I have to say it - just when I start thinking July is the hottest month of the whole Texas year, August shows up.

31 more days. We can do it.

Bruce, of course, is busily aestivating his precious orange-cheeked box turtle heart out. Warm weather hibernation is a type of metabolic slowdown that some species go through when the thermometer inches up beyond a balmy 90F.

That happened for us back in May.

Now, with temps well into the triple digits and daily humidity to match, there is only one place to be if you happen to be Bruce. Under his giant green fern.

Malti is the only member of our little flock who doesn't mind the heat. As a South American native, she has evolved to experience only two seasons: "wet" and "dry."

For the record, she doesn't seem to care which one is happening as long as the menu is good. Heat is no obstacle when you have delicacies.

As for our fabulous and feathery flock alpha, he has been keeping his heat-averse large featherless/shell-less mama company indoors, thank goodness.

Although it is rather hard to feel truly productive when your writing assistant is napping so hard you can nearly hear him snoring.

So be it. One of us has to earn rent money to keep a roof over a certain set of feathery and shelled heads. And it certainly isn't going to be them!

Here in Houston, TX, our city has been slow to embrace safe social distancing, which plunged us right back into semi-quarantine this past month just as the rest of the country was coming out. As you might imagine, this was a real bummer. It is hard to know what lies up ahead.

And so we just do our utmost to stay focused on today.
Staying safe today.
Scratching itchy neck feathers and cute curved shells today.
Serving up gourmet menus for a certain set of discriminating (and not so discriminating) palates today.

What about you? How are you holding up through the hot summer season?

Hit "reply" here to let us know. Or drop us a comment on our new blog series, which is all about finding comfort, courage and calmness through cuteness. We hope you are still enjoying it!

Our flock is very grateful for your flock. We love to hear from you and we think of you daily with prayers for safety and health and love.