So much to tell! A lot has happened since my last entry so I guess this one will be on the longer side. I need to cover:

1. Bee sting
   
2. Dog search
   
3. Weekend
   
4. Other weirdness
   

So, Bee Sting.
Well I guess I should be more specific and say "yellow jacket sting." Friday my foot still really hurt and was swollen. Geesh. 48 hours later! I called my acupuncturist and he recommended a homeopathic treatment called "apis mellifica." Like all homeopathic remedies, the idea is to treat yourself with the problem itself. So "apis mellifica" is bee venom but used to treat insect stings and bites. I left work to go get that from the health food store. I also saw Dr. Nicole (chiropractor) about other stuff and she iced my foot for about 40 minutes and then put some tincture on it. That afternoon my foot started to feel better. Was it the Zyrtec? The Apis Mellifica? The ice? Time? I guess the problem with using so many remedies is that it is nearly impossible to know for certain which one(s) helped. I'm just glad the swelling is down. Dr. Nicole advised I not run or at least not go for more than 30 minutes. So my intention was to try a 30 minute run today but I didn't quite get around to it. Therefore I feel squishy.

So, Dog Search.
I saw an ad for a cute beagle mix on Craigslist. She is only 2 and only 30 lbs so she is smaller and younger than what I was thinking. Not wanting to fixate on just this one dog, I decided I should go check out the competition. Yesterday Janet & I went to all three dog shelters in SB. All I wanted to find was a non-puppy female who is NOT a pitbull, rottweiler, or doberman (my renter's insurance excludes those breeds) and who is good with dogs, kids of all ages and people. I didn't think I was being too picky. Oh, and I wouldn't take a tiny yappy thing. Most of the dogs at the shelters are pitbull mixes. There are also more males than females at the shelters. And most of the dogs were not good with kids of all ages. One whom I had become attached to based on her online description (a 5 year 50 lb shepherd/australian mix) seemed really sweet when I met her. The shelter folks told me that she could handle a house with another dog, but that she doesn't like being around lots of dogs so I couldn't take her to the dog park. That is when I realized that I have certain things I do with Shiva and I need a dog that will fit into my life. I like taking Shiva to dog parks and the beach. I would want Dog 2 to be as easy-going.

The Beagle mix, Mona, lives with a foster family in SD. Someone from the "Beagle Brigade" (yes, I'm serious) brought her up to SB for me to meet her (and the driver also wanted to go to a family reunion in SB so he wasn't just coming up here to meet me). Shiva and Mona met this morning and they got along fabulously. I didn't know how Shiva would react and everyone says that dogs should meet on neutral turf. Well, Mona came here and Shiva, of course, was not territorial at all. They wrestled and played. Mona is a sweetie. She seems like she might be as easy-going as Shiva. She is a goofy girl - a beagle mixed with basset hound and something else. This means her coloring and face are beagle, but her body is a little too long. According to her companion, she is not a yappy or crooning dog. I do hope he was being straight with me. I hope he wasn't telling me what I want to hear. I think that typically breed rescue people really want to find the right home for the dog so hopefully he answered honestly to my various questions. I have mixed emotions. Will Shiva be okay with sharing me with another dog? I think so. And I think he will like the canine company. While I was thinking of a larger dog, there are things to be said for having only 140 lbs of dog instead of 200! Mona and her driver went back to SD and I think there might be another family that is going to meet Mona. I didn't commit yet. I need to some time this week. My friend Joe asked me why I want a 2nd dog. I'm not sure I can answer that. I know Kirstin would prefer I not even have one.

So the weekend.
I meant to do work this weekend. I have so much I should have done like work on handouts for LASA or write my SALALM article.... Instead I spent yesterday going to see dogs. Today I was going to Get Stuff Done but instead I lounged around. Then I went to see the movie Becoming Jane and we got in for free! Cool.

So - other weirdness.
What the hell? Kirstin left me a strange message that said, "I'm on my way to the airport cuz [boyfriend] and I are leaving for Panama. The flight isn't until late so call me if you have any suggestions for Panama." Panama? Who the f*ck goes to Panama? And on a whim? It was so bizarre. Like I said, Kirstin would prefer I not have a dog at all. She'll shit if I get a 2nd one!

Really - I thought maybe I'd have palpitations after getting STUNG BY A BEE! Let me tell you how my day started -

I was walking Shiva and wearing a pair of Tevas. Just a stroll around the block on the sidewalk. Typical morning. All of the sudden I felt pain in my right foot and I said "F*ck" and looked down and saw a bee stinging the crap out of me. It looked like it was almost trapped under the strap and just taking it out on my foot. I started repeating "f*ck f*ck f*ck" and shaking my foot to get rid of the damn thing. Shiva heard me swearing and he looked at me all apologetically as if I were reprimanding him. I think when I shook my foot I might have even kicked poor Shivster. Then HE gets stung and he is so confused. He thought he was in trouble -- I'm yelling, swearing, kicking him and then he feels a sharp pain in his leg. The poor kid. He was so traumatized! I saw that there were more bees or yellow jackets (I'm not sure what they were) around the sidewalk. So I dropped Shiva's leash, I ran out to the street and yelled "Run, Shiva, run!" We both took off like some cartoon bears after raiding the honeycomb. I think it probably was comical except for the fact that my foot (it stung the middle toe on my right foot) hurt like hell and Shiva kept stopping to try to comfort his leg.

We got home and Gary removed the stinger from my toe and I removed the stinger from Shiva's leg. The stingers were straight (I think honey bees have hooked ones). Do yellow jackets lose their stinger when they sting? Does that mean that the bastards that stung us died for doing so? Yay! That would be poetic justice.

I also took a Benadryl and gave one to Shiva. Here was my dilemma and I fully recognize that hypochondria runs in my family -- I can't tell you the number of times my brother has thought he's having a heart attack (could be the drugs?) or a brain tumor. But I had a real dilemma. The last time I was stung was in 1998 or 1999 when I was in library school. I was sitting in front of the library at UIUC and the damn thing stung me through my skirt! It was a yellow jacket that time. 48 hours later when I went to the UIUC Health Center the absolutely crazy dr I saw measured the red circle around the sting (7 cm diameter) and the pink circle embracing that one (don't remember how freakin huge that was) and she decided it was an allergic reaction. She gave me Prednisone and told me one of the side effects was "temporary psychosis" (I shit you not. I did find myself crying during Jeopardy while on Prednisone so I think she was spot on with that one). I told her that I had been stung before as a kid and never had a reaction so therefore I with my fat medical degree didn't think it could be an allergy. She countered that each time one gets stung the reaction is worse (that sucks) and therefore it could be that I was indeed developing an allergy. She said that this time the reaction was localized but that future stings could very well lead to systemic reactions. Nice. She prescribed an Epipen and cautioned me to carry it whenever outside. Her advice if I was ever stung again - Benadryl, then Epipen, then Dr. Yay! So, a couple years after that incident I'm in PA and my insurance was pretty damn good so I actually had an allergist(!). I told him that story and he, without having seen any of the reaction, decided it sounded more like an infection. He refused to renew my Epipen prescription stating that many people do themselves more damage than good with one of those.

So, am I allergic or not? This is the question I had this morning as I watched my toe swell up. I felt a bit woozy -- was that an allergic reaction or just the fact that Benadryl made my world a little "bendy"? I watched the pinkness spread to the top of my foot. Uh oh. Well, so far it hasn't spread beyond that so I think I'm okay. The sting was 11 hours ago and I'm not sure how long it is supposed to throb but I'm just keeping an eye on the color. So far no need to amputate.

I don't have "Flight of the Bumblebee" on my iPod but I did listen to "Como abeja al panal" while writing this. It only seemed appropriate.

Now that I'm done putting together the brief powerpoint presentation I'm giving my colleagues on my Rare Books School experience, I'll head home.