July 2003

“I love grass. I don’t know why. It’s pokey sometimes but I love how it smells and I love how it feels as I roll around on it. Sometimes there is a little bit of water on it that gets my paws all wet and makes the ground squishy. I think that’s so cool! Grass is such the best thing ever that I don’t mind the little bugs that live on it. I don’t even mind that the other dogs always want to smell the grass that I’m on. I just wish grass wasn’t so itchy. When I get in to smell the grass, my eyes start to water and itch. Missy does not like that.

One day, my eyes were so itchy I couldn’t stop scratching them. I scratched and scratched. My eyes were in such pain. Missy said they were ‘red and scabby’ so she took me to see a doctor. Dr. Buchholz rinsed out my eyes and told Missy that I am allergic to grass. Thanks to that doctor, my life and love affair with grass has drastically altered.

Do you know what it’s like to be walked on beautiful green grass without being allowed to roll around in it? It is torture! And now, every time we go back home, Missy passes these cold, smelly, wet things on me and under my paws that leave me smelling like lavender. I do not appreciate it. Not at all. Did I forget to mention the eye drops? Ugh! I have to get these oily drops put in my eyes twice a day. With all that, the least Missy can do is let me roll around in the grass, right? Life is so unfair. Allergies are so unfair. None of the other dogs are allergic to grass. Grrrr….but I do have to say, the scratches in my eyes sort of, kinda, in the smallest sense of the word, damaged my vision. I mean, I can kinda see. It’s just sort of blurry. So maybe it is better that I stay away from rolling around in the grass for a while. After all, grass seems to hurt me more than it loves me. Oh, but how I love the squishiness of grass.”