Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 06:27

Degrees of Difference

Monday the temperature was in the low 90s. It was one of those days when just walking around made me sweat profusely, never mind if I was actually doing anything.

A cold front moved through Monday night/Tuesday morning. In the afternoon, the high temperature was mid-50s.

Now, with a weather change like that, you would think we'd get rain out of it. Nope. Nothing more than a brief shower that made the grass wet and the air a little more humid. The air was cool enough and damp enough that when we took the dogs for a walk up the dirt road Tuesday evening, we could smell the wild cherry blossoms.

Of course, now I am afraid for the wild cherry blossoms. The weather forecast said that frost was a possibility Tuesday night. . .

LeAnn R. Ralph

Monday, May 14, 2007, 05:04

A Cool Mother's Day

For much of the past week, the temperature has been in the 80s and one day it was close to 90 degrees. Sunday, Mother's Day, the temperature was in the 60s with a mostly cloudy sky.

Saturday evening and Sunday morning, a few thundershowers rolled through. We got 2/10 of an inch of rain out of it. And that was it.

In spite of the rain and the clouds, the air is so dry, the humidity is so low, that clothes I hung outside Saturday evening which got rained on during the night -- even without any sun and cool temperatures -- were dry by late Sunday afternoon.

At one point during the afternoon, we went for a walk around the hayfield.

And while we were out there, we pulled some yellow rocket.

Every spring we pull yellow rocket out of the hayfield, and we've been able to keep it at bay enough so that it has not gotten really well established. When I first started pulling yellow rocket out of the hayfield, I would get a full tub by the time the hay was too tall to be walking around in it. Nowadays I only end up with a few plants from time to time.

I tried to take Pixie's picture as soon as I got out of the house. She doesn't like to have her picture taken. She didn't want to look the camera. Then she reluctantly turned back toward me. She's much happier running around the hayfield.

Charlie was taking a nap on the hay I put out for him by the house. He reluctantly woke up when I told him to smile. After he figured out we were going for a walk around the hayfield, he was awake and ready to go.

By the time we got around the hayfield and were back by the barn, Kajun was up by the fence. Behind me Randy was picking a handful of grass for Kajun, so there's no way Kajun was going to leave until he had gotten his treat.

Isabelle was waiting for us to come and see her, too. She wasn't very cooperative for the camera. Or else the camera wasn't very cooperative. This is the only picture I was able to get of her.

Back in the house, Snowflake had taken up on a position on Pixie's blanket in the corner. Actually, Snowflake had kind of burrowed into Pixie's blanket.

Bobby-Cat was taking a nap for the afternoon as well. Bobby spends most of the winter inside the house and most of the summer outside. She will stay outside for a couple of days at a time if the weather is nice. When she comes in, she finds a comfy place to sleep and crashes for a day until she's ready to go outside again.

Sophie was also taking a nap, curled up on the bed. And Billie was resting comfortably on her spot on top of the computer.One day a few weeks ago, Billie was asleep on top of the computer and rolled over in her sleep. She rolled right off the computer. Good thing I was sitting there. I reached out and caught her in my hands before she hit the keyboard.

All in all, it was pretty quiet day around here on Sunday. And that suits me just fine.

LeAnn R. Ralph