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| The pond I swim in |
I gave up on keeping Hapi out of the water. I had started going back to the Reservoir just because I missed my dog buddy company in the mornings, but I kept Hapi on leash whenever we were near the water. I would stop at the beach and let her get her feet wet but not the rest of her body. It was a bit of a tug of war, she really wanted to go in deeper.
With this relentless heat wave I wanted to go swimming but that meant I had to leave Hapi at home by herself in the heat since I can't trust her indoors any more. She might have a pee or poop accident or worse, fall down the stairs. So I was starting to feel really sorry for myself, stuck in the darkened house in a heat wave. It often gets hot and humid here in the summer, but not for so long.
One of my dog buddies said I should try letting Hapi get wet and then combing her out with a hair conditioner. So I bought some hair conditioner and tried it. Hapi was so happy to be allowed in the water! But the conditioner didn't really make any difference. Once I let her in the water that once, I felt it would be mean to go back to not letting her go in the water, she wouldn't understand. And besides, I could go swimming too if she came along.
So now, I go to the Reservoir in the morning for a walk with the other dogs and their owners, and then mid-afternoon I go back for a swim. In the afternoon the little beach is full of kids and their parents, Hapi wades in with them. Most of the parents and kids already know Hapi, the kids all want to pet her in the water. Hapi is very patient with kids, she lets them surround and pet her, and although I tell the parents, "She's friendly," they just nod as if they already know that. I go in the water with her and as much as she can she stays with me, but she won't go out any deeper than where she can keep her feet on the ground.
After a few minutes of that I go in the other pond, the big one. There's no beach, you have to climb down a short rocky path to get into the water. Hapi is too unsteady on her feet to manage that anymore so she just stands on the shore watching me. I swim the length of the pond and back. It is so wonderful to be in the water surrounded by the trees. I'm a poor swimmer but I have stamina, I alternate between breast, side and back strokes, occasionally just treading water if I get tired. But two lengths of the pond is not enough to tire me out so I don't do a lot of water treading. My favourite thing is the back stroke, looking up at the big sky with clouds drifting by. I can only do that when the sun is behind me so on the first length I have to look downward at the shoreline but coming back I can look at the clouds.
When I've completed my two lengths Hapi is there to greet me coming ashore, then we go back to the beach on the small pond for one last dip for her. We usually get home by 4pm and the swim is so refreshing that I don't start feeling the heat until hours later when it is starting to cool off anyway. Hapi has her supper and goes to bed, two swims a day tuckers her right out. By the way she walks I think she is in constant pain, standing in the water alleviates that some. I tell people it is her hydrotherapy. Her fur is going to get messed up again, but I think she may not last long enough for that to become a great issue. That's what I tell myself anyway.
Yesterday I ran (swam) into a single parent with her little boy. We were chatting about the heat and the water and we both agreed that it was so nice to have these ponds so close to where we live. There are ocean beaches and lakes nearby, but this is the best because it is so close by. She is from Chile, she asked if it is always this hot here. I said yes and no, it usually gets this hot at some point but it doesn't usually stay hot for so long.
I had been talking to a carpenter in the morning, he was working on the house next door and he said that he used to have a job in Calgary where it often got very hot but it was a dry hot, not humid like here. The humidity just drains you. He had his young son along with him, the whole time he was working he was telling his son what he was doing and why, and giving his son little tasks to do with him. I was thinking, lucky boy, to be able to work with his Dad.
I asked the carpenter what he knew about generators and we talked about mine, which I think I have a problem with. He offered to help me with it and spent a few minutes getting me set up to drain the fuel from it. I left gas in the generator over the winter and that is not a good thing. It took the better part of the day to get it all out but I am relieved that I finally tackled the job. I told the carpenter that I was looking for someone to do some work on my place but I was waiting till after Hapi, he gave me his card and told me about his dogs. He had just had to put down the oldest one.
With this relentless heat wave I wanted to go swimming but that meant I had to leave Hapi at home by herself in the heat since I can't trust her indoors any more. She might have a pee or poop accident or worse, fall down the stairs. So I was starting to feel really sorry for myself, stuck in the darkened house in a heat wave. It often gets hot and humid here in the summer, but not for so long.
One of my dog buddies said I should try letting Hapi get wet and then combing her out with a hair conditioner. So I bought some hair conditioner and tried it. Hapi was so happy to be allowed in the water! But the conditioner didn't really make any difference. Once I let her in the water that once, I felt it would be mean to go back to not letting her go in the water, she wouldn't understand. And besides, I could go swimming too if she came along.
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| Hapi at the beach in the morning |
So now, I go to the Reservoir in the morning for a walk with the other dogs and their owners, and then mid-afternoon I go back for a swim. In the afternoon the little beach is full of kids and their parents, Hapi wades in with them. Most of the parents and kids already know Hapi, the kids all want to pet her in the water. Hapi is very patient with kids, she lets them surround and pet her, and although I tell the parents, "She's friendly," they just nod as if they already know that. I go in the water with her and as much as she can she stays with me, but she won't go out any deeper than where she can keep her feet on the ground.
After a few minutes of that I go in the other pond, the big one. There's no beach, you have to climb down a short rocky path to get into the water. Hapi is too unsteady on her feet to manage that anymore so she just stands on the shore watching me. I swim the length of the pond and back. It is so wonderful to be in the water surrounded by the trees. I'm a poor swimmer but I have stamina, I alternate between breast, side and back strokes, occasionally just treading water if I get tired. But two lengths of the pond is not enough to tire me out so I don't do a lot of water treading. My favourite thing is the back stroke, looking up at the big sky with clouds drifting by. I can only do that when the sun is behind me so on the first length I have to look downward at the shoreline but coming back I can look at the clouds.
When I've completed my two lengths Hapi is there to greet me coming ashore, then we go back to the beach on the small pond for one last dip for her. We usually get home by 4pm and the swim is so refreshing that I don't start feeling the heat until hours later when it is starting to cool off anyway. Hapi has her supper and goes to bed, two swims a day tuckers her right out. By the way she walks I think she is in constant pain, standing in the water alleviates that some. I tell people it is her hydrotherapy. Her fur is going to get messed up again, but I think she may not last long enough for that to become a great issue. That's what I tell myself anyway.
Yesterday I ran (swam) into a single parent with her little boy. We were chatting about the heat and the water and we both agreed that it was so nice to have these ponds so close to where we live. There are ocean beaches and lakes nearby, but this is the best because it is so close by. She is from Chile, she asked if it is always this hot here. I said yes and no, it usually gets this hot at some point but it doesn't usually stay hot for so long.
I had been talking to a carpenter in the morning, he was working on the house next door and he said that he used to have a job in Calgary where it often got very hot but it was a dry hot, not humid like here. The humidity just drains you. He had his young son along with him, the whole time he was working he was telling his son what he was doing and why, and giving his son little tasks to do with him. I was thinking, lucky boy, to be able to work with his Dad.
I asked the carpenter what he knew about generators and we talked about mine, which I think I have a problem with. He offered to help me with it and spent a few minutes getting me set up to drain the fuel from it. I left gas in the generator over the winter and that is not a good thing. It took the better part of the day to get it all out but I am relieved that I finally tackled the job. I told the carpenter that I was looking for someone to do some work on my place but I was waiting till after Hapi, he gave me his card and told me about his dogs. He had just had to put down the oldest one.
3 comments:
What lovely connections you make and having those lakes close by is a gift.
Ansa never swam but adored paddling, it was a daily event when the weather allowed.
We're having humidity here to, it sucks my brain out of my head. I hate it. But it doesn't last too long.
XO
WWW
WWW, we are very lucky here to have the Reservoir, in so many ways! Humidity is the worst, and the weatherman is forecasting no end in sight. No rain either, I have to water my garden every night. But soon enough we'll be complaining about winter cold so we try not to complain about the heat too loudly.
Humidity with excessive heat feels miserable. Glad you have access to swimming. I always enjoyed the water but haven't been swimming for years since we dropped membership in nearby pool.
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