Swamp Things

I've become obsessed with Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. I liken my new found love to that of the excitement everyone else seemed to have for Harry Potter - a fever of which I never caught. I couldn't understand why the world was so crazed about some boy sorcerer. But the story of an 18 year old girl who falls in love with a vegan vampire while maintaining her relationship with her best friend who just happens to be a werewolf, now that's intriguing.

I've never read a fantasy book until this four-book series, but I can't but them down. Like reading under the covers until 2 a.m., can't put them down. Who cares that these books were originally written for teenagers? I've totally created my Team Edward shirt and I will be wearing it at midnight on November 21 when the movie opens alongside all the other adult women who love this book as much as I do. Oh - I've also discovered a few great podcasts as well. OK, obsessed is a bit of an understatement.

Maybe my girls realized my sudden fondness for monsters. After all, they are the ones most annoyed by my late night under-the-cover reading (Kev's snores the whole time). We've just started back on our training regimen in preparation for fall lure coursing. I walk both girls on a 1.5, 2 or 3 mile trek every evening. The varied distance helps me to see how well their stamina is building up. We only do the short route once a week and the long one twice. Most evenings we do 2.5.

We typically walk in the evening around 7-ish. It's around 85 degrees by then. Sure it's still a sauna outside, but at least the sun isn't beating down on you. I got the bright idea on Saturday morning to take the girls out at 9 a.m. It wasn't all that hot out and somewhat overcast. What I didn't plan for the weather phenomena where the sun rises as the day gets goes on, burning off the clouds, and increasing the temperature ten-fold. So here we are, 2 miles in, GBD is about to croak from heat stroke (drooling really isn't her best look), we've slowed to a snail's pace and I'm wondering how many phone calls to the house it's going to take to get Kev to wake up and come and get us in the car.

And then the girls uncharacteristically pull me to their sanctuary - our neighborhood pond. It's rather large, but my two girls ran toward it like they had been swimming in it for years. We found a somewhat safe edge for them to wade into - Seka just gets in enough to lay down, while Roxy walks in all the way up to her chest instead of laying down in the water. After a 10 minute soak, they emerged covered in pollen, muck, dirt, algae, and who knows what else. Needless to say we went straight home, being chased by a swarm of bloodsucking mosquitoes the whole way (half a mile or so), so the girls could get a good rinse off with the garden hose.

Now on every walk my two swamp monsters want to take a dip, no matter the temperature. I remind them that the swamp is there only for emergencies and maybe for their Halloween costumes if they want to go as the Swamp Thing. However, I think they both would make really cute vampires.