Baby it's cold outside

Hi Suz!  We have sandhill cranes here too and we just love them.  Have had several families grow up in my back yard. 

 We've had quite a storm tonight and lots of rain, but it was really hot today in the 90's.  Our pool is now 87 degrees on its own.  It is so warm, it is almost not refreshing unless the wind blows. 

I grew up in the country in Ohio, a farm house in the middle of 400 acres farm land, we rented the house. Our beagle, Snoopy, would get out of the fence and run the rabbits in the fields. My dad would occasionally hunt rabbit and pheasant, he tried taking Snoopy with him but at the first shot, Snoopy would turn tail and run back to the house, a hunting dog that was gun shy!

Last night it was cool but not as cool as Sunday night. It will be the last cool night in a while. Today back in the 90's but overcast.

Sheila

Mary, I just love our sandhill cranes and they're the birds I really love watching all summer.  I'll send my crane family to live with you this winter.

Sheila, Snoopy sounds like what my dog does, she's half beagle and half chihuahua and the beagle thinks she's all brave and a little hunter and then she hears a gun shot and the scared chihuahua take over.  She's hilarious!  What part of Ohio are you from?

Meece, reminds me of a story I often tell people.  We lived in a neighborhood about 15 years ago.  Our neighbors were very Christian people and very holistic and protected their children from violence - no tv, etc, but there was a woodchuck that was eating away at their deck.  Since there were no guns allowed in their house, he asked my DH if he could borrow my Dad's gun to try to kill the woodchuck.  So he borrowed the gun but kept it safe in the garage, after many attempts he couldn't get that woodchuck.  One evening they had bible study at their house and our neighbor saw the woodchuck eating away at the deck.  He jumped up, excused himself, ran in the garage, pointed the gun out the garage door and BAM, shot the woodchuck dead all while the entire bible study looked on in what was described as horror!!  Then he went back inside and continued bible study.  LOL, we still laugh ourselves silly over that story! 

I wish we could get away with popping the heads off of the squirrels around our house.  They are just rats with bushy tails and take over completely.  I put my bird feeders about 6 feet out in the lake.  This stopped the squirrels from raiding them. 

That's so funny Sheila.  I love these wildlife stories.  You didn't grow up too far away from me.  We're just a little over an hour away from Toledo.

Mary, great idea to put the birdfeeders in the lake!  I love it.

We don't have squirrels other than the one ground squirrel that was digging around the house this spring - don't know if you remember the story but that's the squirrel my 12 y.o. huntress kitty caught and killed for us.  My hubby and boys can take care of any pest or animal that needs to be taken care of EXCEPT a deer during hunting season.  They can't get one to save their lives!  We have heards of them in our back yard all year EXCEPT during deer hunting season. 

I bet my kitty would like the koi too!  Obviously, we can't have Koi cause of the wildlife although a friend of mine has them and she is able to keep them safe.

The obvious...fog. As for the wild life, we've had a doe and a new fawn, 3 raccoons and a skunk sharing the cat food, 7 stellar jays, 6 doves, 2 woodpeckers and a robin fighting over 4 bird feeders. Two weeks ago one of the cats jumped over the garden fence and killed a gopher that's been eating the cauliflower. We still have the icky, slimey banana slugs all over and numerous bugs.

LOL, love the synopsis of your wildlife Smith!  Sounds like my back yard only we have to add in the coyotes.  Still think those banana slugs are the ugliest creature I've ever seen.  They make me shudder just to look at their picture.

We are nice and cool today.  Humidity is down, our high is supposed to be 79 or 80.  Going to join my entire family at the pool after work and then a family dinner together, there is a rib special at the place we swim!

Next week, the weather guesser says it's looking miserable for mid michigan - warm and humid.  That is not a complaint from me though, I love it!

Summers are cold in San Francisco! I feel bad for the tourists that go there, expecting nice weather. Like here, SF is nice in October and November and the summers are cold and foggy. Enjoy your time there Meece. I grew up in Pleasant Hill, which is about an hour from the city. When our weather got too hot, we went to SF to cool off.

 OK...really aging myself here, but my 2 older sisters and I use to take a Greyhound bus to the city when we were kids and walk around all day. 25 cents got us on a cable car and we'd have a blast. Times were different then...

Winter here in New Zealand.  Don't get snow where I live but we had a heavy white frost this morning and a fantastic sunny day to follow, although it has only got to about 55oF. After a 6 month drought over summer we are having a lot more rain than usual this winter which is good for refilling the lakes and water reservoirs but not so good for doing anything outside.

Love all the stories of your wildlife.  We don't have small mammals like woodchucks or squirrels  - I would think they were cute if I saw them!  I saw chipmunks at the Hoover Dam once and they were tremendously cute.

I had a week in SF in September a few years back and it was cold and foggy.  We enjoyed all the touristy parts of the city but we felt very unsafe at times as our hotel was in a not so nice area - we have taken a lot more care choosing hotels in other places since that experience!!!!

Rae

I can't imagine going to SF in the summer!  I long for the heat so much during our long winters that I soak up all the sun and heat I can. 

Welcome raeinnz.  I'd LOVE to hear about the wild life in New Zealand.  Glad you're getting some needed rain.  My parents visited New Zealand about 10 years ago and the stories of their trip and the pictures are breath taking.  It's on my bucket list to visit some day.

Sheila, the heat is coming back here too.  Of course, our heat is thankfully about 5 - 10 degrees cooler than yours.  We're supposed to be 90 today with heat index of around 95.

I also hate the cold.  I suppose that is why I like living in hot/humid Florida. I love to be able to go swimming on Thanksgiving day and make trips to the beach in the winter. 

 It has rained everyday for almost a week and looks like it will continue to rain everyday this week.  We are getting moldy.