. Then Mick came in wanting some, "Get back to bed Mick!" Tony ordered, and he did. It's like he knew something was wrong.

After Sailor ate he actually laid down in his bed with Mick and stayed there for almost an hour. By then I was completely awake, worrying and waiting. Tony was snoring before his head hit the pillow. Then all of a sudden he said out loud, "He's sunburnt! His skin is crawling, he has heat stroke!" He was completely right. We were all sunburnt, except Mick, who had the sense to stay in the shade, that's why Sailor was shaking and acting funny. His little brain couldn't understand why he felt crawly and strange.

The next morning my stomach and legs stung like crazy so I smoothed on aloe vera. When I looked at Sailor, the insides of his ears were crimson! "You poor thing." I said, and put a little aloe on his burns too. Who'd have thought that day dreaming could be so costly...