NotSheep

That’s just one of the many pieces of information I learned today. A polar bear’s fur is actually made up of hollow tubes, which look white because each one reflects the light. They also redirect heat along them towards the bear’s body, so making the most of whatever is available. Kind of like those sun-tubes you can get that reflect the sunlight from your roof down into a dark room. Cool, huh?

Of course I’d never have known this if my children hadn’t told me. This home-ed lark improves the education of the whole family

Another thing I learned today:

It was the refrigerator door. *Deb wipes brow, and not just because it’s a hot day*

We fitted some appliance-window-shopping around today’s swimming lesson (during which Barney, warned that if he messed about again he’d be paying for the week’s lessons himself, behaved impeccably). Since I didn’t know, at that point, whether a new washing machine or a new refrigerator was the more urgent purchase, I looked at both. After a couple of shops, though, I decided it was way too hot and sticky to be spending in the car and in appliance-shops. On that note - of all places, wouldn’t you think that the shops which sell air-conditioners and fans might actually, uh, have some air-conditioning, or at least some fans running? Apparently people who work in shops which sell air-conditioning and fans aren’t very bright.

(No offence meant if you’re reading this and you happen to work in one of those shops, but hey, y’know… if you’re standing by a big pile of fans in boxes and the sweat is running down your face… uh, think!)

So we headed home and out to the garden. This presented a difficult question: did I sit in the middle of the garden, under the parasol so I was in the shade, or did I sit on the patio, in the sunlight but with my legs dangling into the pool? If I hadn’t been holding Toby, I’d have been in the pool - but as it turned out, Toby made the decision for me by falling asleep on my chest under the parasol. He’s quite the little radiator too

Scratchy phoned this afternoon - from his mobile, don’t ask me why - to see if there was anything I wanted him to buy, as he had five hours before he needed to leave for the airport. Unfortunately the only things I would like from NYC are either things I need to be there in person to choose (like shoes) or things that aren’t really going to come home on a plane with him (like a new washing-machine). He said he’d considered buying me some jade, but I told him forget it, go for a washing-machine instead. Romance? Shomance. Give me good appliances any day.

He’ll be back at lunchtime-ish tomorrow; I’ll probably pick him up after the boys finish swimming.

After dinner this evening, my friend J came by with Chip, who we’re going to be doggy-sitting for the next few weeks. Chip is a girl. The people who sold Chip to J’s family told them that Chip was a boy, and they didn’t know any better - hence the name. It wasn’t until Chip made a visit to the vet, who said “um… i have news for you”, that they discovered they had a girl named Chip. Anyway. It’s interesting how difficult it is to get your head around calling a dog named Chip “he”!

Right, off to browse washing-machine websites now. Wish me luck