Following a week of high humidity and an overheated atmosphere interspersed with rain events and thunderstorms which, while irrigating the landscape keeping it from drying out completely under the influence of wind and sun while doing nothing to alleviate the suffocating heat, yesterday gave us a high of 32C, stiff wind, and full sun. Until five in the afternoon when the anticipated thunderstorms hit, and then again at seven in the evening.

While the temperature still hovered over the people-melting stage, overnight it began to give some relief. Our late morning walk in the ravine with Jackie and Jillie yesterday was as heat-exhausting as we imagined it would be, even under the shade of the forest canopy. What's more, while we dressed for the occasion, Jackie and Jillie did not. They have a full three months' worth of hair-growth which to a degree might keep them insulated from the sun if they were anything but black, but not the heat.

Taking into account their long silky hair is susceptible to being invaded by the countless burrs of all sizes and nastiness that result from drying forest vegetation on the floor of the forest just waiting to  hitch a ride on the pelts of innocents abroad, and there's the recipe for a degree of discomfort. Asking Jackie and Jillie during our trail hike whether they were interested in having a drink elicited an immediate response unlike many other occasions, and they lapped up the proffered water with great gusto.

And then it was time for their grooming appointment. They were excited to be going somewhere in the truck, but when it was parked ten minutes after leaving the house their excitement was of another variety entirely. Though they'd only been there once before, they remembered. The doggy 'spa' is connected to and next door to the veterinarian clinic we once depended upon to serve the health needs of Button and Riley.

When we took Jackie and Jillie into the reception area, the young women who work there expressed their sweet and friendly kindliness toward our two, but it hardly made a dent; they were trembling, whimpering, anxiously clinging to us, their hearts beating furiously. An hour and thirty minutes later we picked them up, barely recognizable. Gone their puffed-up conformation; now they were sleek and svelte, and no burrs would stick to them. Our reunion was one of great passionate relief.

Jackie and Jillie almost look invisible seen against the tiles of the kitchen floor