Whew! Who turned up the heat?!?!

Ok. For starters, it is NOT supposed to be 98 with a heat index of 103 in May. Or ever, for that matter. But definitely not in May.

How am I supposed to keep my flowers alive if it's going to be this hot this soon?!?!

And how will I survive in my non-air-conditioned classroom in August if this craziness keeps up?!?!

Needless to say, very little of my day was spent in the great outdoors. Went to church, had some Panera for lunch (yum!), stalked caught up on a few blogs, took Charlie to PetSmart to get his talons claws trimmed, cooked out with Matthew's parents, parked back at my computer and listened to some tunes.

Pretty uneventful.

Except for Charlie's trip to PetSmart.

We got Charlie from the animal shelter a few years ago. We don't really know anything about his past (though we've heard a rumor that he lived on a farm for a while), but he's got some issues. Don't get me wrong, he's the sweetest dog ever. Super cuddler. (Is that a word? It should be.)

But yeah, issues.

When he meets someone new, he FREAKS out. Like howling, barking, cowering, you name it. And don't even THINK about trying to pet him--he'll pee on you. He's not agressive; I've never seen him even think about biting someone (Ok, there was that one time when he nipped at me, but in his defense, I was trying to put a sweater on him. And he wasn't going for blood. He just didn't want to wear that sweater.) Give him 20 minutes to get used to the idea of you, and he'll be curled up on your lap, sound asleep.

Needless to say, a trip to PetSmart is always interesting. First of all, I doubt that any dog enjoys getting his nails trimmed, add in Charlie's issues, and you're in for a wild ride.



As soon as we got to the back of the store, he knew he had been tricked. And he was NOT having it. We got him into the grooming room, and he FREAKED OUT. No, I'm serious. Total meltdown. Normally, he'll try to pull away from the door, cower a little, and maybe even bark. Not today. That dog was doing flips (I mean it, LITERALLY doing flips) trying to pull away from that door. He was pulling so hard against the leash that he almost pulled his collar off of his head. When the poor groomer came around the counter to get him, he peed. In PetSmart.

After she finally CARRIED Charlie away, Matt and I fled to wander the store. You see, Charlie likes to put on a show when we're around. We've been told that he's perfectly fine when we're not in the room. Weirdo.

I'm wanting to take Charlie to the park to walk some this summer, but I hate riding in the car with him. You see, Charlie thinks he should always be able to sit on your lap in the car. Even when you're driving. And he wants to stand and look out the window. Yeah. Not gonna work for me.

So while crazy dog is getting his nails done, I decided to find a doggie seat belt for my car. You know, so I could strap him in and actually drive the car. I found one that looked promising and grabbed Charlie a giant turkey leg while Matt picked him up from grooming.

We get to the car to discover that I got the wrong size of seat belt. Oops. One exchange later, and we had Charlie all strapped in. Off we went to Matt's parents. Halfway there, Charlie decided he wanted to look out the window. Charlie became one giant knot. Bad news. After unhooking him, he crawled back into the front seat and onto my lap.

Dog: 1 Seat belt: 0

After dinner, we tried Round 2 with the seat belt. Things were going beautifully for a mile or so. He got tangled up once, but actually figured out how to undo it this time. He was looking quite handsome as we drove along.

And then, something changed. Suddenly, he was fighting with it, like he had gotten tangled up again. 

Nope. No such luck.

Did I mention that Charlie is a bit of an escape artist?

Uh, yeah. That would be his harness. The harness that he escaped from. The harness that he escaped from  while the car was MOVING. 

Dog: 2 Seat Belt: 0

I'm going to have to tinker with that seat belt a bit. Sigh.

He did enjoy that turkey leg though. Even if he couldn't fit the whole thing in his mouth.

By the way, I've decided that I'm going to give away a new resource that I've been working on when I hit 50 followers!!! Woot!

So spread the word (and I'll try to finish it up ASAP!) so that you can get a freebie! 

I'm super excited about it (and it's pretty CUTE too, if you ask me!)

Have a wonderful Memorial Day (and don't eat too much food at those cookouts!)