Hot, sweaty zoo fun

Lest you think the weather is perfect in our corner of the country, I must say it has been downright hot this week. We're verging on 95 degrees here on the coast and it's much hotter in town.

I know some of you are laughing at my calling anything under 100 degrees "hot" but we're wimps when it comes to anything that deviates from our year-round 70-80 degrees with sunshine. Plus, we don't have A/C.

In spite of our perceived swelter, we braved the zoo for a couple of hours one morning last week, seeking out shaded exhibits and downing lots of water and cold fruit along the way.

We were sweaty, but the animals entertained us enough to keep our brains off of the rising mercury.

Two giant pandas padded silently around their serene cove, the hippos bobbed and grinned right up to the viewing window and a new baby gorilla charmed us with his uncoordinated scampering and buffoonery.

I noticed that some of the animals acted a bit smarmy in their cool, temperature-controlled habitats, though. I'm not sure, but I think I saw the river otters laugh at us as they slipped down quenching water slides while we watched with glistening brows under gleaming sun.

By noon, we were back home with curtains drawn, the fan oscillating and feet soaking in cool water. I fixed sandwiches while brother and sister had some rejuvenating nakey time.

This chain of events made one hot afternoon palatable.