Extreme weather

Just when I thought it was safe to come out of the closet.... another storm hits.  Given the blisteringly hot weather of late it wasn't a surprise we were going to get a storm but I wasn't expecting one quite so violent.  Thankfully it was short lived one but it didn't half cause some damage.  It must have been scary because this morning I passed two cars that were still hiding under trees, nice to see I wasn't the only one hiding from it.  Every severe thunder cloud has a silver lining though, my human got the day off as her work didn't have power.  We were lucky as we only lost power for a few minutes, there are still thousands of people without it more than 24 hours later.  Luckily the storm brought cooler temperatures, well I say cooler, I guess it's all relative as 90 degrees probably isn't that cool to a Brit.  My human displayed remarkable bravery stupidity and shot a bit of video from the safety of the apartment.  I'm not sure if the shaking is due to poor technical ability or nerves, either way I think you get the idea of how intense it was.  Note: I had to mute the sound due to the prolific cussing and swearing from my human, she really doesn't like storms.

Feeling hot, hot, hot

Oh boy what a hot weekend.  It's been boiling for days now, far too hot for a black-furred quadruped to enjoy himself but boredom got the better of me and I just had to get out and about.  I headed to the calm waters of the C&O canal down near the Potomac river.  Ok so it wasn't any cooler and despite the warnings of dangerous heat and rabid animals I did manage a nice stroll along the towpath and a little dip but don't tell anybody that as it's not allowed.  If I thought I was hot spare a thought for the mules that were pulling the boat along.  I know my nose is like a million times more sensitive than a human one but it didn't need my supersensitive sniffer to figure out working mules in 105 degree heat equals a monumental whiff.  Poor guys, surely there's laws to stop the exploitation of animals in this country isn't there?

  

Wake Up Call

OK, that's enough excitement for one dog this year.  First it's snowmeggedon; tornado warnings and violent storms that set buildings on fire; gun men walking around petrol stations; record temperatures and now an earthquake wakens me from my dreams.

It was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced.  My apartment building shook and groaned quite a bit but the sound... well I didn't expect sound.  It was like a huge train rumbling down the street.  See look Gaithersburg, that's where I live.

Record breaker

First it was record snowfall and the coldest temperatures since the ice age.... now it's hotter than the centre of the sun, well the tarmac roads feel like it by late afternoon.   Morning walks are just about tolerable but the after work walk is now down to a slow plod around the block.  I don't even mind wearing the wet neckerchief any more, in fact loads of people have stopped to admire it.  I have a carefully worked out route with as much grass to walk on as possible.  If it gets any hotter I'm going to have to get flip flops to protect my paws.  Thankfully my human is sensible enough not to shave my fur off.  I met a shaved golden retriever the other day... oh the indignity of it.  His owner said he struggled to get the dog out of the house.  I don't blame him, I wouldn't want to walk the streets naked either.  

Not surprisingly I haven't done much recently.  We can't go anywhere in the car as I would cook in about 2 minutes if left alone.  Not that my human would do that but now and again she needs to pee and you humans aren't as evolved as us canines so have to use restrooms which, oddly enough, dogs aren't allowed in, unless of course it's a 'seeing eye dog' although how they can help a human pee is beyond me.