Tuesday 4~ The Warm Months

 The Warm Months

Welcome back to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

Warmer days

Spring has come and Summer is approaching. Our friend Linda tells me the temps in Florida are already in the 90s and humidity through the roof. But days are grow\ing longer for everyone. How does it effect you?

1.Daylight is getting longer... what do you do with the extra daylight? Is it useful, productive or not?
Even though I'd prefer that we didn't have to do the daylight savings time switcheroo every year, I am thankful for the longer days of summer. It gives me more time in the evening to go outside when it's not quite as boiling hot and water the plants and maybe take a walk.

2. If you live where its more moderate do you spend more time outdoors? If you live in the tropical climate does it keep you inside?
Does the extra day light cause more heat and more use of utilies for you?
We live in Florida, like Linda mentioned above...actually not too far from her, about an hour's drive north, so yes, our temps are just like what she said...hot and humid and we need rain.  And yes, the tropical climate does keep us inside most of the day. The high temps and high humidity are pretty miserable if you have to be outside working in it especially. We try to do all outdoor chores/yard work, etc., either early in the morning before 9:30 or 10, or in the evenings after the sun starts going down.  

3. How do you cool your home? How do you cool yourself off in the heat of the day?
Our central air conditioning runs 24/7. We are very thankful to have it. When I grew up here in Florida we did NOT have AC, and it was pretty miserable...but we really didn't know the difference because no one had AC, not our schools, churches or even our cars. So we lived with a lot of fans going and wore as little as possible to keep cool in the summer time. As kids, we spent most of the day outside, playing in the sprinklers if we could...or those who lived near the lakes or springs or were fortunate enough to have access to a pool...we went swimming as often as possible!

4. Do you enjoy a good barbeque outside in the warmer months or do you cook outside and eat inside?
What foods do you enjoy on the barbeque? If you don't barbeque, what foods and drinks do you enjoy in the warmer months?

We may do a barbeque on the weekend if our kids come over and our son Scott is here to do the honors on the grill. But it is too hot here during the daytime to eat outside, and unless you have a screened porch, it's pretty miserable to try and eat outside in the evenings because of the mosquitoes and deer flies and horseflies, and other bugs. However, if you have a nice shaded area outside where you can have an occasional picnic, it is fun to do so...especially if you have a place to go jump in the water and cool off!  

What do we enjoy cooking on the grill? Well, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, steak (if we could afford it). And if we have planned ahead, it's nice to have potato salad, cole slaw or a tossed salad, or some good fresh corn on the cob, watermelon, sliced tomatoes.  Drinks? Iced tea, water, or soft drinks. I'd love a good fresh homemade ice cold lemonade if someone wanted to squeeze the lemons!  Or a root beer float!

Now, on a personal note of what's going on here...speaking of the high heat and humidity and yard work, our son Benton came over early yesterday morning to do some yard work for us. Of course, one thing led to another, and he found himself doing probably more than he had expected. All of a sudden he was seized with some pressure/pain in his chest and came inside. He was very overheated and had not been drinking any water. The whole situation was very scary and long story short, I ended up taking him to the emergency room. They checked him over thoroughly and decided to admit him and keep him overnight for observation, even though the tests all came back good regarding his heart. This morning they may do a stress test, depending upon how he did during the night. It's only 6:30 a.m. here now as I am writing this, so I haven't talked to him yet, but last night he was feeling much better once he finally got settled in a room and had some good supper. That was a close call and maybe a wake-up call for him to pay a bit more attention to his overall health. We are very thankful to God that this turned out much  better than it might have.  

Also, this morning my hubby will be having an MRI as a follow up to the CT scan he had last week. Prayers are appreciated.

Speaking of gardening...You can imagine how I felt when I discovered THIS creature eating my brand new roses!  That is an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, and the only good one of these is a dead one. Sesriously. They are extremely destructive and as you can see by the picture below, they will devour your plants in minutes!  

That's what's left of this rose!  I sprayed the bush with some insecticide and he fell off and disappeared, but I would've preferred to have been able to have stomped the life out of him to be sure he was dead. Yes, I will not have mercy on those creatures!    As a matter of fact, I did find another one on my azalea bushes later, and he's no longer among the living.  

But on a happier note, I found some fresh South Carolina Peaches at the farm market the other day, and was happy to bring them home to enjoy!

I rarely eat ice cream any more, but there's really no better way to eat some fresh sliced peaches than on top of a bowl of ice cream!  Oh, that's another summer treat I should have mentioned above!

And if it was the 4th of July, we might have made homemade ice-cream! That's a family tradition that goes way back. But this store bought variety will have to do for now.  Our best cranking guys are not able to do any serious hand-cranking of ice-cream right now. (actually, we have an electric machine, but that's not as much fun).

Well, I must get a move on. The kitties are waiting to be fed and the Sand Hill Cranes are lining up at the back door for their morning treat:  (Hubby has taken on the feeding of the Crane family as his own special project, and they look forward to this every morning and evening!)

This was the scene at the back door just now! I can barely step out the door...

But then Sunshine is a bit more finicky and needs to be  encouraged more to eat than 'Blackie'...

But he finally dives in and gets his share too... (most of the time they eat back and forth out of each other's dishes)

And then of course Mr. Duck shows up, thinking he can get in on the breaksfast bar, but thankfully I was out there to send him away.  He thinks he's one of the cats and wants to eat their food too. Sorry, Mr. Duck...not today! Trust me, he's not starving. There's plenty of food in the pond out there for him.  He just happens to prefer cat food. LOL.

Okay, on that note, I must go. Your kind thoughts and prayers are always appreciated.

A thought for today from our devotional readings...

Isaiah 30:15 NKJV

15 For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:

“In returning and rest you shall be saved;

In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

My trust is in the Lord, and I know He will take care of all these matters that concern us. Amen.