Hot Dogs...

I always forget about August and how damn hot it gets here in East Tennessee. Right now it is 96 degrees (but feels like 101...oh the joy!). For once, my office is not cold.

I was walking across campus the other day, thinking about the heat. I then started thinking about when I was a student here and lived in the dorm. Massey was one of the few dorms still without air conditioning. We relied on oscillating fans, open windows and open doors, hoping to catch a bit of a breeze. The day that was the worst was always the day we moved into the dorms (which is right around the corner for Fall semester).

It is even too hot for my hummingbirds. The front feeder is still completely full from when I filled it up 2 days ago! Just last week they were draining it in under 24 hours. Over the weekend I was trying to get a picture of one of the hummers in my Rose of Sharon tree (yeah yeah Kim, old I know) however I became bored rather quickly due to the lack of birds. So instead I took pictures of the dogs, who were following me around the yard.

This is Newt. He is a chocolate lab that we adopted from my sister-in-law. He is the sweetest dog in the world, unless you are an unknown person coming up our driveway. I had to have my Avon shipments sent to my mom's house since it was too much of a risk to have the UPS guy at my house every two weeks. He dealt with the dogs well, tossing treats while quickly setting my boxes just outside his truck but I didn't want to take the chance. Oh and then there was the time I was home during the week and Meter Reader Guy came by. I peeked out to see him with a closed push button umbrella in between him and the dogs, finger on the trigger, ready to create a shield. Man I'm glad I don't have his job, reading meters in the country.





And this is Hank, our most obnoxious Blue Heeler (or Australian Cattledog). He is so smart yet so dumb it is amazing. He will play fetch for hours on end even if he is too tired to stand, he will force himself to continue playing. He loves rolling in fresh cow manure (yippee!) and barking at the birds in the sky (usually buzzards). He is terrified of thunder but not scared of a raccoon. He loves biting the water as it comes out of the hose and when my husband is outside, the dog is velcroed to his side. He has the most annoying shrill bark and he barks a lot. But look at that grin!