Summer Summer Go Away

I went outside and the heat was oppressive. I was worried about the chickens so I filled up a second water container. All six of them ran to it and started drinking. The other container had plenty of water but it had gotten a little dirty and the chickens were having none of it.

I watered the garden and came in before my head exploded. I checked the weather page and it said 92 degrees and I thought there is no way it's only 92. Three seconds later the page refreshed to 98 with the predicted high of 101. I went out without a headache and came in with one. Now I'm sitting indoors in front of the swamp cooler sipping water and soda.

"Summer, you are through," signed Autumn.

Must Be My Week For Snakes

It's been another crazy day at the Shoebox Ranch. I was bringing laundry in from the clothesline and the cat was fixated on something by the sink. I had my hands full so I'm unable to look at the floor. I figured he'd cornered a mouse or something. Nope, not a mouse. A snake. So I set everything down as fast as I could and tried to grab the cat. Unfortunately just then the snake headed under the dining room table, which is shoved against the wall in our long and narrow kitchen/dining room. Then the cat is out of reach. The snake hugs the baseboard and disappears behind piles of boxes. I finally get the cat away from the boxes by squirting him with a spray bottle filled with water. I go around behind the boxes and see the snake's tail. Not a rattlesnake thank goodness. Not a gopher snake either. Its creamy yellowish tan.  I grab the tail but it feels like it is breaking in my hand so I let go. I don't know how else to describe it but it went 'crunch' in my hand.  Then I got the cat out from under the table again and threw him in the bathroom and shut the door.  Then I got a hold of the whole snake in the middle somewhere. Bad idea because it's whipping its head around and I don't want to get bitten. I'm trying to steer it into a bucket. No luck there and when I let go it dives back to the baseboards.  It is still back there somewhere. Haven't seen it since and there was no way I could move that huge pile of boxes and no where to stack them if I did. I waited hours for my boyfriend to get off work, but he had other deadlines and things to do.  So at this point the snake is still back there somewhere, unless it escaped while I wasn't looking. Darn, I didn't really want to go to bed knowing there's a snake in the house.