Jolie here – wait until you hear my summer story. The last few weeks have not been fun here at the DogDaz Zoo. Everyone is doing OK, but we are suffering through terrible summer lightening storms (almost every day), and our house took a lightening strike the afternoon/evening of July 14. Mom says thankfully we did not burn to the ground, so everything else is just a nausance. (Mom lost her home to fire when she was 10, so she is really freaked about house fires.)
The power went out before dinner, but the generator kicked in and everything seemed to be cruising along on back-up power. A few hours after dinner, we were in the living room watching TV when there was a bolt of lighening right outside the big window. Mom thought it hit ‘Big Tree’ in the back, but there was no fire. I ran into my hiding place in Mom’s office and Bear jumped into her lap. Then everything changed. The generator was still on but the TVs were dead, the air conditioning was not working, and everything seemed to move in slow motion for a while.
None of this is supposed to happen because we have this whole house generator and it had days of propane in the tank. We were all confused about why the AC and TV were not working. It took 48 hours before the electric company came to fix the lines which are right outside Mom’s office window. They came and then the crews left, and then they would come back, and there were lots of trucks with flying service people. It took a long time to get electricity back.
Of course, these had to be some of the hottest days of the summer so far. It felt like 104 outside, and almost the same in the house. This was no fun. You can see the thermometer in Mom’s office says that it is 91 outside and 90 inside. Did I say this was NOT FUN!!!
Jolie Day Napping
Mini Day Napping
Because Mom works remotely she had to go to K8’s to teach her class. She did have help from Henry and Freddie, her grandcats. She could not bring us because the cats do not know dogs and Mom was worried that they would be mean to us. It was all very chaotic.
Sadly, when the power came back on, many things didn’t. Mom has something called a whole house surge protector on the power system coming from the electric company (thanks to V’s smart thinking) that was supposed to protect us from all this disruption. But still, the surge fried the board on the new heat pump/air conditioning system. It burned up the main contol unit for the fiber optic internet/cable system; that burned up the DVR and all the little boxes that controls the cable in each of the rooms, and 2 TVs, the big one and the one in Stella’s room (she likes Animal Planet), and the landline home phone (that Mom uses for something called faxes). It burned up the electric panel on the range, the jelly fish aquirium, and a whole bunch of lights and odd stuff. Thankfully, Mom recently had a GFI special switch installed in the electric box for the pool. Otherwise, she thinks the pump would have fried too. At least something worked!
How hot was it? It was so hot, that one night Mom took us to a hotel because we were dying from the heat, but they wanted lots of money for 2 dogs, so we all stayed in the car air conditioning instead in the driveway to try not to fry our little brains. Here are some videos of us in Mom’s car.
The electric company people came and said their surge protector worked fine and that it was not from the street power. We took a lightening ground strike. Mom and I looked but we did not find any burned spots near the house, so we don’t know what actually got hit. She had a second surger protector installed the other day in the electric box in the house just to be double safe and bought a whole bunch of new surge protectors for all the house equipment. We have new TVs (she said it is a royal pain to set up all these streaming services). The AC people were able to get a new circuit board after 3 days, and it took a long time for the house to regain its cool. It is taking Mom and V much longer however.
Almost everything has been replaced except the oven (but who needs to cook in the summer).
Make sure your humans ground your dog house and unplug important things in a storm. How was your week?
I know that we don’t get spring anymore in the mid-Atlantic, but it seems like we went straight from freezing to boiling in one day. They say we are under something called a ‘heat dome’ this week and that the temperature will be hot-hot-hot. Mom thinks it is best to stay inside. We like to nap in the warm grass in the sunshine but she doesn’t let us do that for more than a few minutes at a time. She is especially afraid that I will get a sunburn because I have a short haircut and my skin is exposed. But even Bearnard, the black fur monster, loves to lay in the sun. Doesn’t he get hot?
K8 caught some pictures of me talking to Mom in her office. I like to get on the ottoman, right behind her desk chair, and paw at her to pay attention to me. Beary would not be so bold. I have to do it for the both of us. “Please, Mom. Stop what you are doing and play with us. Or better, give us cookies!!”
The summer is now upon us, as we have passed the Summer Solistice this week. These long days are confusing, as I want to go to bed but it is still light out. And, it is so hot in the mornings, that Mom has to walk us way early so our paws don’t burn. And also because we littles over heat qiuckly. The other day she had to carry me twice because I just didn’t want to walk any more. I am a delicate flower. Bearnard is too, but he refuses to admit it. When he gets home from a walk he drinks a whole bowl of water. Me? I just eat more cookies.
Why do dogs like to lie in the hot hot summer sun? This HEAT DOME is terrible. We walk at 6:00 in the morning before the air and pavement get paw-burning hot. Mom said that the pavement is very hot on paws even if it is only in the high 70s. Humans should put their hands on the ground for 5 seconds to see how it feels to them before taking us on a walk.
With the rising sun behind us, we still monitor what is happening on the street early in the day. Mom does not let us stay out too long later on because it is really bad and we have trouble breathing in the heat.
Ducklings in the pool; they were too little to get out.
Mom let these ducklings swim in the big pool, so why can’t we?
Happy Solstice – How are you staying cool? (Or Warm if this is your winter :-))
We had delayed our Christmas holiday celebration until last weekend because Peanut had COVID. She is doing OK now. The dogs finally got to play with their presents. Louise loves squeaky toys and she got a Lambchop stuffy. But she was not able to bite down on it because of the tumor*. She was frustrated. I did not realize that this would happen.
Sofie decided, heck with that, if this thing is going to upset Louise, I am going to eat its face off! Sometimes you just have to destroy a stuffy for your sister.
*Louise has Canine Acanthomatos Ambleoblastoma. If you want to learn more you can find info in our CAA FaceBook Group which tells all about it and follows Louise’s story.
It seems that we are always having to make goo-goo eyes at Mom these days to get Second Supper. Why doesn’t she just give it to us immediately without our having to line up and make all kinds of unearthly noises and faces? Charles is the worst. He sounds like an Ewok from that Star movie. Or some animal dying. Me, well, I just whine and whine and whine until she gives in. How can anyone resist my smile? – Sofie
So far, summer is ridiculously hot. You try wearing a fur coat all year. I hear even Alaska is burning up. Thank goodness for air conditioning. Stay cool, pups! Have a beautiful Black and White Sunday.
Almost everything has been replaced except the oven (but who needs to cook in the summer).
DogDaz Zoo 