Differences in Dealing with Heat

It's funny how we're all different. Even our Labs.

Take summer heat, for example. After a delightfully cool spring, it's starting to feel like summer here in SE Pennsylvania. We're hitting temps in the 80s most every day now, coupled with full sun and little cloud cover. It's glorious, but feels hot compared to our below-average-temperature spring.

Each of the dogs is responding to our recent heat wave differently.

Baxter curls up on the couch or stretches out on the brick floor and looks at me as if to say, "What? Go outside? You've got to be kidding!" Baxter just avoids heat all together.

Ridge will brave the heat, but searches out cool places in the shade where he can find reprieve. Smart boy.


Then there are Elsie and Kenya, both of whom seem to love the heat.

Elsie soaks it up, lying in the sun every chance she gets, even on the hottest days of the year. She can nap in (and through) blazing temperatures with just a hint of panting. It doesn't seem to stress her at all.

Kenya plows through life oblivious to its challenges. Who cares about heat? It's just another opportunity to frolic.

And when the girls need cold-water-refreshment, Elsie gently tastes and sips what she needs.

Kenya plunges right in, soaking her face and everything near her in the process.

I've never understood "beach" people: the ones who thrive on heat, humidity, salt water, and icky sticky sand. I've also never understood people who thrive in the "heat" of life--you know the kind, those rare individuals who soak up and blossom during times of stress.

I'm more like Baxter. Go out in the heat? Voluntarily? You've got to be kidding! Just let me curl up here on the couch and maybe it will all go away.

Sometimes it doesn't just go away, however, and I have to brave hotter-than-average circumstances. And when I do enter these heat-filled times, I tend to stay in the sun too long, get burned, and then need a good Kenya-like soaking to refresh my soul.

I wish I were more like Ridge (who opts for shady places, even though he's out in the summer weather) or Elsie (who sips of refreshment as she needs to, but still thrives in heat).

But, nooooooo...I have to be like Kenya and Baxter, my all-or-nothing kids.

I suppose there's something to be said for that, too, though.

Heck, if I'm going to get wet anyway, I may as well get soaked. Eh?

'Til next time,
Joan