Dog days at home

Remember when I told you that our dog Ginger hated to come inside the house and we had to make her do it to escape the heat? Well, she's quickly come to appreciate air conditioning and now we have to make her go back outside at night! What a change!

Both of the dogs have decided that they love being indoors, and they've mostly been good as gold when they're in here. Unfortunately, Marco the bird is NOT happy with this arrangement because he has to stay in his cage all day (except for a few minutes here and there when I close off the back half of the house where the dogs like to nap) until we put them back out for the night. It's been a real pain, confining him to his cage so much because he screams and screeches with frustration. I don't blame him, either. But we don't dare trust the dogs with him, as they've both been known to catch and kill squirrels in the past. And Marco wouldn't know any better but to fly right up to them with his typical parrot cockiness. This is the main reason the dogs have always lived in the garage, laundry room, and backyard, to ensure Marco's safety....but it's too darn hot for that right now, so we all have to manage the best we can. The dogs are getting terribly spoiled, though.

Speaking of spoiled (and entitled) let me tell you what Ginger did on the 4th of July. I had cooked a special meal to mark the holiday and to have a small break from my diet. We had fried chicken, homemade biscuits, corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, and a baked cherry crumble made with fresh cherries I had spent the afternoon pitting. Well, when it was time to eat dinner we decided to eat in the den in front of the tv so we could watch a movie. We had just put our plates of food down on the coffee table, and Gregg went to the bathroom while I went back to the kitchen for something to drink. When I came back, guess what I saw? Our "good" dog, Miss Ginger, had helped herself to a fried chicken drumstick off Gregg's plate!  I couldn't help but laugh even though it was a very naughty thing to do. As I said, she's our "good" dog, our "smart, well behaved, never does anything wrong" dog....and there she was, a chicken thief! Poor Georgie, who always gets blamed for being a wild child and is always in trouble, wouldn't have dared to do such a thing! Haha.

Marla came to visit the other day and brought baby Carsen. It was their first trip out together without daddy (he was at work). I made George go outside while they were here. He means well, but he's huge (88 pounds) and goofy and excitable and I wasn't comfortable having him around such a small baby. Ginger, on the other hand, is steady and sensible and well behaved, and so I let her stay inside and meet Carsen. She was fascinated with that tiny little human! She sniffed her carefully, wagged, and then sat at Marla's feet and watched the baby closely. Every time Carsen fussed a little Ginger would gently touch her foot or hand with her nose, and her eyes were full of concern. Gregg and I were so surprised at how much Ginger seemed to like her, given that she's never been around babies, and only rarely has been exposed to children at all. It was really sweet!

I feel like I'm spending my whole summer watching over the dogs since they're in the house. George has done one bad thing--he got a paperback novel and chewed it up while I was in the other room one day, and I also caught him with one of my socks in his mouth another time. I'm trying to be vigilant about watching him so that nothing of value gets destroyed, because chewing is his favorite thing to do when he's bored. I feel like I have two kids tying me down these days! Make that three if you count Marco.

The Dog Days of Summer

"the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies."  Brady’s Clavis Calendaria, 1813.^[1]

Summer 2014 is finally winding down, and I have to say that it's been a most unpleasant one, both for me personally and the world at large. This last half has been particularly bad. The news is full of violence, death, riots, war, and despair. It's hot here in South Carolina, hot enough to make tempers flair and electricity bills soar. Yesterday reached 102F, with high humidity, and today promises to be another scorcher. All you can do is stay inside as much as possible and wait out the heat wave.

Bad luck and trouble seem to be hovering over my house this month. For instance, a neighborhood cat apparently wandered into our backyard the other day, and our dogs killed it. I felt terrible about it, but since our dogs are inside a fence (and it happened when we weren't home) there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. Our kitchen was infested (briefly) with tiny black ants, prompting a call to the pest control people. My husband is terribly allergic to ant bites so we had to deal with that problem immediately. Next up? George (el destructo dog) chewed holes in the walls of our garage and laundry room, and we have to find someone to fix them at our own expense, since we don't want our landlord to know that our dog is systematically destroying every part of the house he has access to. This is why, with the exception of the garage and laundry room, he's an "outside" dog right now. My job is as thankless as ever, and the coworkers I dislike the most have really been outdoing themselves with rude behavior recently. The job search continues, but although I've applied for several positions nothing has come of it (yet).

So I'll be happy to see this summer wind down. The only thing I'll miss will be the wonderful summer produce we've been enjoying. I've managed to lose 25 pounds since March, mostly by buying and preparing lots of fresh fruits and vegetables at the market. I had hoped to do some canning/freezing/preserving this summer, but time to do it has been scarce. I did make a few jars of hot cayenne pepper vinegar with garlic......

...and I bought a giant basket of peaches yesterday which I plan to freeze for later use. They smell wonderful.....

.....and next week, on my next day off, I plan to buy a box of mixed heirloom tomatoes to make sauce with, which I will either can or freeze. These tomatoes are so delicious, and they won't be around much longer.

The food has been the best part of this summer so far.

Now I'm ready to see the dog days wind down and the arrival of autumn.