Beyond Brown & Crispy

Rise and shine at the crack of dawn, before the dreaded 111 degree forcasted melting weather arrived. I knew it was going to be a great adventure when we made the commute to pick up Aunt T. It's still difficult going on adventures without Brandy, especially since swimming was involved today, but I've have my big girl panties on.

Destination Lake Travis, or what's left of it. Texas is desperate for rain... I had my paws crossed that Hurricane Irene would have made a visit to Texas, instead she headed to the East Coast. Thank goodness my family and friends are all safe, but soggy from all the rain.

Lake Travis water level is 46 feet below full pool. We drove down the boat ramp that is normally covered by water. Mom parked the runner and we were headed out to find the water...

Then the Park Ranger pulled up along side of us as we were walking to the water. I had a feeling we were in big trouble....for what, I wasn't sure, but you know when you get that feeling in your stomach... well, I had that feeling. Mr. Park Ranger said ... "Mam, is that your SUV? It's parked in a no parking zone, right next to the no parking sign." Really, how embarrassing, Mom really had a major blonde moment this time. Thankfully Mr. Park Ranger was nice & didn't issue a ticket. Out of all the wide open space to park, she had to park in a no parking zone, Geez! As we were walking up the hill to the runner to move it, I heard Mom say, he sure was cute.

Stay tuned for the rest of the adventure...

Hibernation

Sound asleep, I woke to my favorite words... "Breakfast is ready". The original adventure plan was to rise and shine at the break of dawn before the dreaded Pug melting weather set in. After gobbling down breakfast, I checked the forecast, the weather was going to be to hot... 104 to 106.

The weather is definitely broken... back to my hibernation process, wake me up when it's cooler and raining... I have a feeling this is going to be a long hibernation...

Going outside is walking into an oven... When will the melting temperatures end? Hold the presses... I just remembered, Mom has been hinting on a super "cool" adventure planed in September. Hint, hint... "cool"... For now, back to napping and lounging.

Snipe!

My hunky friend, Noodle suggested that I become nocturnal until the scorching temperatures cool down, great advice. So I'm going on another night time adventure.

Since I've been back from The Farm, one thing I can't get out of my mind is the elusive Snipe. Apparently the best time to catch one is night time instead of during the day, which is perfect, now that I'm nocturnal.

Catching a Snipe requires two things, a burlap bag and some one to chase them out of the ground and from under the brush. Check and check, ready to go. (thank you Aunt Toad, just wish Camp Director could have been on the hunt too). But wait... the burlap bag is huge, how big is a snipe?

Game on... After waiting all day for the sun to go down, it was finally dark, we headed downhill to the woods with a flashlight lighting the way. As we approached the woods, Mom turned off the flashlight... What..? Really? How will we find our way? She said our eyes will adjust and the moon will light the way. Ok whatever, but it was true. So glad I secretly installed night vision on Mom's Iphone. This will assist my search for the Snipe and to make sure no snakes will be slinking around to get me.

The humans headed out to scurry up the snipe to my direction while I was left holding the burlap bag, waiting to capture the creature as it's zipping past me.

Then I spotted a pair of glowing eyes, could this be the snipe or something else like Sasquatch? All of a sudden I heard something walking slowly, crunching the brown, crispy grass, coming closer and closer... It ran past a lightening speed, all I saw was a blur. There wasn't even a chance of capturing the snipe let alone seeing what it looked like.

As we headed back to the house Mom said the full moon was helpful for the snipe in spotting us first and it zipped past me just to show me you can't catch me.

Next time .....
Then I woke up, it was all a dream... But I know they are out there... I will have a Snipe spotting one day...

Surprise Night Time Adventure

With Sunday being the 54th consecutive day of 100 degrees or greater of squelching, Pug and human melting weather. Daytime adventures are out of the question. If there's a will, there's a way... just have to improvise...


It was past my bedtime when Mom said one of my favorite things... "Are you ready?" Heck Yes! Flying down the stairs from the bed, we were out the door & loaded up and off to our friends house that has a pool. How cool is this... a night time swimming adventure.

I'm always ready for a swim, but after watching Shark Week this week, I was a little worried. Thankfully, the humans reassured me no sharks in the pool.


What a relief.... no sharks. Now I can swim, swim & swim. I highly recommend swimming at night, under the moon and stars...it's very peaceful. Plus it's great to swim with my Mom. Next time, I think I will challenge her to a race, I would totally leave her in my wake.

Tropical Storm Don

Since everything is brown and crispy from the drought, almost everyone (except the cotton farmers) were looking forward to Tropical Storm Don. The sky before the storm looks tranquil, but the temperatures are sweltering. With the severity of the drought, it will take a Tropical Storm or Hurricane to catch us up on the rain fall totals.

Friday evening the rain gauge is empty, but Tropical Storm Don is headed to Texas. We waited and checked National Hurricane Center on the progress of the storm... and we waited some more....
A few dark clouds started rolling in... still waiting. Then there were the Sun Beams...

Sunday morning I checked the rain gauge... it's empty...zero, nil, zilch, not even one drop.. really?... I'm so baffled, I can't look at the gauge. T.S. Don took a West-ward turn and passed central Texas.