Longtime readers know I get really cranky around this time of year, and not just about politics and all the grandstanding and other ridiculousness that comes with it. It came to a head last week with the official start of summer and the realization I couldn't live in my house any longer.

I was not made for summer. I was made for mild temperatures and cool breezes. Give me the delights of summer--homemade ice cream, fireflies lighting the sky at dusk, loads of wildflowers, snow cones--but don't make me sit in a run-down house with no functioning air conditioning. I had enough of that as a kid, and I'm too old, fat and cranky to deal with it now.

I'm not the only one, but at least what animals do to deal with the oppressive heat is adorable, as bestie Sarah reminded me Monday morning as I was dealing with working on the Voices and editorial pages while simultaneously attempting to make a deal on a house. With the comment, "Sploot season is here!" on the National Park Service's Facebook post, Sarah reminded me of all that is cute about summer.

OK, really, it's just the splooting, but sometimes that's enough.

I've talked about splooting before, but for the uninitiated, here are the basics involved,........

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