Last week was miserable. Although it's only May, we had some of the worst Santa Ana winds in years. The winds two weeks ago were even worse...96 mph in places. We lost many limbs off trees all over the property.
Then the fires started in Carlsbad, Bonsall, Camp Pendleton and San Marcos. My sister was in the middle of it all and Kristy and her girls had to evacuate to her mother's house. Thankfully, they are all under control now.
In the meantime, the hot weather brought out the snakes. While riding the horse, I saw a gopher snake on the trail twice. Not dangerous, but scary anyway. Then on Sunday Dennis and I and Flash went on a walk around the ranch trail. About half way around, there was a huge rattlesnake stretched out across the trail ahead of us. Flash, even though he has been through anti-snake training twice, blithely ran right across the snake ... without mishap. A couple of weeks ago Homero killed a rattler in the same area on the trail.
Then...Mom's dog, Honey, was barking at the sliding glass doors in the dining room of Mom's house. Mom thought she wanted to go out and was about to open the door when she looked down and saw a rattlesnake right at the door, looking in. Yikes!
We heard it was going to be a bad year for snakes and I guess it's true. I hate snakes.