Fur too hot

Like the tennis, summer has hit Melbourne with a vengeance this week. And while I could very well get started on a rant on our appalling train system, which is apparently not designed to cope with temperatures over 35 degrees Celsius (we live in AUSTRALIA for gawd's sake!), I will focus instead on the two furry members of our household, and their different ways of coping with our current heatwave.

Our cat Zeb lies around pathetically mewing, complaining about the heat. He likes to writhe around in the dust for dramatic effect, just so we know how damn hot he is. This is a trait he shares with other members of the family; while we humans may not wriggle around on the 'lawn', like Zeb we do so like to complain endlessly when the temperature gets higher than 29 degrees.

Zeb is also a Big Flirt. This again is a trait he shares with one or two other (nameless) family members.

In contrast, our bunny Smokey just sits there, Zen like, in a shady spot as he ponders the heat. He is stoicism personified (or should that be 'lapinified'?). At least until you try to pat him, at which point he runs furiously around the garden in a spirited game of 'betcha can't catch me!'. I don't think he sees the value in flirting.

All we humans can do is to make sure that the Furry Boys have plenty of cold water on tap, and somewhere cool to sit, just like the rest of us. At least these lads don't have to worry about forcing their way onto crowded, unconditioned trains.


Oh, and isn't our lawn delightful... I so want to just get rid of it!