I have upped my consumption of regular old water, although I will allow that most of what I drink is bottled water from Ice Mountain. The main reason I stick with Ice Mountain is because I like the sound of the name and the flash of pleasant mood I feel when I glance at the label. Forest beneath the iced capped mountain – yes, yes, yes, it stirs something inside me. Another reason, which formed in my own mind, has to to do with the Artesians of Olympia Beer. They were the little elf-like guys that manufactured the beer. Please, no one tell me this is a myth or advertising ploy; I simply won’t belief it.

Yes, Virginia, Artesians do exist.

Having taken a byroad here, I’ll return to the point I am supposed to me making. It seems that with a marked increased consumption of water, I have found more energy, even to the point of going outside in 85+ weather with a pruning saw. I look forward to drinking water, something I used to experience only after having done something that has perspiration flowing down my face or during a fever.

Then, again, there is the exercise from toting in a 28 or 32 pack of bottles, but that’s internal usage, although the effort does encourage it. What if the water has me work myself to death? No, that’s certainly not a possibility,

Drat, I made an inappropriate pun in the title above, and, really, it was totally unintentional; it had to be subconscious. I caught it almost immediately and could easily have changed it, but maybe it is appropriate because it testifies to the intensity of the emotion that wells within me when a certain topic comes up.

The title of the book was enough to sent up a red flag: Thunder Dog. The short synopsis was confirmation of the assault on my heart:

This #1 New York Times bestseller tells the inspirational true story of Roselle, a loyal guide dog who led her blind owner from the World Trade Center to safety during the harrowing moments of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. With nearly 2,000 five-star ratings on Goodreads.

Shane. It will always be Shane; Shane, whom I did not name, remarking that I would always be reminded of Alan Ladd; Shane, who came to live with me when Quentin had to find him a new home. “Will you take Shane,” he asked. There wasn’t time for a breath between his question and my answer, “Yes, of course.”

There was the trip to Memphis with Cameron to meet up with Quentin who brought Shane from Houston, a trip that had us stopping at Historic Sites and staying at a motel and detouring to show where his grandfather and I had lived at the former AF base at Blytheville, Arkansas. It was a trip that was a marathon drive back from Memphis, with no motel and frequent calls from home for the last four hours as anticipating people queried, “Where are you now?”

And there were the years with Shane. Shane who was an Australian Shepherd clown, who loved Wubbas and hugs and trips to the fairgrounds. Shane who was ordered around by Sydney, our elderly Australian Shepherd who had been the last one to whom my father addressed his last coherent words and the one who was by my mother almost a decade later when she died.

And Shane was Quentin’s dog. Shane had followed in the line of the dogs we have had and said goodbye to, and in quite a few years I knew I would have to say goodbye to him. But it didn’t work out that way. Shane had an asymptomatic genetic condition that led to cancer in the heart that struck its lethal blow in a 48 hour period. He was lying on the floor and I was trying not to stimulate him because I knew he would try so hard to please me. And, so, he died alone and untouched. It was shocking, leaving even the vet to wonder and it was the necropsy that gave us the answer. Answers don’t bring dogs back. In fact, someone said to me, “Shane’s gone and he’s not coming back.” Maybe that was the push that got me thinking that everything Shane represented, everything to which he was linked was gone . . . and not coming back. And it was so much to lose forever.

Shane’s memory was the master key to so many boxes of sadness that were stacked in my mind like safety deposit boxes in a bank’s vault. And so when I watched Marley and Me with Owen Wilson, I sobbed and was near tears for days. Homeward Bound? Oh, heaven’s no.

There are so many deserving stories of loyal and wonderful dogs, but I can’t bring myself to read them. I have lived that story

I met a part of Harvey’s extended family this morning at the gas station. I winced at the price per gallon and turned my back to the pump and when that pump shut off automatically, I turned slowly and groaned.

And it occurred to me: With all the notifications about voluntary help for Hurricane Harvey’s victims, am I making an obligatory donation to oh, say, some gas companies?

Once upon a time, I would come to this site and not have to sign in because I had clicked keep me logged in. Well, I guess those days are long past. And perhaps I shouldn’t have remembered the password because what I intended to write about was the green snot in my nose. Yeah, I just put it right out there: SNOT. Before I had to go through the password thingie, my mind was already mulling over a more proper word than snot, although one that would imply the same GREEN.

Why am I writing about it? Because my nose hurts and pain radiates up into my sinuses and it has been doing so for about a month and so, finally, I made a doctor’s appointment. However, I just could not bring myself to go into his office in my plumped-out, woebegone state and so I made it for two weeks hence. As if regained weight will fall off and blossoming wrinkles will fade and I will get a perky bounce in my step.

What the real problem is is that I turned 69 and there on the next step is 70. That number makes me feel kind of snot green all over. 70!!!  Who knew that the second star to the right, straight on through until morning would lead to 70?

I decided to take a quick look through my mail before I actually did something productive – such as moving a cabinet out of the way in the basement so the plumber who came to day and muttered, “Ahhhhhh” could access a good place to cut through the floor tomorrow. I saw Book Bub’s suggestions and noted one in particular: Bushmaster. Yeah, it’s what you’re thinking – a book about snake guy Raymond Ditmars.

With a series of No’s pounding in my head I still let a finger move the cursor and click a key and, voila, it was headed to my Kindle. Now you know that when you do that they pop up titles of books of the same ilk. I was not going to push my luck and buy another, but I did let my curiosity get the better of me when the synopsis of one mentioned a snake guy named Joe Slowinski and Burma and a krait. I googled his name and found this article AND I READ IT. Oh, I don’t know if I want to close my eyes tonight.

Yes, I was up and actually functioning when . . . the dreaded summer cold struck, mixed in with a bit of intestinal distress. I have had to postpone my second cataract surgery and that was a bummer, but having a stuffed nose, a racking cough and a fever made a good case for it. Only a week’s delay, so really not a foot-stomping event. Although, I have to say the shaking chills at 2 am one morning made me grateful it was a summer cold and not malaria or yellow fever. Remembered passages from books about Japanese POW camps and the Panama Canal workers haunted my dozing off thoughts; there’s no doubt about it: if you have a choice, go with the sugar plum fairies.

I am hoping events will even out somewhat, and I have such an urge to constantly knock on wood that I need to live in a log cabin or have Al Gore standing within arm’s reach at all times.

Sitting in Fairborn, Ohio with my feet up on the coffee table and music playing on my iphone through a cute little speaker with lights that change, I venture into this space once more. God, there’s a lot of dusting to do and, drat, I see I’m going to have to clean out the cooler – you know, the one that looks like a chest freezer and you lift the lid and find drinks nestled in an ice bath.

Well, there’s nothing for it, but to get busy. So I guess I’ll turn off the iphone and plug in the jukebox. I’ll need something with a nice, bouncy rhythm – How about Red Dress? After all, they always said red was my color.