Sebastian the Wonder/Travel Dog

You Will Lead A Dog's Life If You Take A Pet While Traveling

If you are up in some snow-bound state, you may just love it. Or you may be looking out at the two feet of new fallen snow, on top of the 6 feet you already have, and hold that hot cup of coffee with both hands and think, "Man, I'm freezing my keester off!"

That's why we decided to spend the winter in a warmer climate this year. That's a choice you can make when you're a traveling health care professional. My wife, the Traveler, works as an occupational therapy assistant and we travel the U.S., taking on different assignments in almost what ever state she wants to work.

And what do I do, you may ask? Since I am not a trained health care professional, I grab what jobs I can, which are few, and try to work the internet.

This past weekend was gorgeous. It could have maybe been a few degrees warmer, but it was still wonderful. We are in the Pensacola area of Florida, and up until last week, it was really a courtesy to call it Florida. It's really Southern Alabama, and while not as cold as farther north, it still gets pretty chilly, especially in the morning.

Navarre Beach is called "Florida's Best Kept Secret." I didn't make that up. It's on the sign when you enter the town. But I believe it.

On Sunday my wife and I hit the beach at Navarre and the scenic beauty was postcard picture perfect. The sand was fine and looked like snow, the ocean was a clear aqua marine darkening to deep blue as it went away from shore and the sun was a welcome sight in this part of Western Florida that experiences more of the four seasons than they do farther South.

We have been in the area since mid-January and for the most part it has been cool, cloudy and rainy, with intermittent bouts of frost.

Some of you are probably saying, "Poor baby," in a very unsympathetic tone. You're the ones freezing you keesters off. But we were almost 500 miles farther south prior to this assignment in Avon Park, a small town about 70 miles south of Orlando, right about in the middle of the state.

It was great! High 70s, low 80s in December, surrounded by orange, grapefruit and tangerine groves. The place we were staying at was right on a lake. I walked out to the orange trees and picked oranges that tasted as sweet as sugar. I noticed when I went shopping at the Wal-Mart there that the store had oranges from South Africa. Why would anyone buy them when the town is surrounded by orange groves? Many homes have trees with the lush fruit growing in their yards.

So the transition from Avon Park to Pensacola was a drastic change. They plant a few scrawny palm trees up here only because it's Florida and people expect to see them. They don't see to do well. I noticed that the temperature was usually about 8 to 15 degrees cooler than farther south. Not good, since we didn't bring any winter clothing with us. Afterall, we were going to be in Florida for the winter. I heard more than one visitor to the Pensacola area say something like, "This Florida! Why is it so cold?" I didn't have the heart to tell her it's really southern Alabama.

Why did we go Western Florida, you might ask, knowing that it had cooler temperatures? Good question. We have a dog. Sebastian the Wonder/Travel Dog. He's part Bassett Hound and part something else. He was a pound puppy when we got him for our daughters. But they have grown up and moved away, but we still have the dog.

When we decided to travel we couldn't bring ourselves to get rid of the dog. Most people seem to want a puppy and he was fully grown. He 's now about 7 years old.

For the health care professional who decides to hire on to a staffing company for travel assignments, I urge you to not take an animal with you. If you do make it something really small, weighing only about 5 pounds. That way you can always hide it under your shirt if you have to.

We have run into more discrimination with our dog than I would have though possible. It is extremely difficult to find a place to live.

Most staffing company's will do the finding of a place to live for you, but it will not always be what you would like. They will tell you they find a safe place close to where you will work. But that doesn't always happen, particularly if you have a pet.

And places that take a pet charge you extortionist prices such as an extra $25 a month for the pet and pet deposit that can range from $300 to $500 that is not refundable! Moreover, the staffing company will not pay the pet deposit, nor the extra fee for the dog. That will come out of your pocket.

And most places put a 35 pound limit or less on the pet. Our dog's head weighs that much. However, I may not like it, but I understand why apartment rentals do this. I know from having had a cleaning business for a while that people live worse than their animals, and pet owners as a whole have brought this on themselves. I personally see to it that Sebastian gets a bath once a month and gets regular flea and tick treatments. And he gets his annual shots. He actually gets better medical treatment than I do.

But do yourselves a favor. Don't take an animal with you while traveling. You will get better, luxury places to live and it will be easier for the staffing company to find housing for you. That's how we ended up here in Western Florida.

We wanted the Tampa Bay area after Avon Park, which was actually cut short after only 8 weeks of a 13 week assignment. Every where we have been prior to this has asked Carol to extend for a short time and we thought this would be the case also.

But they hired a permanent employee and cut the contract early. My wife's staffing company said there were no openings in the Tampa Bay area - that they had contracts for. There were openings, they just didn't have the contracts and were apparently not interested in trying to get any. However, they did have an opening in Pensacola and there was a small house with a garage they could get for us in the nearby town of Milton and they would take the dog.

That settled it. We decided to go to Pensacola. It's kind of funny. The day after the Traveler agreed to take the assignment, the house was rented the day before. It seems the owner was tired of waiting for the staffing company to get a sucker, I mean a traveler, in the area and rented it. It seems we were a victim of the ol' bait and switch ploy.

More next time. Here's the answer to last week's puzzle question. Because air moves in layers. Rain often occurs when a higher warm air mass overwhelms a cool, dry air mass at ground level. Humidity is measured at ground level and when the rain from the higher layer falls through the dry air layer, the humidity on the surface rises, but need not rise to 100 percent. In the reverse, when the moist layer is below the high pressure system, the humidity can reach 100 percent on the surface even if the uppper air layer is dry. (Puzzles supplied by Imponderables, the Solution to the Mysteries of Everyday Life, by David Feldman)

Think about this for next time:Why do Wintergreen Life Savers sparkle in the dark when you bite into them?

Happy Trails, 'til next time, travelers!