Early Morning Warnings

I woke up at three-something yesterday morning hearing a tornado siren going off and wondering groggily if I needed to do something about it. So after a minute, I called Hubby (who was working) to find out what was going on. He answered and I said "I sure hope that siren is some kind of malfunction." He said it was and then laughed because he couldn't believe I had heard it. Well, believe it buddy! My ears are fine-tuned for picking up storm sirens - even over the a/c and locusts. I may not hear those little words muttered in another room while I am running water at the kitchen sink with the garbage disposal going, but a storm siren going off will always catch my attention. If you have never heard one, the sound is the same as those air raid sirens in old war movies and even some cartoons. Not something you would be likely to forget once experienced first hand. The worst thing about them (other than the fear that instantly grips you) is that even after they stop, you can still hear them! 

Mr. Praying Mantis eyeballing my intrusion.

Prior to that, it was a relatively quiet evening. We had deli-style sandwiches for dinner with homegrown tomato slices on them - yum! And I found a cute little visitor making himself at home in my lavender.

The lovely dead brush pile out my back door

The backyard is slowly coming together, but we have a lot to do to it still. A privacy fence would be awesome! Mainly, of course because our neighbor behind us (crazy catlady) needs to fix up her property. Although, she and some of her family did do all kinds of tree trimming and brush clean-up back in the first part of June. They even hauled some of it away. (Emphasis on some) Unfortunately the rest of it is still there. The city has recently started taking property appearance and maintenance seriously and begun issuing letters. We think she got a letter because it was a nasty mess back there. My husband and I have a bet going: he says that the brush pile will still be there in October. My position is that she will receive another letter before then, at least by the end of July, and will finish it. (but only because of the letter!) The loser of the bet has to buy the winner a regular priced drink of his or her choice at Sonic - no Happy Hour drinks or 1/2-price-after-8:00 shakes! So far it appears that Hubby is winning as she has made no additional clean-up efforts.

Yesterday we were under a Heat Advisory - heat index of 105 degrees and 49.7% humidity - WooHoo! That's the kind of heat I like: nice and thick like a wet wool blanket ;) That explains why all of the wildlife in the neighborhood was out early. The bunnies were out munching on grass (not my Hostas, thankfully) and I got chattered at by squirrels when I went to check on the tomatoes. The birds and locusts were all making a racket, and even the darn spiders were out in force - spider webs everywhere - Ack! I hate running into spider webs. Too bad those birds don't eat those spiders...