Beating the heat with a new doggy pool

It sure is hot in our house since the day before Christmas, when the evaporative cooling on the roof flooded our lounge room. Water poured down through the light fittings and through the cooling vents.

And it did it again on Christmas Day!

So now we don't have any cooling, for the first time in Penny's lifetime. And she's feeling the heat. It's still about 35°C at 10:15 at night (about 95°F), and Penny's lying in front of a fan, worn out, as we all are.

But we did have some fun earlier in the evening with our new doggy pool. It's called 'buddy and belle' and so far it seems to be suitable. I like the fact that it folds away when not in use, not like those plastic sand-play shells we had when Penny was a puppy.

I wondered how the material would stand up to a dog's claws, but it does seem to be thick material. The man in PetStock, where we bought it, hadn't sold one before - I think it's a new product - but we examined it and it's the thick material used for lining human pools, so it should be okay.

Just in case it does spring a leak, I've positioned it uphill from a major tree in the garden, which could use the water, and also uphill from our goji vine.

Penny jumped in to fetch thrown toys, and out again, and normally I'm not keen for her to jump, due to her arthritis, but with such heat it seems worth the risk. She sure had fun. I guess we could try out a little stool for her to get in, but I think she'd ignore it. When she's after a ball she's focused on the task!

goji berries and African boxthorn

I walked in Darebin Parklands without Penny this morning, because I was taking part in a 'mini retreat' to learn more about mindfulness. It was lovely to walk mindfully, using my three senses - hearing, sight and feeling/touch/body awareness. When I'm with Penny the time seems to rush by unexamined, as she dashes from place to place.

I came across an African boxthorn, a really pestiferous weed in Australia, and dared to try out a theory I have that the fruit is the same as the much-admired goji. I ate one, and it tasted nice, even sweeter than the gojis in my garden. Of course, there's the likelihood that the plant had been sprayed with poison, but I thought it looked as if it had not been.

Later, when Penny and two of us humans returned to the park, I persuaded Human Number Two to also try out one of the fruit, and so far we're unharmed, lol.

BTW, I had taken the precaution of rechecking my facts about African boxthorn and felt reasonably sure it was a goji-relation.

ADDITIONAL NOTE 11 MAY 2015: I'm not sure that African Boxthorn is safe to eat. I think it's too risky until I can find out more.

I wonder if it would be good for the park if everyone took home lots of these nutritious fruit, so the birds don't continue to seed them all around the place. (They're frightfully expensive to buy.)

Of course, the better course is to get rid of the plants entirely.