Make no mistake, I go swimming every single day of the year, or close enough, but summertime is pool time. In the summer, the water is warm, the air is warm, I’m warm. That’s all good. I don’t like cold water or cold air and most especially cold me. I’ll deal with it if I have to, but it is not nearly so fun as when everything is warm. It’s been in the mid-90s here every day for some time so even though I guess it’s not technically summer until June 21st, it pretty much feels like it.

There are four games that I really like to play. The first is a game I play with Rick. He never gets in the pool with me so I have to swim over to the side to play with him. Then he can grab me and throw me back, which I love.

You can see how fun getting thrown is from the photo above. That was in January! I told you, the pool is too fun not to swim in every day. He did that to me today too but Melly says it is hard to catch on film.

The second game is where Rick and I play fight. He grabs me and I pretend to struggle to get away. During the course of my struggles, I almost always manage to get in a few good rolls. You’ll recall that rolling is my superpower and I must constantly work at perfecting my form.

I am quite comfortable upside down, although not all capybaras are. Caplin Rous never went upside down and neither does his brother, Dobby Winnick. That is part of what makes rolling my superpower, it wouldn’t be super if everyone could do it.

Sometimes, if Rick throws me back hard enough, I get all the way to the bottom of the pool while still on my back. This demonstrates my great skill in this area and I am always thrilled when it happens.

Another pool game I like involves Melly getting in the pool with me. She won’t do that unless the water is very warm (today it was about 88 degrees F), which is another reason why pool time is more fun in the summer. In this game, I swim up to Melly and let her grab my paws. You can see that she is holding one of my front paws in the photo above. The paw is kind of sticking out of the picture.

Once Melly has my paw, she drags me through the water. This is especially fun if she drags me in a circle, which she usually does. I love the feel of the water flowing over my body. Usually she drags me on the surface, but sometimes I go underwater for a little way.

Melly and I play another game that she calls dancing but that requires both of her hands. That means she doesn’t have a free hand to work the camera (It would be nice if she did have three hands though, wouldn’t it?), so we can’t get any photos. In the dancing game, I put my hind paws on her knees and she holds my front paws. Then we go waltzing around the pool together! I wish I could show you how fun that is!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v4cdOWIg7A&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Playing in the pool today first with Rick, then with Melly

I hope you’ll watch the video of me playing in the pool today. Video captures how fun it is better than stills. (Don’t tell Melly I said that, she is some kind of photography fanatic!)

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