I know, I know … I just said summer had finally arrived in my little corner of the world (Alaska). And it did. Yesterday. On a weekend, no less! I never promised the sun would stick around.
Still, yesterday was glorious. Jerry and I – and of course the dachshunds, took a Sunday afternoon drive out towards Talkeetna, just for the joy of being outside on a sunny day.
The dachshunds, Rhonda in particular, were beside themselves, playing and rolling in the green grass (well, mostly grass) at every roadside stop, with the warm sun toasting their sparsely-furred bellies. It was over 70° outside!
Once Ronni finished her ecstatic, extended roll in what I decided after the fact included a bit of fresh bird-droppings (which I didn’t notice among all the tiny, white ornamental cherry blossom debris scattered on the ground where we’d stood), she proceeded to find an even warmer spot on the edge of the gravel.
Suddenly, without warning, Ronni’s wiggle-machine broke – leaving her sprawled belly up and immobilized.
No amount of encouragement or leash wiggling would budge her – I finally had to reach down, pick her up and set her on her feet … at which point, obviously still broken, she flopped right back down. Twice!
Seriously, I kid you not.
Before anyone panics; Rhonda was absolutely FINE, eventually giving up her sun-bathing to take off into deeper grass in search of butterflies and bugs.
But that was yesterday. I think today still qualifies as summer, since it was once again 70°F this afternoon. However, the sky, which was so startlingly blue this morning, has now taken on a pearlescent tinge, not quite gray, that the sun can no longer penetrate.
The breeze has stilled for now and the gnats have come out. If the clouds I see across the valley, piling up and slowly spilling over the Talkeetna range, bestir themselves to roll this direction, I’m guessing we might have a summer rain squall before bedtime.
Rhonda’s moral from today’s story:
De & the Dachsies - Our Rambles 