I hope it's this nice out where all of you are!

[SallyMander]

I'm sitting on my porch with the dogs, the laptop, and an iced coffee... 79 degrees, sunny, a lovely breeze. What could be better??? Iza will be home soon and then we're going to a big park with some friends and of course the pooches... there is even a swimming area for dogs, so we're going to see what Simon thinks of water. Could be some entertaining puppy pics later on. :D

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! :hug:

[Call Me Wesley]

1. Nice here, too,

after very bad weather. Kind of overcast (and dark now, of course, since it's 9:38 p. m. here,) and our holiday neighbor called me today to have a look at his (ugly) pool next to us. The whole time I was there maintaining it, Ginger was with me, rolling around in the sun on the warm stones. :)

[SallyMander]

2. Aww, happy kitty :-)

Nice of you to help with the neighbor's pool! What was the matter with it?

:hi:

[Call Me Wesley]

15. The matter is they're not here,

and due to heavy rain, their pool was overflowing.

Oh, here's the new sign of the natural habitat of the big pond here (drawings by my sister:)



And this is the most rare species (Triturus vulgaris) we have here. Not a salamander, though, but very interesting:

[SallyMander]

22. Aww, very nice!!!

And great drawings by your sis! Looks like a nice reserve. :D

What a cute little newt! Here we have Notophthalmus species, which are similar. They have a terrestrial juvenile stage which is bright red, then they look like this as adults:

[Call Me Wesley]

27. I was lucky to have a juvenile once in my little pond.

Not the Koi pond, since this one's no habitat for other species but an artificial habitat just for Kois, although there are three Natrix natrix living there, too; I have a little one next to it for the frogs, snakes and dragonfly larvae.

The very interesting thing about this reserve is that it depends on rain water. During hot summers or dry winters it totally dries out and there's no life you can see. When the water comes in again, usually in May, life starts again - kind of from nothing. Oh, and when all the frogs are gathering to perform their concerto, no joking, you have to scream to the person next to you to be understood. It's loud. Very loud.

[SallyMander]

31. Sounds like classic vernal pool

Here, the salamanders always do best in that sort of ephemeral pond, because there won't be fish to eat the eggs and larvae. I think a vernal pool in the spring is one of the most fantastic spectacles in nature. :D

[Call Me Wesley]

34. It is a vernal pool.

No fish, unless some idiot drops his goldfish into it - which hasn't happened yet. A fun fact is that goldfish now are rated as 'native' to Switzerland, since they're everywhere. There was a spot on the Lake of Zurich where even some Kois gathered, because someone dropped them in there. Well, given it's just a colored carp, they were quite happy there, and since it was just under a restaurant, I guess they never starved, because people were feeding them.

But the pond here is really something, like you said. It goes from dry rocks to be filled with life when the water comes. You can just sit there and watch, but of course, if you're afraid of harmless snakes, might not be the best spot. ;) They don't care if you just sit there and swim right next to you.

[lost-in-nj]

3. beautiful here to!!!

but I was in the house cleaning most of the day
I did walk around the lake earlier in the day

right now my pups are both snoring away....

:hi:

haven't seen you in a while!!!!



lost

[SallyMander]

6. Glad to hear you got outside

It's just not right to spend ALL day cleaning! :D

I am doing endless laundry today... i swear Iza must change clothes 6 times a day! :rofl:

I've been really busy with school stuff recently... I've missed you all though! I will have to get back to my procrastinating ways. :D

:hug:

[Ava]

4. it's in the 90's here today

lazy sunday with homemade lemonade :9

looks like it is about to rain some though

[SallyMander]

7. Mmmm, lemonade

Are you supposed to get thunder? For some reason I've always loved summer thunderstorms!

:hi:

[Ava]

11. probably

i love them too.. especially on the weekends. it's nice to just chill out and listen to the storm come in.

then again i also am a freak who likes tornado weather. they rarely touch down in our area, but we get to watch them form which is neat to watch.. of course if one looks too close we get in our weather safe room, lol.

[SallyMander]

21. I am scared of tornadoes!

Iza makes fun of me because i freak out when the sirens go... even though we live in the middle of the city and are very unlikely to ever see a tornado! But i didn't grow up around them, so i am just picturing some Wizard of Oz action! :scared:

[ZombieNixon]

5. Nice weather? Yes.

Do I get to go out in it? No. God damn it, I hate finals. x( :P

[SallyMander]

8. Oh noes!

You can't do some studying out in the sun?

How many finals do you have? Good luck with them! :hug:

[ZombieNixon]

36. 3 exams, 2 final papers, 2 projects (one is done), and one presentation.

Going outside wouldn't accomplish much, since I pretty much have to have my entire computer system set up, with two laptops and an Xbox controller to complete my capstone. :crazy:

[SallyMander]

38. WOW, good luck!

That sounds like a mountain! But just keep plugging along and you'll get through it! :hug:

[Guava Jelly]

9. It is beautiful today

I sat on my balcony had a glass of ice water and talked to a lady from PA.
I think i'll go cook a cheeseburger,open a cold Peroni Beer, and go back outside.
And listen to my Ipod

[SallyMander]

13. Sounds like a good day!

But... but... what happened to the pretty bug??? :o

[Guava Jelly]

16. Your water lizzard ate him

:mad:

[SallyMander]

20. No way! That's a vegetarian salamander!

:D

[texanwitch]

10. I am sitting on the back deck with the old lap top watching the kids and dogs play.

We are looking after a friend's two kids so she can have a get away, she will be back Tuesday.

Also have a 98 year old neighbor staying with us for the week.

I hope I am in that great a shape when I reach that age.

She is cooking us supper today.

It has been a nice weekend.

[SallyMander]

14. WOW, 98 and cooking supper?

That's amazing!

Nice of you to open your house to friends of all ages. :D

:hi:

[texanwitch]

23. She is in great shape.

She has been looking after me because of my knee.

When I was a kid I always wanted to have the cool house where all the kids would hang out at.

I got that now.

The way the kids are running around they will going to bed early.

We have lots trees for shade, kids need trees and grass to be kids.

[texanwitch]

24. She is in great shape.

She has been looking after me because of my knee.

When I was a kid I always wanted to have the cool house where all the kids would hang out at.

I got that now.

The way the kids are running around they will going to bed early.

We have lots trees for shade, kids need trees and grass to be kids.

[SallyMander]

30. Sounds like fun :-)

Trees and grass, absolutely. And plenty of dirt and maybe a dog or two. :D

[texanwitch]

33. To many kids never get to be kids anymore.

The kids really like working in the garden this morning.

They got really dirty doing that.

We increased the size of the garden and we let them help with the planting.

[DarkTirade]

12. It's a little grey today, but a grey day here is still more colorful than a sunny day in FL.

And the less sunlight bit means that it's nice and cool too. :thumbsup: :)

[SallyMander]

18. Are you one of those guys who melts in the heat?

Iza is like that... and of course i love the heat, and hate the cold. LOL.

:hi:

:hug:

[DarkTirade]

26. When it's hot there's nothing you can do. When it's cold, just moving about keeps you warm.

So naturally I prefer the one I can deal with. :P

[SallyMander]

28. You forgot about swimming and running around naked!

Duh!

:rofl:

[DarkTirade]

32. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to do much of either one right now. :(

[Haole Girl]

17. It's hot, hot, hot...

I can't wait until dusk, when it will cool down some...

then I'll go out again.

Glad you're having a nice day! :hi:

[SallyMander]

19. Just a few more hours

I hope it cools off a bit for you!

:hi:

[TZ]

25. Well it was very nice until about 20 minutes ago

When a thunderstorm popped up. We had a very bad day with T-Storms yesterday. Not a surprise, seems like almost all the weekends of late have featured rain with the work week being beautiful...sigh.
Oh well. The kitties are enjoying having me around with the inclement weather.

[SallyMander]

29. That's too bad

I hope it passes quickly. If this pattern keeps up you're just going to have to call in "sick." :D

:hi:

[VenusRising]

35. It's nice out?

Who knew? I can barely move my head and shoulder today, so I've had a little gray cloud hanging over me all day.

Although, lizziegrace, lelapin, ZI, and I all had a nice dinner to see lg off last night. Nothing fancy, just a little home cooking amidst the sea of boxes and moving stuff. I'm gonna miss her :(

We need to get together just as soon as I'm feeling better!

Have fun with your pooches out at the Park.

:hi::hug::loveya:

[SallyMander]

37. Aww, sweetie, what did you do to yourself???

I sure hope you feel better soon! :hug:


I'm going to miss Lizzie too!!! I can't believe she's moving, but I'm so happy that everything worked out so well for her.

Let me know when you're feeling up for it and we'll get together. I would love to see you!

:hug: :loveya: :hug:

[VenusRising]

39. I slept funny.

Not funny "Haha" either. :P

It's better today than it was yesterday, so I'm sure that it will be even better tomorrow.

How did Simon like the puppy pool?

:hi::hug:

[SallyMander]

40. He had a blast!

We let them run around in the fenced-in grassy area, and then we went to the swimming area. Then we had to go back to the grassy area because we had three wet and muddy dogs, LOL (Elmo, Simon and their friend Haley).

Elmo just wades, but Simon actually looked like he swam briefly. He got really excited when another dog went in, and he just went crashing in after her. I think he got in over his head, but he just paddled back to shore! Then he looked like a drowned rat. :rofl:

Glad to hear you're feeling better sweetie! Tell ZI you need a massage. :D

:hug: