It has been raining here in Oklahoma for 2 months. It rains almost every day. I'm getting really irritated with all of this. Mildew is everywhere and moss is growing all over everything. I feel like I live in the tropics. Well, the plus side is that it's pretty cool. The minus to that is that the humidity is about 90%. I think we're all going to have to strip off like the Indians in South America because it's about 75 to 80 degrees, and everyone is sweating like champions. Usually it's about 100 degrees at this time of the year, but it is dry. We still sweat but we're not all nearly dead from allergies to mold and mildew.

The weather this year has been really crappy. First we had the ice storm which destroyed many of our trees. I lost my last apple tree this year. Then we had a weeklong freeze that destroyed all the budding trees. I lost another, very expensive, weeping mulberry tree to that. Then it started raining and my red-tip photinias are dying of a fungus. It never clears up long enough to spray them with the anti-fungal stuff. I figure that the weather this year is going to cost me about $5,000 to repair all the damage. And I'm really grouchy. Constant cloudiness makes me grouchy. I went to Colorado for two glorious weeks of sunshine in May. Otherwise, I'd probably be suicidal. At least it hasn't flooded here like it has on the plains. Texas has those terrible floods just about every year. But Oklahoma has flooded too. Since I live on the side of a hill, I don't have problems with flooding except in the garage.

The garage is where I have stashed the 6 or 7 puppies that a neighborhood dog had. We seem to have varying numbers of them. No one was feeding her and she was so terribly thin that I fed her. Well, she moved all the puppies to my house and has moved in herself. She's a lovely German Shepherd mix, but those puppies, while incredibly cute, are awful. Everytime I open the garage door they run into the house and hunt for places to poop or pee. They hang on their poor mother's boobs and the little devils have teeth. She has serious knockers what with feeding all those greedy little devils, and they are cut from the puppy teeth. Also they are covered with ticks since it has rained so much that no one can mow their yards. This is the worst tick season ever in my 16 years living here. I pick off about a dozen ticks from the mother dog every night and the little ones also have ticks, but I can't put tick killer on them because they are too young. So I pick ticks off of them too. I am a great lover of the garbage disposal because I can just grind up the ticks and they don't return from the dead. Next week I get to take 6 or possibly 7 puppies for shots and worming. Clearly I'll be broke after that and then I have to get shots for two older dogs and the mother. She'll have to have heartworm tests. Lord, charity can get expensive. Mother, who is now 87, thinks I'm crazy, but I just can't let a perfectly good mother dog die of starvation even if she does have obnoxious kids.

But she's a problem too. Yesterday, we had company from Illinois so I had a big spread to feed them. I had a buffet set up on the bar in the kitchen. Angua, the mother dog, ate the potato salad in its bowl on the bar. She's tall and can reach the food. So I had to toss the potato salad. But that's not nearly as bad as the time my old dog, Jasper, ate two filet mignons off the counter. It takes a lot of potato salad to equal the cost of those filets.

Well, I'm feeling better. I hope the folks in Texas and in the flooded areas of Oklahoma are doing okay. Maybe someday the sun will come out and we'll really get to sweat.

Bitter, you have my total unreserved sympathy.

Though I live on the rainy west coast of Canada, we seldom get the endless clouds and rain. We lived in an interior town for awhile, a place by a lake surrounded by mountains, and the mountains seemed to hold the clouds in. I didn't see the sun for 9 weeks one year. I really thought I'd go nuts. The good thing is, we didn't have the warmth and humidity that you describe.

As for the dogs, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Do you have a local animal shelter you could take them to along with a donation? Sometimes they have deals with local vets to look after the animals for less than they charge the public.

Hang in there, you know things can only change for the better at this point.

We're having an unusual summer here as well. We had a couple of hot days in May, but other than that it's been cool with rain off and on. We've been swimming only once and we normally would have been camping a couple of times already.

BOH...

I can soooooo identify with what you are going thru - including the 87 year-old mother (MIL, in my case).

The joke here is that we live in Seattle, TX. It is raining as I type - pouring, actually. My DH, a compulsive grass cutter and avid golfer, is near his breaking point.

In addition, while I don't have 6-8 stray dogs, my daughter left her abusive husband (again) and has been at my house since Wed (3 AM Thurs, to be more precise). She walked 8 miles (in the rain) with nothing but the clothes on her back. I had to take her to get new documents (still have finished that). We were finally able to retrieve some of her clothes (and the two kids' clothes) yesterday - most of them damp and moldy. Her older child is visiting an aunt in San Antonio and comes back in less than a week. The younger one is at my son's but they are leaving Tues on vacation, so we have to find a place for the three of them very soon. We called the Battered Women's Foundation, but they are full. Check back in two weeks, they said. Thanks....that's very helpful.

My son-in-law is in jail (he violated his probation from a previous assault charge, in which she was the victim), as of two days ago, but who knows when he will get out and start making all our lives truly miserable. His dad plans to bail him out as soon as possible, because he is supposed to be the best man in his brother's wedding next Sat. Best man my Aunt Fanny! That's the cruelest joke I have ever heard! The man is a psycho jerk!

My DH has never lived with a lot of people, nor has he raised kids, so he is not pleased with any of this. My MIL is very critical of my family under the best of circumstances, so she keeps up a constant stream of whispered compalints - from her mouth to my DH's ear.

It has not been a fun week.

Carlene -- You are in worse shape than I am. I have just locked the puppies in the garage though I don't know how the older dogs are going to get out to pee tonight. I hope they just hold it. It rained 4 times today, but the weatherman says there is hope. Of course, they've been saying that for weeks. We'll just have to hang in there and hope that it stops raining someday. I saw the pix of the floods in Texas. We have those in Oklahoma now. Coffeyville, KS is flooded. Maybe well can sell all this water to Colorado this year.

Devana -- This is the coolest summer we've had in this area since early in the past century. That is nice, but the humidity is a killer. I'm beginning to wonder about this global warming stuff. Apparently global warming means it will be warm in the arctic and cold in Oklahoma.

We got another 3 inches of the wet stuff today. At this rate, we will all be needing boats to get from place to place.

Good luck with the dogs,BOH. I am a resuce person myself. I just wish I could stick to rescuing dogs and let the people take care of themselves.

BOH and Carlene, Hang in there. The rains will stop. It rained here daily from Dec - April. I thought I was going insane. It hasn't rained since mid-May now and won't again until mid-November.

I always complained about the weather when i lived in North Dakota. Too cold, too hot, too humid, etc. I don't even try now. The weather doesn't compete with the rest of lifes hassles.

BOH, I wish I could come and help you with the dogs. I keep getting people's dogs when they leave the country. I am not sure what I will do with them when I leave Malawi. I haven't had a tick problem but in Nov-April I had (and will have again) bad fleas.

Thanks for this thread. I needed to hear some normal things of life. When I call people, my connections are crappy and we don't talk about much. My internet is unstable so I don't get alot of emails anymore (that's why I haven't been posting either).

I hope the weather (and everything else) gets better for you soon. Celeste

Carlene - if your daughter is assisting in the investigation/prosecution of her abusive ex - she may qualify for TX Crime Victims' Compensation Relocation. If she qualifies, she might be eligible for up to $2000 in moving expenses such as deposits, application fee, U haul rental, etc. AND up to $1800 in rental assistance. This program has been a life-saver for many women who are leaving abusive relationships. I hope your daughter will make decisions that increase her safety.

Summer arrived yesterday! Already it's too hot for me. I'm taking a bunch of boys camping at the lake tomorrow. I'll be there for the weekend while another mom will be there during the week while I work. Our husbands just show up once in awhile to eat and swim.

Lord do I feel guilty! I was grumbling yesterday because it wouldn't stop raining so we could take my darling granddaughter out for a boat ride.

Bitter, I can't imagine having a bunch of wet dogs hanging out in my garage and running in the house. You are an angel! Thank goodness for Sentinel although those doggie meds are way too expensive, even when you buy them online! I hope you all dry out soon and none of them gets heartworms from the mosquitoes or ticks or wherever heartworms come from. My BIL lost a beautiful Springer Spaniel from them and we kind of live in fear of those little buggers.

Carlene what can anyone say. You sure have your hands full. I know it breaks your heart that your DD is involved with someone who is abusive. My DH's little sister married a horribly abusive guy when she was young. He wound up getting busted for dealing drugs and getting an incredibly heavy sentence. Fortunately she managed to divorce him and get their kids out of that situation. But then what do you know, she up and marries another jerk who is physically and mentally abusive. Summer before last he was killed in a car crash. That was awful, but the shocker for me was when the Priest at his funeral said something like, I know many of you out there are glad that this wicked man is no longer with us, but let's all hope he has a pathway into heaven in spite of his actions here on earth. Can you imagine? I've never heard anything like that before!

The good news is that a wonderful man in their little town has been in love with her from afar for 20 years. He comforted her during her grief, he helped with her children who think he's a saint, and he finally won her over. They just got married and are as happy as two 16 year olds in love for the first time. He's very well off financially and she is learning how great it is to have a good man to love and be loved by, who she can trust and who is kind to her children and who takes really good care of them all.

We figured her life was destined to always be full of pain and depression, but she's now a new woman. I hope that something good will come of your DD's separation from that guy! We'll be thinking of you and wishing you success in helping her turn her life around.

It hasn't rained for 2 days! Also I gave away 2 puppies so I only have 5 left. One of my former students and now a colleague is coming tomorrow to get two dogs. They are interested in the mother dog. My own mother suggested we adopt one of the puppies ourselves. Amazing! But my old Jasper isn't going to last forever and Ozzie's mange is not getting better.

On the other hand the neighbor dog who spends most of her time here in the air conditioning got in a big fight with my dogs and I forced them to stay outside in the heat for awhile. They are acting much better now. She's a little grouchy, but the poor thing has lots of hair and the humidity is making it really hot now that the temp has hit 90 degrees.

I feel really sorry for all the folks with very high temps. I hope it's dry there. It's not so bad if it's dry. Maybe it will dry out here someday. But there is hope that fall will come before long. Of course, my $10,000 garden is ruined. But this fall I will start replanting. There is always hope.

I hope everyone's families are okay. It's just disgusting the way some men treat women. I just read Khaled Hosseini's book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and cried buckets at the end. He wrote The Kite Runner which is the best book I've read in years. He's originally from Afghanistan and is a physician in Northern California. At least he was until Kite Runner sold a zillion copies. I recommend it if you are a reader.

All the dogs are asleep so I think I'll go to sleep myself.

Remember, boys and grrls, etc, neutering is a very kind activity which you can do after you do your part by adopting a very nice stray cat or dog. Kudos to Bitter to housing her new gang of puppies. This must be especially difficult given that you are living under Noah Ark-like conditions at the moment. More water, more humidity and this means more bugs and more general smelliness. Many of us have had the experience of smelling a wet dog, eh? Not so nice.

Keep on sending us dispatches from the swamps, Bitter. (The sad thing is that it is awful dry where I live.)

I was lucky to give away 5 dogs to good homes. But I still have three female puppies and Stevie, the neighbor dog. It cost me $185 dollars to have the 7 puppies' shots and wormed. And then the people who apparently "owned" the mother dog sent a note to me that they wanted the dogs back or they would call the police. I sent the remaining dogs back with a note saying I assumed they would reimburse the $185. I haven't heard from them again. Today the kids who supposedly "own" the dogs came down, and I told them to take the puppies home. The little boy took one home but none of his friends would help him take the others. Apparently this story has made the rounds of the neighborhood and folks are on my side. The puppy showed up back here within an hour. So I have 8 dogs and 2 cats and mother. I slept all day today because I was so exhausted and the mold is killing me. But the puppies are really cute and I hope to find good homes for them. I gave the mother and a puppy to some friends who must have spent $500 getting ready for them. They are in hog heaven. My friend's husband was really worried about getting the dogs, but he spends his time hugging them and is clearly enthralled with them. It's nice to know that they got a really good home. Another puppy went to my mother's nurses aide. They were at the creek near their house and a neighbor begged her for the puppy. So she took another puppy after she gave him the first puppy. But I note dog sexism. My remaining dogs are females and no one wants a female. I would love to have a female since all of my dogs are male. Okay, I currently have 4 females and 4 males, but I'd like to reduce the dog population around the house. I am afraid that I will be stuck with 8 dogs and all this rain. Isn't life exciting?

Bitter I've been thinking of you. I picked up a little book at an airport, written by Sandra Brown. Just wanted a quick read on the plane. As I got into it, I found that the story took place at a little college/town in Northeast Oklahoma. (Wonder where that might be?) The herione was from OKC and the young college prof was from Tulsa. The book was one of Sandra Brown's first books, written many years ago, and just republished. It was obviously written during the mid to late 50s. It was pretty funny reading about the clothes and mores of that period. I hadn't read a Sandra Brown in years and forgot she tosses in lots of heat. (The ONLY redeeming quallity of this book.) I wonder if she is from Oklahoma and went to Northeastern?

So you still have the pups. None of my friends or me will have anything but a female dog. We just think they make better house dogs. I'm surprised that your males are more popular.

When you speak of the mold, is it your sinuses that are so uncomfortable? Have you heard Dr. Oz (Oprah's guy) talk about a NETI? You can get one at the drug store and it is a device used to clean out your sinuses with warm saline solution. I have one and use it from time to time when I wake up with congestion in the morning. Dr. Oz says that over time, our noses aren't able to filter out all the little particles that we inhale and that this NETI thing helps get your nose back in better working condition. For what it's worth.

Good to hear from you again!

Our vet, a guy who was once given the best vet in Toronto award by Toronto Life magazine, told us that male cats and female dogs tend to make superior pets. Bitches are generally less aggressive and are more tender towards their host families. If we were to have a dog we would definitely want a female. Neutering costs less than spaying but that is a one-time only expense.

And it is true that we have had generally better fun with our male cats than with the girls. At the present we are down to one prima donna household terrorist. She's not picky about her food, however.

Green, that's interesting about male cats being better pets. I've always had girls because I heard that males sometimes go around spraying the walls and stuff. Now that I think about it, our female cats were sometimes driven to tinkle somewhere other than the litter box if it was the least bit dirty. So there was no gain with girls in that regard , I guess.

I had a female Siamese cat once when I was single and living in a studio apartment. She would wait on the kitchen counter and jump on whoever walked past her. She had not been declawed in any way and it usually drew blood. I had a boyfriend who was afraid to come to my apartment. For some reason she liked to jump on his pants leg and slide down his leg, scratching all the way. Wreaked havoc on my love life! :rolleyes