Swimming in the pond

Blogger hasn't let me upload pictures for 2 days now, so this is a picture-less post. The heat and humidity are mind-numbing. It's too hot to do anything, and this most profoundly includes house cleaning. If the heat last much longer I'll have a fur carpet in the cabin, but I'm learning to ignore it.

Last evening I took Dog and Baby Dog down to the old pond for a swim. As usual, Dog plunged in, grateful for the respite after the heat of the day. Baby Dog has not yet swum a single stroke in her entire life, though last night she took a step closer towards that. While Dog happily swims in the pond, Baby Dog runs along its bank. When she is feeling very adventurous, she deigns to wet her toes and take 2 wet steps to a rock that juts out into the pond. From the rock she can bark at Dog who swims by right beside the rock. At this point, you've correctly guessed that the water is deep right next to the rock.

So Baby Dog is barking at Dog, who happily ignores her while he's chasing fish--bluegills and a few bass that populate the pond. And then she she gets brave and decides to join Dog. However, she is unsure how to enter the water. She decides that entering the water must be like going down stairs so she starts to go into the water head down, head first, until her entire head is underwater and her two back feet are still firmly attached to the rock. At this point, she understands that this is not the way to approach the situation, but she has no futher ideas about how best to accomplish the task so she backs up and retreats onto her rock with all four feet.

She is thrilled with herself and shakes her entire body as though she has been swimming for an hour. I swear that she even struts around afterwards. I tell her how wonderful she is, in between rounds of laughter. Another failed swimming attempt, but I have hope....