A round trip to Council Point Park, plus one loop on the shady side, was all I could muster on this muggy Monday morning, with temps at nearly 80 degrees and humidity to match. Ugh! I didn’t even get to the cross street before I felt like my clothes were sticking to me, but I hung in there anyway, wanting the steps and happy it was not raining so that I could venture out.
The weather folks like to call this mugginess “air you can wear” and, in a radio news story, I heard a New Yorker remark that even though she was sweltering with this heat wave, it was way better than shoveling, so I made that reasoning my mantra as I trudged along on my walk today.
Everyone has heard of those dreaded Dog Days of Summer which are defined as a slew of days with sultry temps that occur in July and August. According to “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” the Dog Days of Summer traditionally begin on July 3rd and end August 11th. Of course you are shaking your head and saying that there are much hotter days in mid-to-late August, but the Dog Days of Summer coincides with the rising of Sirius, a/k/a the Dog Star.
All that astronomical info is heady stuff and maybe too much for my brain to absorb after spending time out in all that heat and humidity, but I think that cats are entitled to have their own days in the Summer too, don’t you? At least until tomorrow when those “Dog Days” will kick in.
I decided cats should claim their fame after watching a pair of felines reacting to the hot day as I walked by them. First, they both came trotting down the driveway as I approached the house. Right away I realized I was dealing with “watchcats” and that was a new concept to me.
They stopped in their tracks and stared me down. An old proverb states “curiosity killed the cat” and in this case, these cats didn’t die but sure looked mighty puzzled by me.
What gives here with the intense look by each of them?
I whipped out the camera for some photos, deciding I had today’s blog post readymade if the photos came out okay. I got a sleepy-looking grimace from the orange tabby cat who lounged on the hot cement.
Then, after checking me out, this cat, with markings resembling a Holstein cow, disregarded me in favor of a roll in the cool grass. There’s apparently an art to cooling off your furry body on the lawn … here, have a look:
This heat wave stretches across 2/3rds of the U.S. right now and may be deemed less than “purrfect” weather unless of course you’ve taken off this week for the Independence Day holiday and have access to a pool. Here in Michigan, since the Spring was cold and snowy up to April, the Great Lakes are still too cold for swimming – maybe dipping your toe in, but that’s about it.
I got about 3 1/2 miles walked, then beat a hasty retreat into the house to hydrate and get cooled off from the A/C. Three more days of this heat, then a reprieve thankfully.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Miss Linda………………………………those were lovely pictures of the cats up-close and that one was sure showing her acceptance of you by doing all of that stretching in front of you…………………………..I’m surprised you don’t have a cat for a pet……………………………..guess what I baby sit a cat on a regular basis for a neighbor……………….nice cat and I’m not a cat person..
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I’m not a cat person either Ann Marie and I am actually allergic to them. I did watch Marge’s cat for her when she used to travel a lot before she got sick, but Missy stayed at Marge’s house and I just went and fed it and took care of the litter box … sometimes Marge was gone a week or two. Her cat was not very friendly and would claw me every time I tried to play with it or keep it company a little. That cat was doing some leisurely stretches and after looking at me so strangely in the beginning I was surprised she even “tolerated” me being there.
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Those sure are cute cats!
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Yes they were and in the front yard like a pair of dogs – you really don’t see cats in a front yard much – I don’t anyway.
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How in the world do you walk in this heat? I wait until 8:30 pm to do my half hour of outside work and about die!
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It is not easy Diane … if I don’t walk when it is cooler, I won’t walk as it would be too hot by the time I am done at work. Sometimes I will walk in the grocery store, just to walk as it is large and I do laps around the store. Much cooler way to go. Mall walking is nice but I have to go about 6-7 miles to get to a mall, otherwise I’d do that in the Summer heat. I just heard we have this hot weather all thru July.
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When I walk and it’s hot I do the mall with my developmentally disabled clients. Otherwise we walk on the trails in our metro park, most are paved making it easy for them to walk.
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I do like mall walking as well, but ours are not close. But malls and big grocery stores sure beat walking in the heat … it leaves you feeling dragged out when you’ve only take a few steps for goodness sake.
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I read somewhere that if cats were people sized theyd gladly eat us !
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I think I heard that somewhere as well Michael – I’m not a cat person and maybe that is what they sensed and why they looked at me so intently. “Watchcats” the new way to guard your house. 🙂
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Haha that would be something!
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Nice cats – very well fed- are these your strays ? Where do they live ?
I like the “Twisty” the Jersey cat was doing – that’s what we call it when our cat does it- it means he trusts you a lot – so much as to expose his most vulnerable part- the front of his body to you.
The heat- it is the worst of this weather.
My car stalled going to work this morning, on the fastest track- thankfully on a pocket road. A hot policeman towed me to a side. I sweltered and sat in the car until a tow truck brought the car home.
Heat without AC – unthinkable. The cats seem to be enjoying the hot weather.
Susie
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When does it all stop for you Susie – you need a break from “life”.
I have had four cars in my entire life. The first three had stalling issues and they were issues that could not be corrected, no matter what the mechanic tried. I would be driving, and the car would just stop in its tracks. It was very scary, even if driving in a 25-mph residential area.
No, they are not my cats and I think they belonged to this homeowner where they came down the driveway and the orange tabby plopped down and the black-and-white cat started rolling in the grass. They did seem friendly.
I have been hopping off the trail a little earlier to walk along River Drive which is across from the Park. There is a homeowner who has a couple of hummingbird feeders and I am hoping one day to go by and see a hummer or two sipping nectar at the feeder and get a picture – no success yet though.
So I was just about at that particular house, when these two cats came trotting down the driveway, just as a dog would do. It was kind of funny really. I stopped and took out the camera, thinking I’ll do something in a post about them as they were staring at me so quizzically, like I was from Mars or something! It is funny that you said that the cat baring its front of its body to me was because it trusted me. Another friend mentioned that to me too (a woman named Ann Marie that I used to walk at the Park with until she moved). She said almost the same thing, that it trusted me. I’ve never been around cats so I didn’t know that. I just figured it was wiggling around in the grass to cool off. Hmmm.
I cannot imagine no A/C right now – it would be unbearable. I just had another power blip again – the third one since I had the power outage two weeks ago. But this time it was worrisome since the A/C was running, fridge was running, I was on the computer … and it all went down. Just under a minute, but I had concern it might do some damage – no time to shut everything off before the power surged back on, even though I have a surge suppressor – I still worried. I am looking forward to Thursday evening (though they are talking about a potential severe storm late Thursday which would break this heat) (for a while anyway – cooler weekend, then hot rest of July). You know Susie, I’d have thought that the cats would be miserable with all that fur in this heat.
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That’s awful to have to swelter while waiting to be rescued.
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I agree.
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I love the way that cats use whatever is around them to cool down and rolling in grass being the simplest. Bet you can’t wait until this heat breaks.
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Zena, unbelievably I’ve never been around cats and two people have said they were surprised that this cat trusted me enough to roll around in the grass like that because I was a stranger. That astounded me as I just came upon the two cats walking down the driveway which was their home (I’m assuming) and the one laid down on the cement and the other one started rolling on the grass. They did check me out intensely first though. 🙂
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You seem to have an amazing relationship with all animals. I have always had cats and they can be so fussy with who they go to so you must have the magic touch ☺
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That makes me feel good – see, I never knew that about cats … I know they are even fussy with their owners … people always joke about who is boss when you have a cat, but I didn’t realize that cats would not relax if they did not trust you. One was kind of sleeping on the concrete driveway and the other one having a whale of a time in the grass. 🙂 Maybe I am like the “Cat Whisperer” … I haven’t been to the show since 1992, and I don’t have T.V., but my mom and I did use to rent movies. I did enjoy that movie “The Horse Whisperer” – it was just an amazing movie about a man who has the ability to communicate with horses, in this case a horse traumatized by an accident.
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I can imagine you as a cat whisperer or any animal whisperer actually
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Thank you for saying that – I talk to the squirrels all the time, and perhaps that is because they are so friendly. I have to tell you that I miss all of them racing over to greet me when I arrive. “Stubby” has a little way to go yet … still timid, but getting there. 🙂
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you always have a grassroots style of documenting Linda! The cats certainly agree!
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Thanks Wayne – these cats just appeared out of nowhere and I’m guessing their owner let them out of the house because they came running down the driveway to see me … thus “watch cats”. After inspecting me, they just ignored me while I took photos. Actually I was walking that way as there is a homeowner that has two hummingbird feeders in their front yard and it was so hot that I was hoping some hummers would be there and I could take their pictures, but the feeder was empty. Always scouting for more interesting photos!
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observing is 51% of photography!
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I am always on the lookout for out-of-the-ordinary things happening in ordinary places. The robins in the neighborhood that were living near the gutters and fledged … I was walking last week and one of them landed on the fence near me, just like he did that first day he fledged and posed for me on the fence. It was like your eagle singing … it was his first flight and he was joyous and sat there a little wobbly but feeling good about it. I spoke to him and took pics of him. Well I saw him again. Took his picture and he posed again. I know he knew me … he made eye contact with me and never moved for the longest time. I had time to take the camera out of the pouch. Always looking up/down and around, except when ensuring I don’t walk in goose poop. Actually all the geese and their goslings are gone … they have no flying feathers now while moulting so are lying low. I miss their hissing and wing-flapping … they gave character to the Park.
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I did this post today … it is the robin I mentioned in our comments yesterday. I know this robin is the same one I saw the end of May. It did a double-take, then turned around and then warbled a few notes – I prefer to think it was smiling. https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/07/06/look-who-i-found/
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you need to think of a name for your little friend Linda. Have a naming contest!
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I like that idea Wayne – I will be on the look out for him … I swear he was smiling in the picture up top!
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I bet he was & yes it is a male.
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You had a cat day, for sure!
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They made me hot with all that fur! They were not intimidated by me in the least – I was close up to them. We have a storm rolling in – potentially on the mildly severe side … torrential rain right now. Going to shut down shortly after checking out Reader unless it gets too rumbly out there. Just shut off the A/C. It is still the high 90s out there. The cold front will knock the temps down 20 degrees and no more humidity they say – for three days anyway.
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We had a marvelous thunderstorm this afternoon. The storm came steadily toward us, marked with a rainbow. Thunder came from above our house, followed by torrential rain. David, John, and I watched it from the back porch and moved to the front when the wind blew rain on us. We like storms, so it was a fun time.
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Our torrential rain lasted a good while so good for the lawn and flowers – despite all the rain in June, we’ve had hot weather and no rain, and even the grass was starting to look a little parched.
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It’s remarkable how quickly grass and trees can dry out.
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Yes and I can remember Summers when grass was crispy to walk on.
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You’ve outdone yourself with these kitty pix!! The first one – the expression on his face says “UGH, too hot!” Doesn’t he look pissed off to you? Lol!! The other one must’ve found the grass nice and cool to roll around on.
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Thanks Ellie – I knew that you, a cat lover, would get a kick out of these. The orange tabby looked a little like “Grumpy Cat” with the frowning mouth. He looks like someone peed in his dish of kibble, compared to the black-and-white cat who was so playful. It was a sickening hot day and I kept thinking how hot I was and I couldn’t imagine how hot they were with all that fur.
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Yes, poor fur-babies. 😦
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