Sunday, August 1, 2010

Surviving the summer

Last weekend was the hottest we can ever remember in Berkeley Springs. High 90s on Saturday and not much of a cooldown at night. And as luck would have it, my parents came to visit, with their three dogs.
Fortunately, Zorro was a pretty good host: there were only a couple of dust-ups, and they were over quickly. Mostly, the dogs languished on the porch, along with the rest of us, trying to catch a breeze.
On Sunday, Denny and Zorro went home early, and that was a good thing. A quick, violent storm blew up shortly after Mom, Dad and Chip returned from their golf game. I was on the porch and heard a loud crack, then saw a flash of light not 50 yards from our house. Lightening struck one of our trees, tearing the bark right off of it. If Zorro had been there, I'm not sure he would have ever gotten over it.
Zorro continues to show self-restraint around most dogs we encounter on the running path. He's even made friends with a couple of small blue heelers we see most mornings. Their owner insists that Zorro is also a blue heeler. Rather than get into an argument over Zorro's heritage, I just nod and smile. Last week, she told me that if he acts up around dogs, I should just grab him, say ZZZT! and roll him over on his back. Sure, that'll work. She's obviously a Dog Whisperer devotee.

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