Melted Cat

The dead, dry oak leaves on the ground around the house say that Autumn is here. The weather reports say this is the last blast of Summer. We've had temperatures in the 100F (38C) range for a couple of days. That's not too bad; Paso Robles, just 10 miles north of here, was 107F (41C) today, and San Luis Obispo, 15 miles south and closer to the Pacific than we are, was 110F (43C).

I'm thankful that the house is very well insulated, and indoors the lower story rarely tops 75C (25.5C). We've run the air conditioning unit maybe twice in 4 years. The studio is on the second story and gets a little hotter than downstairs; the upstairs AC's been on perhaps 6 times in those years.

I don't do well in hot weather, and tend to stay indoors; otherwise, I feel faint and need cool showers.

Gracie, unlike me, is a hot weather girl. She spends the morning melted on the patio in a small patch of shade, soaking up the heat from the concrete of the patio. In the afternoon, she moves a short distance to another small patch of shade, and melts there. If I drag her indoors, she cries to go out. I figure that if there's enough water available for her to drink if she gets thirsty, she'll be okay.

Here's the morning patch of shade:

and here's the afternoon patch; both are within 4 feet of an open door, so it's her choice to be in or out:















I must confess to a certain amount of jealousy. If only I could sleep as soundly as she does...

In the winter, btw, Gracie is known to violate all our rules and find warm places to sleep on the furniture she's not allowed on - she hates the cold tile floors! When I pick her up in winter, her little toes are always cold. August and September, on the other paw, are her time of year.