Just in time for the Dog Days of Summer

Maria has long lamented the fact that we don't have a dog door that would let our dogs to and fro between the screened back porch and the yard.

Austin solved the problem last week with a birthday gift to his mom of a new screen door that has a separate pet door.

Rather than risk the distress involved in struggling with the installation in 90-degree heat, I paid the additional $65 to have Lowe's send out an installer.

He arrived as expected about 10 a.m. today and had the job all wrapped up within an hour. I'm confident that Austin and I would have taken three or four hours and ended up with a job that wouldn't look nearly as professional.

The next step was to train the dogs to use the flap with magnets on the bottom.

Both dogs are crazy about cream cheese, so we used it to lure them  back and forth through the opening.

Ruthie was the first to catch on and now goes through with little or no coaxing. Pete, always the wary and cautious pup, has yet to make the passage on his own, but can be persuaded to step through the opening if you lift the flap a bit and invite him through.

Given time, I expect it will become second nature to both of them. In the meantime, I've ShopVaced what I hope are the last of the flies and mosquitoes and made the porch considerably more inviting for human habitation.

Just for the record, it's 96 degrees with a heat index of 100 at 4 p.m.