We are approaching the end of the Dog Days of Summer. Temperatures here are really skyrocketing. I am not joking, and I do not make up these numbers, really. To say it is hot here is a bit of an understatement. Ick.

( because the images are large and might melt your friends page.... )

I love our crazy winter weather here. Sure, I miss the giant snowfalls and the beautiful fall colors and the obvious differences between seasons. It's days like yesterday that feed my craving for snow. However, it's days like today that make the nasty summers completely worth their torture. The thing I hated most about living up north wasn't the snow, it was how long the snow lasted. I hated the blinding glare of the sun bouncing off the white stuff, the everlasting snow banks, the slushy mess when all the massive mounds of snow finally decide to melt. Thankfully, I don't have to deal with that here. Snow in the Metroplex is typically a "here today, gone tomorrow" sort of thing, and quite honestly, that's just fine with me. By the time the sun went down the day after our "major snowstorm," the snow was almost completely gone.

I'm sitting here with Sophie in the living room, now that lunch is over. We can hear the kids screaming and playing outside. It sounds like they're having a wonderful time, too. I'm rater surprised Sophie hasn't heard them, but she's wrapped up in her Quiet Loud book by Leslie Patricelli. She's doing an excellent job reading it, too. She's very quiet on the quiet parts and very loud on the loud parts.

Heh, of course I typed that too soon. She now hears the kids and is repeatedly announcing it. Poor kid. I'd let her go outside, but...

It's snowing.

That's right, snowing. It was 70° F here yesterday and today it is snowing. Big, wet, sticky flakes are falling from the sky. The roofs are all covered in white. The snow is sticking in some places on the ground, but melting in others (our garden area is covered in snow, but the area around the garden is green). What's funny about this particular snow storm is it's our first real snow of the winter, and most likely it's our last. It snowed a few flakes on Thanksgiving, but nothing of any real importance. I think that's the only other snow we've seen this season.

I've heard we're supposed to get somewhere between one and three inches of this stuff. I have a feeling if we actually get that much, it won't be gone tomorrow. It might, but I don't think it's supposed to be that warm tomorrow.

It's not just floating from the sky, either. It's actually a bit blustery out there. If it weren't so windy and if she actually had snow pants or a snowsuit, I might consider letting her play outside. She'll just have to enjoy the flakes from inside this time around. Perhaps next year she'll get to play in the snow.

For now, however, we're going to cuddle together under blankets on the sofa while reading books together and every now and then watching the snow as it falls from the sky. It's not even falling in big flakes now; it's falling in clumps. Yes, everything really is bigger in Texas.

Sophie decided she wasn't on board with the morning nap. This isn't really a big deal, other than it puts my shower on hold. I got her up, changed her diaper, and got her dressed. As we were heading back to the living room, I noticed something different about the neighbor's backyard. It took me a minute or two to realize that the difference was the fact that I could actually see the neighbor's backyard. We lost a fence panel to the wind. It's the panel smack in the middle of the back fence. I'm just glad Chui was inside when it fell down.

What's really frustrating about this is the fact that we've been talking about replacing the fence with one of our neighbors. Of course, the back fence wasn't the part we were talking about replacing, although we knew it needed to be done soon.

I wouldn't be surprised if other panels start to tumble now. They're doing a lot more flopping in the wind now that the first panel has gone down.

Sophie is currently watching Baby Signing Time (vol 2 right now). We don't watch either of these videos very much anymore, even though they're my favorites. I was afraid she was growing bored with them. However, while giving her a bath earlier, I was singing the "Wash Hands" song and she was singing along (or trying to, at least)! That was when I decided we needed to pull these out again. She's been signing along with all of the signs ("Momma! Socks! Momma! Hat!") and it's been fun watching her.

We're having a gray dreary day here. It started off rainy and chilly. It's now just windy and chilly. I think I actually want to find my slippers. I love weather like this. The high for today is supposed to be in the mid 50's (F) and tomorrow is supposed to hit 64° F. This is the fall weather I've been waiting for!

This morning I took Sophie out to the front porch to show her our little pumpkin family (still uncarved). She got very excited and almost surprised they were still there (she saw them yesterday as well). "Hi, pumpkins!" she said, all happy. As we closed the door, "Bye, pumpkins!" Sometimes she's too cute for words.

Okay, I've made it through the B's. benedorm, billzy, blondieoubre, bppubjr: If I've missed anything, please let me know. By the way, I really do think billzy posts more than I do. I didn't think it was possible, but I had a lot to read when I hit his page!

Tonight we got hit with a little rain and a little hail. Not too far from us there was at least one funnel cloud. I gathered the baby and the dog, a few blankets and a pillow, some toys and the flashlight, and headed off to the master bedroom closet for the duration of the storm warning as soon as I heard the siren. Chui kept Sophie entertained enough and vice versa so that neither of them ever really freaked. Sophie and I read books and played with Chui and her other toys and she stayed happy except for the first five seconds when I put her on the floor while I tried to figure out the best place for us to sit. At that moment, I realized there really was no good place in that closet and that if we are going to use it for this purpose that I ought to clean it out a bit.

B was out and about on his way home from work (in my car) when the storm hit, but the hail didn't do much damage to my SL2 at all. The poor car keeps racking up minor dents and dings from all these hail storms but never anything major (thankfully). B made it home safely shortly after the relief sirens sounded.

When all was said and done, I came out and checked the answering machine and found there was a message from the city of Watauga stating there was a severe weather warning and to take cover. I thought that was pretty cool, especially because we no longer lived in Watauga. It was too bad I didn't hear it until afterwards (the call came while I was trying to get Sophie to take a nap, long before the sirens sounded here).

I have no clue where this weather originated but I'm guessing from up north somewhere. It's supposed to be 56° F and cloudy/windy tomorrow (after a week in the low 70's). I don't think I'll be taking Sophie to Waxahachie to see B play at Scarborough RenFest tomorrow.

Ahh, I love spring weather in Texas.

I don't think I've ever actually noticed a dust storm since I've lived in Texas, but last weekend we had one. I took pictures of our neighbor's roof mostly because they had shingles flapping everywhere, but also because I wanted a picture of the sky and how red it was (thanks, Oklahoma). It was rather eerie.

We wound up needing a small repair to the roof over the south side of the garage and since B had the roofers here anyhow, we had ridge vents and a wind turbine installed. Hopefully this will help with our cooling this summer.

( pictures )

I doubt we'll be hit by much more than high winds and rain (maybe a few tornadoes and hail). Some people think it will still be a Cat 1 by the time it hits DFW. Even so, I doubt there will be much flooding. Some areas will be very wet, yes, but it will be nothing compared to NOLA during Katrina. My prayers and thoughts go out to the people in the path of Rita. I hope the aftermath is nothing like what we saw from Katrina, that's for sure.

In any case, I plan on shutting myself and B and Chui inside nice and tight all weekend. I am coming home from work Friday night and don't plan to leave again until Monday morning, and there isn't anyone or anything that is going to change my mind on that. I am going to get some good sleep this weekend. I am tired of being tired and want to feel rested for just two days before I have to drag myself back to work Monday morning.