Fennec Fox Foundling Society

Good morning from Doha! Air quality is better here but it is still hot. How hot, you ask? Somewhere between 107-112 most days and in July, I'm told, it will get up to 120. This is not as bad as it sounds. One's ability to manage heat is psychological, I think. You know it will be hot here, so your organs turn into camel organs and you drink a ton of water without realizing it you're doing it and somehow manage not to shrivel when walking to the cafeteria, etc. Also, while humid because of the Gulf, it's not quite as humid as NJ or Richmond or...the world capital of humidity, Charleston. Instead what we've been dealing with along with the heat is crazy wind and minor sandstorms. Sand gets into everything, wind pushes your car across the road, and howls through the holes in the VCU building like chorus of deranged desert ghosts. I know the wind can drive a person insane, and I'm starting to wonder if that's an affliction in the Gulf like it is in the Mediterranean.

Walking to get some pizza yesterday, I forgot my scarf and sunglasses. This was a problem because sand was getting into my nose, my ears, my eyes. It was like walking blind, so I had to turn around and walk backwards. Then I passed someone on the sidewalk who was also walking backwards! I'm glad I didn't run into him! Anyway, experiences like this make you realize that these get-ups,

are really cultural, rather than faith-based. Not that I'm going to suit up in crazy bedouin face masks next time I head out to the desert, I'm just saying.

Anyway, if you know me at all, you know I'm crazy about the sun and the heat and the summer, and I do sort of miss these things, because you can't be outside all that much here. The few minutes I can manage each day are worth it. And when it's just too awful to even open the door, I just hang out with Ralph and we talk about winds:


Yesterday, I went with Lesley to the Doha Vet Clinic while she picked up some catfood. Problem. There were so many free kittens and they were so cute!! A family of little half persians/half desert cats who shrieked when we put them back into their cages and climbed up and reached their tiny paws out to us. Ahhhh! How do you resist? But I did. I can't cheat on Bean and bring home an adorable baby without her being there to approve of it. It was so hard, but the right decision. I don't want 2 cats.

I'm not sure I would be so strong if this guy happened to be there:
The only things preventing me from adopting a saluki are travel and the fact that my building forbids dogs. I'm in love.

Then something crazy happened at the clinic. Two Qatari men brought in a desert fox. It was so frail and terrified--they had bought him off the internet and he was really sick. The vet doesn't treat wild animals, but they gave the dudes some medicine, yelled at them, and told them to release him when he was better. I can't get that poor thing's eyes out of my mind, he looked so defeated, like he just wanted to die. But still so beautiful. I've always wanted a pet fennec fox, but not anymore. Anyway, please hope he makes a recovery and his owners are tormented by guilty conscience and set him free so he can have a full life of hunting scorpions and running on the dunes and meeting a lady fennec fox who makes him forget his awful time in captivity.