Man, dogs are kinda gross.

Steve has taken to licking out Kiva's ear as often as she'll let him. I don't know if it's the smell of dried blood in there or what, but he's treating it like a popsicle on a hot day. I am of two minds about whether I should put a stop to the licky-licky or not. Unlike Nancy the 45-lb terror, Steve doesn't spend loads of time licking his own butt, so his mouth is probably not too dirty; he only seems to use it for barking and eating. Kiva lets him lick it but doesn't like to let me get in there with a wet Kleenex to get the dried blood out. She doesn't seem thrilled with it, but she doesn't really cry or jerk away when he does it. It might be helping. I don't know. Any thoughts?

So, along with almost every blogger on my blogroll, I guess I'll mention how ridiculously hot it was outside today. It's a wild kind of heat when you walk out of air conditioning and you feel instantly touched and violated by it. It's hot enough that when you breathe in your nose, the inside of your nose is like, wtf is this burning up in here. It's a heat that soaks right into your sinuses and goes down your neck and comes up your feet. I keep looking at the radar on Weather Underground and there's this line of thunderstorms marching this-a-way from Indiana that's moving pretty fast. Behind it lies THE COLD FRONT OF JOYOUSNESS. Thank heavens.

I had to deposit a check tonight so I skated to the bank after it got dark. Despite the previous paragraphs' bitchin about the heat, I actually like it in some circumstances. Such as late on a summer night when I have something good to listen to, something with a little funk/hiphop groove to it, something like WuTang or old Black Eyed Peas or Outkast or whatever. I like to go out and sweat in it and listen. So I skated and sweated and listened and when I came back I had a cold beer and sat out on the porch looking at the morning glory that last week was three skinny vines and this week has gotten a hair up its arse and gone nuts and is about to take over the front of the house if I don't beat it back with a hedgeclippers soon. M came out and sat with me for a while but is not as outdoorsy as I am and went back in after about ten minutes. I stayed out for probably an hour, just looking at stuff and thinking. I wish I had a screened-in sort of area. I would sleep outside if I did. I could sleep in the hammock, but I'd be one giant welt of mosquito-induced itch in the morning.

Took a few more pics today of some of the landscape lights I have out there. I discovered that coolness occurs when I leave the shutter open for a long time and move the camera around. Somehow it still manages to focus on the light. Neat-o. I don't know what I'll ever do with pictures like this, but they're kind of fun.




I am so in love with this camera. It is about the greatest thing since giant trampolines.

Storm's a'comin...