Visiting the South with the team.

We made a quick trip south over the weekend. If you don't live in California, the South is Very Different from the North. I am from the South, but have lived in the North for…many…years.

I just counted and the number was unflattering. Just like those shorts.

You can tell I'm from the North by my outfit. According to the South, I am a hippie. Even though I'm not exactly from the North, but more from the Center and originally hailing from the South, although more of the Western portion of the North part of the South, depending on exactly where you draw your lines.


The theme of this trip was Find the Shade. This photo is from the lower Center or very tip top Northern Western edge of the South. It was really hot.

I know. Some of you live in states that aren't California and you have weather issues that I'll never understand. We have real estate prices that you'll never understand. Now we can back away from each other and nobody shoots.


But I'm not kidding. It was really hot. There is a lot of shade in this photo because it's near dawn and this land is near Starbucks. This was the best walk we went on all weekend. The dogs look very serious here. Maybe they would prefer to not be stayed under a buzzing tower of power?

When you travel with dogs, you take a lot of walks, ideally in places that don't make the dogs pant and shuffle along. I am good at finding parks, neighborhood schools, homeless camps on rivers, and somewhat maybe perhaps legal open spaces to walk around in. Pretty much every walk we took all weekend involved panting and shuffling. It was that hot.


Yes. It is even hot at the seashore. But it is way easier to smell the dead rotting carcasses in the heat! So that works super. Otterpop is the only one of us who loves the heat and although I'd swear she looks somewhat panty here, I believe she is taunting the rest of us. Otterpop was a real asshole all weekend.


We visited a lot of parks and then made beelines for the shady trees. The dogs and kids would climb the trees for like one minute, then collapse underneath and just sit there. If kids and dogs all want to sit and rest, you know something is wrong with the weather.


What's wrong with this picture? You would usually never see any of them resting. And here they are, sitting under a tree. Really, really hot.


Otterpop is all, "Hurry up you sissies." I used to love traveling with my dogs. We had a great time traveling with Gustavo and Ruby, although they nearly melted. Otterpop, on the other hand, has been in a rotten mood for the last 2 months and was no fun to travel with this weekend. I should have just left her there to enjoy the heat and terrorize the South, although I'd never do that to my poor family.

We are back here now in the North. It's foggy. Most of us are fine with that, although Otterpop is over in the corner grumbling about something. If anyone down there in the South would like Otterpop for a month or two, preferably in a desert full of tennis balls with water tubs every 100 yards, let me know and I can arrange this.