Outside My Window – Part 15

This is another in the series about life in Pataskala, and because it’s us – dogs.

High Summer

It’s only May, but it feels like “high summer” here in Pataskala.  The thermometer topped ninety degrees yesterday.  I could hear my air conditioner groaning – we keep the house at a constant sixty-five degrees all four seasons.  It’s great for Jenn and I sleeping – but that’s not the main reason.   Sixty-five degrees keeps the four dogs in our house happy, especially the senior citizen, Buddy.  And what keeps Buddy happy, keeps us ALL happy – at least that’s the operating system here.

We’ve lost three of our big trees in the past few years, and what used to be a shaded home now gets full sun.  The morning is no longer blocked by the old oak in the east, and the noon sun is hardly touched by our new young maple out front, replacing the original.  But it’s in the afternoon that the west side of the house cooks, the stump of the other old maple now covered by our “sun deck”.  Right now you could fry eggs on it.

So the indoor temperature creeps up into the low seventies by late afternoon, and Buddy climbs into the bathtub, trying to find the cool.  It’s always good for a “surprise” for visitors using our facilities:  they hear a groan from behind the shower curtain just as they get seated!! 

Use the Force

The mosquitoes must think it’s “high summer” as well.  Right now, the three in the morning walk (one dog on steroids – he has to go!!) feels like that old commercial – the Raid “Yard Guard” test.  That was the one where the man put his arm in a tank of mosquitoes, and they completely covered his skin.  Then – with the “Raid” on his arm – they left it alone.  

So if you see a hooded figure looking like a Jedi Knight wandering our backyard in the middle of the night, now you know.  That isn’t a light saber for protection, it’s a flashlight carefully guiding the path around the “landmines” of four dogs.  And it’s not a robe, it’s a full jacket with hood, zipped up in the middle of the night heat, the sole protection from blood loss due to mosquito penetration.

Foster Pup

Did I say four dogs?  Right now, it’s actually five.  Our organization, Lost Pet Recovery, rescued this incredibly cute Pit-mix puppy from a drainage pipe near Dayton.  There was a foster placement all set up for the girl, named CeCe (pronounced CEE CEE), a home with young kids to fit right in with the young puppy.  But she proved to be too much:  four kids under nine and a puppy was overwhelming, and we had to do an “emergency” pickup.

So Cece is now here, learning how to deal with four other dogs, and Jenn and I of course.  She had a bit of a scare early this morning, when she decided her food bowl wasn’t near as interesting as that of our Lab, Atticus.  Atticus is a wonderful guy, but he doesn’t do “food sharing” very well.  He didn’t hurt CeCe, just reminded her that it was HIS bowl and HIS food and SHE was not welcome to share.  CeCe escaped unscathed, but definitely got the message.

This is the “backdoor” way to becoming a “Dahlman Dog” – foster “failure” leading to adoption.  We have two other dogs who came in under the guise of fostering, and now they have a permanent place.  But five dogs, and one a puppy at that – CeCe will get a great (and hopefully short) education here, then find a final home somewhere else – I hope.  If you’re interested in the cutest puppy ever – let us know!!

Spring Growth

Besides mosquitoes, early “high summer” in Ohio also means outbreaks of dandelions, seventeen-year cicadas, and orange barrels.  Right now, the main north/south highway out of Pataskala is closed.  One of the main east/west highways has gone from four lane to two, full of semi-trucks trying to reach Amazon and the other “distribution centers” in nearby Etna.  Today I’m starting a four-day track meet in Chillicothe, seventy miles south of here.  I don’t have to be there until two or so, but I’m already plotting how I can get out of Pataskala, without getting stuck in a local traffic jam.

It feels like high summer in Ohio today – but it’s still early.  High in the eighties today – but by day three of the Chillicothe track meet, the low will be in the forties.  The meet bag is stuffed with every type of clothes imaginable.  One day this week might be a “roof-down” Jeep day – but another will require the heat on the way home.  

Orange barrels, thunderstorms, heat stroke and shivering cold:  outside my window it’s May in Ohio.

• The Out My Window Series
• Out My Front Window – Part One (4/21/20)
• Outside My Window – Part Two (4/23/20)
• Outside My Window – Part Three (4/26/20)
• Outside My Window – Part Four (5/13/20)
• Outside My Window – Part Five (6/3/20)
• Outside My Window – Part Six (7/3/20)
• Outside My Window – Part Seven (7/31/20)
• Outside My Window – Inshallah (8/13/20)
• Outside My Window – Part Eight (9/15/20)
• Outside My Window – Part Nine (9/25/20)
• Outside My Window – Part Ten (10/9/20)
• Outside My Window – Part 11 (11/29/20)
• Outside My Window – Post-Truth World (12/16/20)
• Waiting for the Shot (3/11/21)
• Outside My Window – Part 15 (5/26/21)