The Way To Lilac's Heart Is Through Her Stomach... Sort Of

It's gotten rather hot here in the last week or two.  I'm usually the last one here in the house to be bothered by the heat.  Mr. Taleteller is much more likely to complain about the heat. 
Lilac, however, would be the first one to let us know that it's hot.  Like clockwork at 74 degrees, she begins panting like a steam-powered locomotive, and that's just her getting up to flop over on a different bed two steps away from her.  She's always been more bothered by any sort of weather than any of the other dogs.  Thunderstorms also send her into heavy breathing mode, however, those are also accompanied by much pacing on her part.  I attributed part of the reason she dislikes the heat so much to her coloring, she's almost entirely black with just the faintest of red brindle stripes and I know that tends to attract heat.  If we go out in the sun, I can lay my hand on her and feel the heat in just a matter of a few minutes.

Anyway, this week it has been hot, so we turned on the air conditioner.  Even with the air conditioner running, she has still been complaining about the heat -- loudly.  She even got up and barked at Mr. Taleteller about it the other day.

Me:  Lilac, what's the problem?

Lilac:  It's hot!  Too hot!  Too darned hot!

Me:  We're not starting a caberet here, so enough with the drama.

Lilac:  They're taking vacation in Hades from here right now!

Me:  We have the air conditioner on.  What more do you want?  I refuse to wear a parka in summer.

Bunny:  (from under her quilt)  I'll take a parka, please!

Lilac:  Enough out of you, whippersnapper!

Bunny:  Back to my nap, then!  At least I can dream of the beach.

Me:  See, it's not that hot in here.

Lilac:  Hmph!  She's a puppy!  What does she know?

Mr. Taleteller:  Here, I've got something for you, old lady!

He carries in a fan and plugs it in.  After that, he went over and got her a pair of dog beds and laid them in front of the fan, fluffing them up and leaving them for her.  She went over and flopped down, turning so her belly was recieving the arctic blast that was being circulated from the vent and over her body.  She gave a look of pure bliss before drifting off to dreamland.  For the moment, we seem to have made her happy!

Heatwave

Bunny here, with my weekend update.

Mom and Dad spent a lot of time Friday and Saturday doing things that quite frankly, didn't have much to do with me.  Friday Dad took Mom to Chicago for her birthday trip.  Saturday they were busy pouring concrete to fix the sidewalk from where it got torn up to fix that broken pipe last Fall.  After that, they were busy weeding and planting flowers and vegetables.  I was lucky to get a little time to go out an snoopervise the planting!

So, on Sunday, I had high hopes that there would finally be some me time.  As it turns out, the heatwave hit on Sunday and it was really hot.  I settled in for a lazy Sunday, figuring I was going to have to just be happy to have time at home with my people.

Imagine my surprise when Mom got up and went outside for a few minutes and Dad soon followed.  She came back inside and got a different collar for me and Dad got out the long leash.  I was curious about what was going on.  We went outside and there was the pool all ready for me to hop in!

At first, I had to taste test the water.  That part is very important.  Then, I had to check and make sure that it was the right temperature with a toe check.  After that, I finally got in and enjoyed it some more.  Of course, when it's over, you need to make sure you get properly dried off!

The fun just kept going, too!  Blueberry and Lilac came out, but neither of them enjoy it like I do.  Plus, it was pretty hot.  After we got tired of the pool, we went inside and enjoyed a nice naked afternoon nap with no collars on.  Finally, at the end of the day, we enjoyed Frosty Paws!  Sunday turned out to be a pretty good day after all!