Dog Days of Summer Begin

Sam and I, her last night in Colorado, for the rest of the year.

Next in person visit with the kids will be us in Florida for Disney World in December. 

Only  182 days . . .

Tuesday evening we had a farewell meal at Los Dos, where somehow the lighting in there manages to turn us fire engine red, like we're spontaneously combusting. So, black and white it is.

We also stopped in at Cold Stone for some ice cream and met Charlie, the 2 month old miniature kangaroo, who was in a pouch carried by his "mom". This was unusual, even by Highlands Ranch standards. 

Sam and Jason were off for Florida (and much, much worse dog days of summer) Wed. morning and the house got very, very quiet again. 

But the summer flowers are blooming along the trail and its still a cool 55° as the sun starts to come up, so there are no complaints here. 

After ten years living here, I know it won't be long until the mowers plow through the open space and all this lovely tall grass will be history, so we're enjoying it while it lasts. 

Aidan, in Evan style, wears the yellow blooms from the tops of the grasses proudly on his head, like little yellow confetti. 

But dog days of summer are bearable to Aidan (and me) mostly in those early mornings and late evenings. He's taken to whole bowls of ice in the afternoons, where he very helpfully leaves a trail of very cold melting ice water for me to step in, so I can cool off, too. 

Speaking of steps, my new kicks came in the mail Thursday. 

The tiny cooling pad (wrong size ordered, and the box showed up with the same picture, a big old Boxer sprawled across it) is still useful to him now, although I may break down and buy him the bigger size by July.

and this was new today. He's decided the cool floor is the best place for everything, including eating kibble.

On my lunch hour today, I met Sophia for our very last training session, at Home Depot, to run him through all of his paces, with all kinds of distractions and smells. We remembered to get a photo of his graduation day together.

Lastly, to wrap up the week, Google notified me that they'd made me a Doggie video today. 

Gut punch in the bittersweetness of it all.