August Weather

It got up to 100 degrees today.  That's supposed to happen in August not May.  We are having weird weather this year.  Some people would say it's caused by global warming, others are saying it's a sign of the End Times.  Personally I think it's just part of the natural weather patterns that God has set in place.  Periods of warm, wet weather, cold, dry weather, in our case warm, dry weather.  It just happens.  We did get a nice rain last Sunday but tomorrow looks like more hot and dry.  Like I've said before this is semi-arid country and hot and dry is not unusual.  They've only been keeping weather records for a hundred years or so.  If we go back 200 or more years there's no telling what the weather may have been like.  We haven't had a plague of locusts yet but I may be speaking too soon.  There have been years when the grasshoppers have been horrible. 

We drove out to the Refuge today and there was a grass fire on the side of the road, very scary.  I think they got it put out pretty quickly though because the wind is not blowing really hard and I didn't see any smoke coming from the area when I looked back later.  There is grass growing back in the burned areas on the Refuge but the trees don't look so good.  Maybe they will come back next year when they get some rain.  We picked up a few rocks to put at the front of our house.  The stray cats in the neighborhood have been using that area for their litter box.  Only they haven't bothered to bury their poop.  It could be because the ground is so hard.  Anyway the rocks and a few other things that we put out there look pretty nice.  We tried to more or less landscape it.  Hopefully this will work and the cats will move on.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day.  Since I'm not a mother it really doesn't mean much to me.  However, Bill and I did send cards to our mothers.  Gifts are too expensive especially considering they both have just about everything under the sun and finding a gift is very difficult. 

We're on vacation next week, we get 4 weeks vacation every year and we try to plan one every 3 months.  We can't really go anywhere so at the most we might make a few short road trips.  In spite of the gas prices.  There are several things around the house that need to be done too. 

Last Thursday we went out the the Refuge and I got a few new photos to post here.  The first 2 are hummingbirds.  They actually do sit still for brief periods of time.  The 3rd one is an unusual flower and the last one is someone's pet raccoon.

Nature is a part of our humanity, and without some awareness and experience of that divine mystery, man ceases to be man.

-Henry Beston