Sultry...

The last two days the temperature has reached 95* in the shade! I think the humidity about matches that as well. Sultry really describes how it feels; like you could cut the air with a knife. Even Emma has taken to just laying in the shade.



A couple of days ago, I sent an email to a few people. I got a reply from my friend Susan in Minnesota, and she inquired if I realized that I had used the term "you all" in the email. Her comment was, perhaps I had spent too much time in the south and needed to get back up north. Well, Susan, I have spent much of the last two years in the south, but if I were really a southerner, I would have said y'all. ;)

Emma and I went on a slightly shortened daily hike this morning because it was already 85* by 9:00. Afterwards, I hopped in the car to do a little sightseeing. I drove to John Pershing State Park, but didn't do any of the hikes because of the heat. I'll save those for a slightly cooler day. I then went back to revisit the John Pershing Historic Home and visitor's center. I watched the movie that I had missed last week and found his life very interesting. Since the visitor's center is also a state welcome center, I was able to pick up quite a bit of information on what to see in the state.

I also asked the attendant if he knew where I could get some seasoned firewood. While I was viewing the movie, he checked with the maintenance person and came back with the name and number of a person that would deliver a load of wood right to my site. I may give him a call tomorrow.

Yesterday evening, I glanced out the table window and saw five Canada geese parade through my site. It turns out that about two hundred geese will be arriving at the refuge this week. We really don't have any resident geese here. The hundreds of thousands that use the refuge in the winter all migrate here from the north and leave to return north in early spring. So where are the 200 coming from? They are being transported here from Kansas City and from Six Flags in St. Louis. It seems they have resident flocks that are becoming real pests there. So, instead of just killing them all, they are rounding them up and shipping them here. I'm not sure that's such a good management technique, but then I'm not making those decisions. :) It does seem to me that eventually there could be a huge resident flock here and then how will the habitat also support all the migrant flocks that arrive each fall? Hmmm... So now, besides the raccoon, numerous rabbits, squirrels, and the deer, Emma will have two hundred geese to raise her blood pressure. The geese range in age from fluffly young to adults.

Well, if it cools down a little this evening perhaps we'll take a walk and see if we can find the new arrivals. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy