Hot, hot, hot

Every summer, we invariably have a run of so-hot days; days that make me wonder why it is I haven't yet sold a kidney so that we can put central air conditioning in the house. We live in Southern California, I think at those moments. Not having central air is probably a crime. Certainly, I expect CPS on my doorstep any moment. My priorities are clearly screwed up, what with this whole focus on feeding and clothing my kids. I should be sitting in an empty house with an empty fridge and an arctic wind blowing through. Or at least that's what I dream about each night as I go to sleep in my second-story bedroom, where all the hot air goes to die, and the wall air conditioner actually seems to roll its eyes at me, saying, "You REALLY think I'm going to be able to do much good in this heat? Think again, sister!"

In the past, during heat waves like this, I've mostly focused on the miserableness of the human inhabitants of our house. Benni and Buttons, our cats, are very good at finding shady cool spots outside, and wait impatiently at the door each and every summer morning so that they can get to said spots before the sun gets too high in the sky. Buddy the guinea pig gets a frozen liter bottle of water put in his cage each warm day, which acts like his own personal air conditioner.

But this year, we have Snug. And Snug--being not pure Labrador--is not totally on board with the whole getting wet thing, although he will now wade in the kiddy pool I blow up and fill every weekend, and he will stand still and let us scoop water over him, so that helps.

Still, despite the heat, he has all this puppy energy to get out--and standing by a pool doesn't do the trick. So, late this afternoon, during a brief spell where clouds appeared in the sky and the temps dropped below 100, I decided to take him for a brief walk. He was overjoyed, as was I, to get out of the house and to feel a bit of a breeze in our faces.

But Mother Nature wasn't going to make it that easy for me. The clouds disappeared about three-quarters of the way through our walk, just as we began the final, three-block uphill portion, from which there is no escape. By the time we got home, I was soaked. And Snug...well, let's just say that Snug couldn't decide whether to collapse on the floor or drink his weight in water, so he decided to try to do both at once.



Hey, maybe Animal Control can hitch a ride over here with the folks from Child Protective Services. I just hope their car is air conditioned.