Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to tell you how incredibly hot I’ve been, and not much else. You may remember me from such heat-related posts as “Into The Garden, Endlessly Roasting”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. 
I lie here a lot, as maybe you noticed from my last post. I can take a nap, and yet be super alert in case anything happens in the back yard. Not that much does, because it’s been so hot.
This morning, though, when the guy I live with finally got out of bed, he was surprised to see me here.
He said that it was very common to see the other purebred border collies in this chair in the morning, and so while this was different, for me, it made him feel good to see me liking this chair as much as the other dogs. I also like sleeping on the couch at night, and under the living room window.
The one thing I don’t do is sleep on the bed with the guy I live with, because he takes up way too much of the bed. He says that’s fine, and that when winter comes I’ll probably be back up on the bed again.
Even my walks are hot, though the evening one is sometimes not so hot. Every now and then I get to go on a third walk, at night, and that’s pretty nice.
I discovered something odd on one of my walks. The guy I live with said these might be bulrushes.
They were more in focus than that; I’m not sure what happened. But whatever; they’re growing in this tiny pond made by water coming off the parking lot right next to them. The guy I live with said I couldn’t go in the water because it was gross.
There were also these:
You can see how gross the water is. The guy I live with said he didn’t think it was here, in this tiny pond, but there’s been an outbreak of blue-green algae in places and so I don’t get to go in any water. I hardly do anyway. I went in the canal, just a while ago, but not for long. We purebred border collies are not especially aquatic.
Believe it or not, that’s almost all there is to report. It’s hot every day. The house isn’t so bad, with the fans going, but outside it’s really hot. And dry.
This is pretty much just a post to let you know we’re still around. The guy I live with really hasn’t done much of any gardening because the effects of the hormone therapy wear him out quickly. He has set a sprinkler once or twice. The heat and dryness seem to wipe out any good effects the watering has, though.
I do have some pictures of the garden, taken at sunset, or close to it, if you’d like to see them.
The first few pictures have more light in them. But you can see that the light in the laundry room is on. 
This is that Artemisia ludoviciana ‘Silver Frost’ that you see in almost every picture. 
There’s a bat in this picture. 
Well, that’s really all I have, for now. Not very much at all. I’ll leave you with a picture of me on my evening walk, trying to decide whether to keep going or turn around and go a different way.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Dog Days of summer. Hot and dry here in Central Indiana, too, but I’m planting evergreens — arborvitae and juniper. A privacy hedge and barrier to keep my neighbor from spraying my yard (even though I’ve told him I don’t want it sprayed!)
You shared some nice photos today Mani. And I am simpatico regarding the heat, we are in the 2nd of our three 100degree plus days here in the Napa Valley. The people who grow Cabernet wine grapes are happy-it’s been a lovely mild summer but the grapes need heat . I however am not a grape, and I don’t need it. Neither do my Fuchsias. One more day and then we are back in the 80’s.
We had our first rain,1.5 inches, in a month here. I’m in the ‘rain shadow’ of the Blue Ridge. Between the drought and woodchuck my garden is pathetic. I like your dusk pictures.
Thanks. It’s so hot here, it’s hot. The guy I live with likes hot weather, but this year, with the hormone blocker therapy, he’s not so hugely enamored of the heat. We went out just now, and then came back inside.
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I like that nice bright red harness you have on. I was reading along, enjoying your post, and came across ” He has set a sprinkler once or twice.” Thank you for that, because I immediately jumped up and ran outside to turn off the sprinkle I’d forgotten!
Thanks. I think that was Slipper’s, or more likely Chess’s, harness, before it became mine. There was a time, years and years ago, when the guy I live with left the oscillating sprinkler on in the “way back” all night long. Everything was really soaked the next day.
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I did that one night, too, in my way back.
It’s kind of silly, to forget, but I guess it happens. Like just this afternoon, we were downstairs, because the guy I live with was fiddling with the modem, which is down there, so I went down to see what he was doing, and there were these two oak leaves, dried oak leaves, that had been down there for a very long time, and they had just fallen on the floor, because of the modem-fiddling, and I sort of tinkled on them, and the guy I live with said “Hey!” really loudly, but I had just forgotten that you don’t tinkle on oak leaves lying on the floor, you know, the way you do sometimes, just forget.
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Meow meow Mani you HAVE had THE *hot* heet there!! An it doess look dry xcept fore THE water…pleeze do not go inn to THE water…that Al-gee stuff can kill a doggie!! EEKKKK! Wee saw a post ’bout it an mee an LadyMeow had leeky eyess. It was sumwhere inn yore State mee thinkss. Maybee THE bathtub iss THE safest place, mew mew mew….
Yore photoess are lovelee. An yore furry hansum purr usual. An mee DID see THE Bat inn yore photoe….
Mee iss sorry yore ‘guy’ iss still drained of energee….iss no fun when our Hu’manss are feelin crummy! LadyMeow has found out shee has Livurr Disease an sumthin called Meddycal Renal Disease. Shee all most fainted when Urologist Man told her on Tuesday….
So THE meddycinss that are helpin her funk-tion an stay alive are all so killin her….shee iss furry scared an mee cott her cryin a few nitess ago. Shee iss worried shee will not outlive mee….butt mee thinkss shee will…shee just has too rite Mani?? Mee not want to bee homeless again an without LadyMeow.
Why iss Life so hard fore our Hu’manss??
***purrsss*** BellaDharma
Thanks. The guy I live with said it’s too hot to take day time pictures. He did do a little bit of work in the garden today. I went out and lay by the bulb frame where he was planting bulbs. It’s the hottest spot in the garden. He worries about leaving me, too. He sometimes says he might get a companion for me, but has really been hesitating about that. He said I might not like a companion. I might not. Chess, the purebred border collie who lived here before me, had a companion, his cousin Slipper, but when Slipper passed away, Chess enjoyed being king of the roost. The guy I live with got a “rescue dog” who spent the whole time attacking poor Chess and so the rescue dog had to go back. The dog tried to bite the guy I live with the very first time they met. I mean really bite. So he hesitates. And, it makes him think about the future, which he doesn’t want to do. He says just being here today is the best. We do hope your human feels better.
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Meow meow yore ‘guy’ iss furry wise Mani. Hee iss livin inn THE moment….LadyMew triess to do that butt shee iss sumthin called a ‘Mye-crow Manager’….shee has to bee inn control a lot. With her new diagnosis shee has NO control….That is why she set mee upss with a Guardian (mee Aunty Sheila) who has papurrwerk provin to Housin shee ISS mee Guardian an shee has a key to our place an knows where efurrything of mine iss.
Mee crossess pawss LadyMew bee here fore rest of mee Life (shee said same thing to mee!)
An shee an mee understand yore ‘guy’ hessytatin on gettin a second doggie….It iss furry hard to know what to do!!
Yes, it can be difficult. The guy I live with has me taken care of in his will, which he made after having to deal with his mom’s. Not because of anything else. He also kind of likes the idea of having things out of his control. Like letting doctors make decisions instead of him, because what if he made the wrong one. People are always trying to talk him into things. It’s amazing. He could do this, he ought to do that, he should do this. It’s 34C, 11 percent humidity right now. Hot.
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EEKKKK!!! 34 Celseeus iss too *hot* Mani! Mee hopess you an yore ‘guy’ are findin a way to keep yore kewl….
Iss onlee 18 Cellseeus here today an a brisk North wind an it was all most chilley butt oh so nice!
An yore ‘guy’ iss furry trustin…..LadyMew iss so opposite to him. Today was a purrime xampell. LadyMew ree-veewed ALL her bloodwork from 2017, 2018 an this yeer so far. An guess what?? Shee shuud have been diagnosed back in 2017 with Liver an Medical Renal Diseasess. Her bloodwerk showss it! Plus her Cholesterol level has been sorta wacky an it iss a symptom of her Liver Disease an docktur completelee over looked it. LadyMew iss not a ‘happy bunny’ 😉
Oh dear. Well, we are sorry. Maybe things will work out, though. They often do. It was cooler here yesterday, but it’s going to be hot again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.
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The late day pictures are lovely, such rich subtle colors. I was very interested to read about the blue green algae, and then the same morning there was an article about it in the local city paper; evidently there are it has been found in ponds down state. Need to do more research as our dogs are devoted to swimming and playing in the water at this time of year, mainly in little creeks. Its too hot to walk with them in the middle of the day, but morning and afternoon walks and wades have been important.
I hope you both have a resurgence of energy as fall comes. The chair does look like a good sleeping spot!
ceci
Thanks. Well, you know, we dogs, which purebred border collies are, like to drink the water we go in, and I guess that’s where the danger lies. It’s only 66F here right now, which is weird. It’s supposed to get much hotter today, and tomorrow, and the day after that. The chair is really excellent. It’s very old and creaky, but I fit in it just perfectly.
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We see seed feeders. What’s up with the goldfinches this super totally extra roasting hot summer? After a week’s hiatus, a few returned back to here today.
They’ve been here every week since the feeder got filled with fresh seed, so, some time the year before last.
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The half-light adds a noir-ish quality to the garden and brings out the l’heure bleue quality of the sky. Thank you for something different. Not wanting to do much, I understand that. The best reclining spots have usually been broken in by those who came before.You look handsome in your chair, Mani. Kudos for maintaining equaniamity in the heat and for staying away from gross water.
Thanks. It has been really hot here. The guy I live with said that he didn’t want to tell me this, but tomorrow is supposed to be like the hottest day of the year, so far. The guy I live with thought the sunset pictures would ne nice because it’s so much cooler then. That’s almost all we care about now. Like I get to stay up until after midnight, if I want, because we stay up late.
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If they guy you live with with takes up too much of the bed, shouldn’t he sleep on the floor? The floor is probably more spacious. Since you take up less space, it would be more practical for you to sleep on the bed.
The guy I live with claims he takes up less space when he sleeps on his side than I do. He said that Chess, the purebred border collie who lived here before me, used to sleep on the bed lying his on back, with his legs in the air, two stretched out in front, and two stretched out in back, and that took up less space. The bedroom is small so there isn’t much room on the floor.
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Perhaps he just told you that he takes up less space so that you would let him sleep in your bed.
How iss yore *hot* heet there? Iss cloudy an sorta hue-mid here butt not too bad. Wee DID get rain last nite from Minny-soda…they send us a lot of rain!
An wee sure hopess yore ‘guy’ iss rite an LadyMew’ss health terns ’round Mani!
**purrsss** BellaDharma
Well, right now, at 4:05 p.m. on Tuesday, it’s 25C and 37 percent humidity. We’ve had two nice days in a row now. The guy I live with says thanks, and for LadyMew too. He hurt his knee really badly on Saturday and is going to the doctor, but I can see it’s getting better. He said he hurt it just being him, which I don’t get.
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