Sunday, August 17, 2008

dog heaven


No. I do not have bad news to convey. Instead, I have just a short note.


We have been having some very hot weather in Oregon the last few days. I tried to avoid using the air conditioner -- on the theory I need to tough out the weather by acclimating to the heat. I soon surrendered and turned it on -- only to have the system blow up (literally) yesterday afternoo
n at the height of the heat.


Jiggs was beginning to show som
e symptoms of heat fatigue. So, off I went to Fred Meyer to buy a fan. My experience has been that American department stores are no better at stocking merchandise in emergencies than were the Russians under the soviet system (when every day was a crisis). But there was a large selection. I grabbed one.


While talking with the sales clerk about my unit blowing up, the woman behind me said: "Good." I looked at her and she continued: "Now maybe you rich people will know what we poor people go through every day." It made me wonder if we should all start rehearsing as extras in the second act of
Les Misérables.


Because the weather had not cooled down by noon today, I took Jiggs to the creek for a quick dip. I usually do not let him in because
his coat is a silt magnet. But today he had the time of his life.


He merely lies down in the water doing his best crocodile impression. But, as you can see from the picture at the top of this post, he is a happy crocodile -- perhaps, auditioning for the role of The Joker.


And after a nice swim, everybody enjoys a nap at the beach.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the heading. But after reading your post, I do admit the heading is quite appropriate. I have countless photos of my dog doing the exact same thing. Although she is a golden, she isn't much of a swimmer. Instead, dipping in water is one of her favourite activities (second to eating). Glad to see Jiggs enjoyed his afternoon!!

Steve Cotton said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steve Cotton said...

BoBo's Mom -- (I removed the last version of my response due to multiple spelling errors on my part. Can't even type tonight.)

Our dogs must share a gene or two. Jiggs loves the wayer, but he is not a swimmer. He likes walking along in rivers just up to his neck. Whenever the river bed gets deeper, he almost panics. But he will stretch out in the shallows for as long as I will let him stay.

Today I realized I had no photographs of him playing water dog. I fixed that -- as you can see.

He is still a bit put out at me. I rinsed him off with the hose when we got home. He is still wet -- and the temperature is now quite cool.

Anonymous said...

Ah, I could have been right in there with Jiggs to cool off this weekend. I am looking forward to the cooler temps this week.

Brenda Maas said...

A good way for Prof. Jiggs to cool off is to have a big basin of water on hand for him. Dogs like to step into the water and cool their feet.
Apparently (I was told this and did not research it)dogs sweat from their footpads, so having a basin of water for them to walk into will cool them down.
All I know is that the street dog here loves the basin that I put out for him to drink out of. First he drinks from it and then he walks through it a couple of times. Happy dog.

Steve Cotton said...

Jackie -- It looked good to me, as well. However, both of us had severely upset stomachs last night. I had to clean up two "gag-ups" for Jiggs. Neither of us had any interest in breakfast this morning.

Steve Cotton said...

Brenda -- Jiggs was a foot dipper for years. Then he stopped doing it. Who knows why they change their behavior? But I should try it again in this hot weather. Or, I should say, former hot weather. We are having rain with thunder as I write.

New Beginnings said...

He looks so so happy! I love the photos!

Steve Cotton said...

New Beginnings -- I thought you would enjoy the photographs. They captured his pure joy. Unfortunately, last night he got sick as a -- dog, I guess. Threw up twice. Ah, well. I will need to clean the carpet any way. He would envy Jackson at the beach.