There's something to be said for cold weather, then! With a 103 reading on the thermometer this afternoon, I think I'd like to be cold again. Every kind of animal and amphibian is coming into the neighborhood looking for water and food.

So true! The birds are staying closer lately, probably they don't want to get too far away from the food and water! This morning I saw 3 chickens at the wildlife feeding area. Guess they got loose somehow from one of the neighbors. I miss the feral chickens that were here before...unfortunately they didn't survive.

I was comparing photos of the back yard last year to this summer. It's a drastic difference. Plants are smaller, less blooms, and the ground is so dry. I hand water every day, but feel guilty about it. Seems like a waste now. The front yard is doing much better in spite of the intense afternoon sunshine out there. The deer aren't even coming up to bother things anymore. They're sticking close to the creek where there's food.

I was standing in the kitchen window early one morning last week and a large owl sitting in the tree over the fence. Our neighbor down the street has a screech owl family in her backyard. I think this was one of them hunting for food. Neat to see, but no one was up to share it with!

103 sounds horrible, we went over 31 days without rain and it was getting very dry in the woods, but I don't think temperatures went much about 94, which is bad enough. I hope you get some rain real soon.

It's going to be 104 today! I'm waiting for daylight to go out and water a bit. I don't want to surprise any slither-kadees like Horntoad did!

Horrible story about a snake this morning, 2 young boys age 5 and 7 were killed by a 100 pound python. The apartment was above a pet store, the boys were on a sleepover with their friends, sometime during the night the snake escaped and got into the ventilation system and into the room where the boys were sleeping. This happened in the province of New Brunswick.

OMG...how awful. I'm happy not to be in south Florida where the pythons are taking over, but hearing this...well ya never know

Glad you didn't get bite, That cotton mouth would have put the hurt on both you & you medical insurance Not every hospital carries anti-venom!!!

Cotton mouths are one of the few snakes that will actually chase you.

Well that sounds like fun.... being chased by a Cotton mouth snake. Acckkkk!!

They stink too!

I think cotton mouths chasing people is a myth. Snakes including cotton mouths are very common here in Southeast Texas. I have come across many in my life and have never been chased. Here is some of what I found when I tried to research it.

http://www.livingalongsidewild...

http://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu...

A lot a good videos here.

http://www.cottonmouthsnake.ne...

No myth. Been chased a number of times, our house sits right next to one of the tanks.

Maybe those cottonmouths are more aggressive in Colorado

They are also mean to people in Florida...at least they are here as well as on St. George Island. And the babies look like copperheads which are NOT found on the island..only on the mainland.

Here's the snake in my garden a week or so ago, Coral Snake.

oooooh...I don't like that at all....Linda, do you have to live there?....lol..

I did learn something from this though...looked up coral snakes to make sure I wouldn't be running into any here in California and what did I learn?
"Red touches yellow, kills a fellow...
Red touches black, friend of Jack"

However, if I ever find one in my yard, I'm afraid I will be running backwards too quickly to check on his colors.....

Wow, that is a colorful snake!

Beautiful snake. I would love to see a Coral Snake in the wild.

There are actually very few incidences of people being killed by a Coral Snake, even though they are extremely poisonous. Their mouths are apparently too small to bite a good sized human extremity.

We have been here over ten years and only recently saw our first coral snake. They are gorgeous, our policy has always been live and let live, but this one was in our back yard where our dogs run so it went to the great forest in the sky. I love the variety of snakes we have at the farm, although sitings tend to be few and far between. We have several Texas rat snakes living in our barn and almost never see them.
Don't panic, we like them there, they are very effective ratters, better than my two barn cats. The down side is the startle factor, they are very large and I admit to squealing and jumping back when I stumble on one unexpectedly.
Given the option, snakes don't like seeing us either. Unfortunately for them, we are a curious family and want to do the whole document thing before we let them resume their normal life. I am sure the word is out among them to stay clear of the paparazzi.