Summertime

Summertime where we live is hot and sticky and stormy.

We don't mind the hot days because have the machine on the wall that keeps us cool.  Mum says if we didn't have that machine, we would have to pack up and move to the cool side of the world every summer.
Hmm.  Could be interesting, I suppose.

Summertime is also when Christmas happens.  We like Christmas even though there are a lot of rules to be followed concerning Christmas trees and parcels. Christmas means lots of visitors and treats.  Christmas is a good thing.

But, the thing we don't like about summertime is the storms.....big, loud, flashing, crashing, scary storms.  Heidi just abandons everything and goes to hide.  Her preferred hiding spot is the walk in wardrobe in Mum's bedroom but Mum has become very quick in closing the door and diverting Heidi to the garage where our cubby crates are.

Over the weekend we had the biggest, loudest, flashiest, crashingest, scariest storms ever.  They started in the morning and went on and on and on.  At first there was just the thunder....boom, rumble, rumble, boom.  That was enough for HoHo.  She was off! She tucked her tail under and raced off down the hall towards Mum's bedroom.  However, in a brilliant piece of double-teaming, the humans foiled her plan. Dad appeared out of nowhere...well, actually, out of the bathroom....and slowed Heidi down, giving Mum time to get ahead of her and close the door.  Rats!  Plan B!  Zoom!  Off to the cubby.  Safe and sound, she stayed in there for the rest of the day, only emerging for dinner and an extremely quick bathroom break. So it was all up to me...again.

Now, in circumstances such as these, I feel it to be my duty to stay as close as possible to Mum and Dad to take care of them.  I think that if I sit on them or, at the very least, sit beside them, they are going to be safe through the storm. I am prepared to cuddle with them as long as it takes to make them feel secure.  You should feel the shuddering and shivering! Someone is very scared.
So, on Saturday, that's what I did. I sat with Dad for a while and then I sat with Mum for a while. If either of them moved I went with them.  There was no way they were going to be alone while those storms were crashing and flashing. Gee, I am a brave dog.  I did have to take a dinner break and a bathroom break (made Mum come out with me for that...with an umbrella) but I guarded them both for hours and hours.

And then....when the storms had moved away and everything had calmed down and Heidi had boldly gone out for the quickest bathroom visit on record, Mum and Dad decided it was time for everyone to go to bed.  So while Dad was in the bathroom, I thought it was only fair that I have some sort of trophy for my exceptional protective display.  I "borrowed" a pair of socks from the washing basket....(ha! they think they can hide things in there)...and took them to my cubby crate.  Tee hee.

Mum found them this morning.  She gave me "the look" that means I could be in trouble, but then she just said, "Oh, Trudy," and took them back to the washing basket.  I guess that means she's glad to have me here to take care of her.