The Dog Days of August

The term "dog days" refers to the hottest part of summer.  It defines any stagnant time period that is marked by a lack of progress.  What an apt term to describe this week.  The flower pots on our front porch are exhausted.  We can not water them enough now to make them look fresh again.  It's time to prop up tomato plants that are heavy with green tomatoes and pull out the herbs that have gone to seed.

It's hard for us to give Sophie enough exercise when Roger doesn't feel well enough to walk her, so I took her to the "bark park" for Saturday and Sunday romps.  Missoula has a big wonderful off-leash dog park, located on an island in the middle of the Clark Fork River.  Once behind the big gate, dogs are only confined by the water's edge.  It's a pretty active place at this time of year with a lot of big dogs tirelessly chasing sticks into swift river currents.  Sophie doesn't fetch and she doesn't venture into deep water.  But she likes to run with the dogs who do, barking out advice and encouragement.  It's funny to watch her on her short legs trying to keep up with the elite athletes of the canine world.  She is completely worn out by the physicality and the sheet delight of sniffing, running and splashing in the river.  Now we'll get a couple of days of peace and quiet while she sleeps it off.

Roger is feeling pretty low as an after-effect of two weeks on chemo.  He's had several transfusions of platelets over the last two weeks, but no red blood so far.  You might remember from a blog post way back in November, they discovered that he has developed antibodies  to a couple of RH factors found in 98% of human blood. Finding a source for the rare blood that he needs presents a challenge for the blood banks.  A shipment will arrive tomorrow from Great Falls, he'll have an infusion and will probably feel a bit perkier after that.  He's completely off Cyclosporin now.  This will allow his own immune system to fight leukemia, but we are ever alert for signs of GVH.  

We are sticking pretty close to home these days, but that's okay.  These are the bright, hot dog days of summer and it's dim and cool inside.  Home feels like the right place to be.