Late spring

I have a very strong sense that spring is ending. The hot weather isn't quite here yet -- it's teasing us -- a hot day here, a hot day there, then a string of cooler days. But it's coming, Oh yes, it's coming. Some time in May it will dig in and then it won't go away until late October! How I dread summer. The only good thing about summer is wearing sandals all the time, and cropped pants and skirts and that sort of thing. I want to get some new Keen sandals. My green ones from last summer still look great, and Rocket Boy has promised to glue my old blue Tevas so I can wear them too. But I want something else. I want PURPLE sandals. What do you think of these?

http://www.keenfootwear.com/product/ss11/shoes/women/waterfront/la%20paz%20sandal/sweet%20grape

Of course I shouldn't be buying sandals. I should be saving my money in case we are evicted from our rental house (if we are, it won't be our fault, I hasten to add). We have a very bad feeling about our landlord's financial situation. Oh the joys of living in Ridgecrest, though I suppose this could happen anywhere.

It's just been really dry recently, that awful can't-drink-enough-water, need-to-wear-Chapstick-on-all-body-parts kind of dry feeling. Our backyard, which seemed so lush a month ago, now seems so deserty, all the green weeds turned to straw. It's as though it went from March to September in a few weeks.

However, the tortoises don't seem to mind it, so maybe I'm being too whiny. We took them out of their pen this evening and let them roam around the yard. I was fascinated by how they managed to find funny little dried-up weeds that I wouldn't have given a second thought to and munch them down with gusto. For them it's still spring and maybe I should take my cue from them.

Speaking of reptiles -- and how often I do seem to be speaking of reptiles -- we saw our first live wild snake last weekend. Since moving to Ridgecrest over two years ago, we have seen numerous DEAD snakes (mostly on the Garlock Road), but no live, wild ones. And believe me, I keep my eyes open!

We saw the snake in Kernville, not Ridgecrest, so I suppose it doesn't really count, but it was so lovely! It was in the park along the river in Kernville, where we went on Saturday. We had first attempted to go to the Kern River Preserve, but the entrance road was closed due to flooding. But it happened that Audubon was having a Spring Festival that day -- at a nearby location -- so we went to that, and there were live snakes there. Mostly in cages, but one that someone was holding and you could pet. I am fond of snakes, so I petted it extensively.

And then we went to Kernville and played in the park, and what do you know, here's a little snake in the grass! A small skinny snake, probably a young one (don't know what kind). I wanted so much to pick it up, but I knew I shouldn't, and the babies were so interested in it too, but we had to keep telling them not to touch it either. We should have left it alone, but we just couldn't, so it kept getting mad at us and rearing up. Finally it climbed up a tree and hid (sort of), so we let it be. Here's the snake in the grass:

And here's the snake up the tree:

And here, because I can't resist, is another tortoise -- plus boos, for those who are less obsessed with reptiles than I. This was at the Spring Festival. At least in the Kern River Valley it's still spring.

One more note on creepy crawlies. The other day when I went to pick the twins up at daycare, they were outside in the play yard, as usual, but I noticed that most of the kids were clustered around the jungle gym, looking at something. I went inside the fence and asked "What are you doing?" The teacher told me "It's a spider." Since she didn't seem concerned, I assumed it wasn't a widow and went to have a look. It was a little garden spider, being stared at by 6 or 8 three year olds. "I'm going to kill it!" announced Baby A, who was holding a big plastic spoon. "No, no," I said. "Don't kill it. That's a GOOD spider. It won't hurt you."

Before we moved to Ridgecrest I had a pretty severe case of arachnophobia. I can't say I just love spiders now, but I've come quite a long way.