Heatstroke

... almost killed Shadow on Sunday. He's hashed with me though 5 summers now on much longer runs than Sunday's w/o a problem. 2nd half of the hash was only about 3 miles but it was 100 degrees with no shade. He started the classic "drunken walk" and collapsed. I got him to shade and gave him what water I had. Then I carried him to a water hydrant & got his core temp down. Glad I remembered what I read in that old SOF article - it saved his life.

After about 20 minutes he quit panting but his hind legs were extended and stiff, and they hurt like hell if I touched them. We got him into some AC and he was coming around but couldn't use his back legs so we got him to the ER. They started some phys therapy on him and I know it hurt like hell cause we could hear him howling. He apparantly had enough of that shit & got up on his own; much to our relief. They kept him overnight. The vet bill was pretty steep; wiped out the donation I'd been saving for B. Hussain Obama.

In other news I got a new (old) bow, Mathews Switchback. Gotta get another cam for it because the draw length's too long but I shot it anyway last night. Quite a bit different feel from my Browning, not better or worse, just different. It's wicked accurate and quiet. I predict it will be involved in the deaths of many animals.