Heat

This summer I became a believer in global warming.  I have always preferred warm weather to cold, and for all the years I have been living in Israel, I never had trouble with the climate.  Yes, the summers were hot, very hot, but I never found it to be that difficult to cope with or to prevent functioning normally.

This year has been different.  I am sure that this summer is hotter than any summers for a long time.  What the statistics say I don’t know, but everyone I talk to about it agrees with me.

Of course, there is that tendency when talking about the weather to be sure that it is the hottest, or coldest, or worst storm in the last twenty years, or the most rain or the least rain – no one really goes to check the facts, we know what we are feeling, right?

I refuse to consider that with each year of growing older, maybe the weather is getting worse – for me… The weather really is worse!

The dogs agree with me – it is hot!  I find it very hard to do much of anything during the day. The dogs also spend most of their time lounging in a shady spot, unless there is a really strong reason for getting up.  The dogs start their activities at about four in the morning, while it is quite cool, and have their morning running and barking time, which ends at about 6:30 or seven.  By then it is already getting hot.  My schedule is quite similar, though not from four – five or five thirty is the start of my working hours.  The same is true in the evening – from about five or six it starts cooling off and that is play time, until nine or ten at night.

Although I am a morning person by nature, I can’t say that these hours are really my preference.  Couldn’t you guys wait until six?

But I can look out the window in midday, and although most of the dogs have found themselves cool spots in the shade, there are some that are lying out in the full sun, obviously enjoying it.

Habibi is not one of those.  Desert dog?  No way!  There is a cool house, air conditioning – his place is inside.  He goes out for necessities – one of his necessities is periodically to check if there is anything out there that has to be barked at – and then places himself on the top step leaning against the entrance door, just to make sure I don’t miss the fact that he is ready to come in.

I have been trying to use the air conditioning as little as possible – yes, for “green” reasons, but more because electricity is so expensive these days.  But with the weather of July and August, I have given in, and use it for a good part of the day.

Habibi knows exactly where the air currents go, and his sleeping spots are right in the line of the cool air.  If I change the angle of the fan, he will give me a pitying glance, lift his nose to test the air direction, and calmly move to a better spot.  He may be a bed dog most of the time, but at this time of year, he gets on the bed only when the air conditioner is on and is blowing a cool breeze across it.  He then sprawls across the bed to catch every bit of refreshing air across his whole body, leaving me struggling to find a place for my legs. 

I am counting the days until the end of summer…