September 20th Starry Night

Good morning everyone! This morning was warmer at 43°F; no frost, and barely any dew either. There wasn’t even fog on the pond. In fact, the air was very clear – so clear, that we could see a whole constellation during our morning walk.

It might be a little hard to see in the picture, but we have Aldebaran next to the waning moon and the constellation Orion to its left with its distinguished belt of three stars.

Also, you can see that is getting pretty dark in the morning. We could barely see where we were walking!

Today will be sunny and so will this weekend, thanks to a high pressure system. And, this Sunday, the temperature might even reach 78°F – can you believe it?! Our jet stream has produced a particular curvy wave destined to reach us, which will bring warm temperatures for a bit before returning us to typical fall weather. We might even get some rain next week.

Stay tuned and TGIF!

Love,

Mack

September 19th Baby Frost

Good morning everyone! At 36°F this morning, we walked in the search of frost – and sure enough, we found a bit of frost on a section of our mowed lawn! But it was very specifically contained to that location, and very minimal. We had to press our faces against the grass and scrape the blades to determine if what we were seeing were really ice crystals.

Despite the inital cold, Winston dove into our foggy pond to catch a duck (or merganser) that was swimming a bit too close for his liking.

The fall colors really are starting to pop over here and we think that our colors are even more beautiful than those in the Adirondacks at this time.

 

 

We should expect the temperature to warm up during the day and reach the 70’s! The forecast for this weekend is even a warm 78°F, and after that, rain and cooler temperatures. So make space for being outdoors this gorgeous weekend!

Have a happy Thursday everyone!

Love,

Mack

September 14th Taste of Fall

Good morning everyone! It is almost that magical time of year where we remember what life before me used to be like. Yes, tomorrow September 15th, will be our first Mackanniversary! My humans took me home from the shelter on a Saturday 364 days ago and celebrated their new life with me. Since then I have changed their lives 1000% for the better and have become a brother to Winston. Our humans have been very spoiled with our unconditional love and our ability to make them laugh.

This morning we took a late morning walk at 8:30 with our human and noticed very windy and cool weather, at 57°F. It is not only looking like fall, but leaves are actually falling on the lawn, giving “fall” its name.

The reason we were so late today is that our human stayed in bed for a loooong time! Yesterday our other human was bringing her various items such as soup, cheesecake, tea with honey and her computer –  although he seemed mad and was saying “no sympathy!” as he put honey in her tea, all because she ate his lunch. I don’t get it – Winston has eaten my lunch plenty of times and I never got this mad. Does it make a difference if it’s a delicious grilled cheese sandwich?

We still have pretty flowers in the garden worth sharing!

The weather forecast for this week is pretty much the same weather for the next four days, and then on the 5th day (around Thursday) it should warm up slightly because we’ll be getting that wave in the jet stream, allowing warm air to come up from Florida. If you are interested in gorgeous fall colors, next weekened you can definitely see them in the Catskills, along with warm 70°F weather and sunny skies. The foliage peak might be around the first week of October.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Love,

Mack

September 13th Indian Summer I is over

Good morning everyone! It is back to 40°F temperatures in the mornings – yes, it was between 39°F- 40°F today! We can thank a cold front from Canada for this dip. Our dew point has also sunk to 39°F and we can confirm that just by looking out on the pond.

Our very brief, non-scientific Indian Summer is hereby over. We did reach 81°F on Wednesday in the afternoon! Now, we can expect temperatures to peak around 65°F, maybe even 70°F next week. It is still possible that we get a “heat wave” from our jet steeam buckling up, about 5-6 days from now.

We are wondering what is up with the lack of rain! It has been foggy and cloudy, but mostly sunny with zero precipitation aside from morning dew and maybe a gentle drizzle. All this dry weather makes for a gorgeous fall however. You can start to see beautiful orange maples along the road now.

As it is Friday, this means that we are planning a weekend hike! Sunny, beautiful colors and cool weather is in the forecast for this weekend. I hope everyone gets to go outside to enjoy it!

TGIF!

Love,

Mack

September 3rd Hard work

Good morning everyone!

It would seem that fall IS here, and that our invaders cohabitants surely know winter is coming! Animal activity has increased in the last week, especially in the foraging area. Chickadees are gathering seeds, chipmunks are scurrying across the yard picking up our stray acorns (there are only a couple thousand left on the yard. . ) spiders are weaving invisible traps, and the animal world is preparing for the descent into the White and Cold World that is Winter around here.

My humans are scurrying an awful lot this morning, too. They have been working, yes, but INSIDE the house, and it seems like they are getting ready to work OUTSIDE the house now! Why else would I get a peanut-butter Kong first thing in the morning?!

It seems that hard work is the way of nature. My human asked me what MY job was. Well, I have the toughest job of all. I must test all food crumbs to see if they are poisoning my humans. I also protect them by charging at gusts of ferocious wind, our neighbors strolling down the street, and the occasional garter snake under the deck. Aside from protection, I am a comfort dog. I can reassure, cuddle, and snuggle my human back to physical and emotional warmth anytime of the day or night. I am handsomely repaid for my labor with a smattering of treats, ear scratches, and affirmations that I am a good boy, so I know that I am working hard.

So it’s not just you who are working, humans. Dogs work too!

Today’s temperature is 51 degrees F and the sky is clear. Hurricane Dorian is STILL over the Bahamas, now at a Category 3 hurricane, and moving veeery slowly. A couple cold fronts are pushing the precipitation away from into the Atlantic, but a gnarly occluded system is poised to enter the area in a couple of days.

Happy Post-Labor day to all, and happy first day of school to all teachers out there or students who might be starting today!

Love,

Mack

August 14th Gray

Good morning everyone! It rained on us this morning for the first time in. . . a month? Of course we’ve had rain during the day during the last month, but never rain drops on our heads during our morning walks. Everything was wet, of course, and the woods were abnormally dark – so dark that we stayed out of it this morning. We could feel that the woods still belonged to the night creatures and it wasn’t time for us, day-dwellers, to explore.

There is very little color this morning. The air did turn purple briefly around 6 a.m., about the time that the starling flock was startled, but then it turned into a subdued gray. Everything looks gray this morning, from the dark leaves on the trees, the uniform blanket of clouds, and the wet grass underneath our paws. The only spot of color came from our house!

For these reasons, today’s suggested reading is “The Raven”, by Edgar Allan Poe.

Winston did find a single flower to rejoice about – of course he would, even though we are in a 19th century desolate mood – a little garlic flower of a neglected garlic plant. He is the only one that still looks white, pure and bouncy in this climate of gloom.

A look at the fronts map tells us that a stationary front is still to our West and helping to maintain this wet but calm weather. It is moving South, along with the low-pressure system, so a high-pressure system from Canada should come down during the day and clear the skies tonight.

At 59°F this morning we can’t complain – even though our 85°F weather is “nevermore” and we can only expect upper 70’s for the rest of the week.

Enjoy your Wednesday everyone!

Love,

Mack

August 12th Perseids

Good morning everyone! It was a colder morning at 50°F when we went exploring. We got up earlier than usual, at 4:50 a.m., in an attempt to spot the Perseid meteors, which are supposed to peak tonight and tomorrow night. Sadly we did not see a single one! This could be that 4:50 was too late and dawn was already making the horizons turn light yellow. Apparently, 2 a.m. would have been a much better option, as we saw 6 meteors in 15 minutes some days ago.

We did however see our favorite winter constellations. The Pleiades, a gorgeous star cluster that looks like a tiny dipper, was high in the sky until it faded for good when dawn came. We also saw Betelgeuse, part of the Orion constellation, an upside-down Cassiopeia looking like the letter “M” instead of the letter “W” like it does in summer, and the big dipper had turned upon itself. We disproved the Flat Earth Theory just by observing constellations at two different times of the night: yes, the Earth is round and it rotates.

Fortunately there was another nightly treat for us: we heard several owls! After perusing our bird app, we decided that the “hoot”s and the screams we heard belonged to a Great Horned Owl! Not only that, but we heard several of them up and down our street talking to each other. These magnificent creatures are surely a sight, and we can’t wait until the day that we can actually see one.

Today our lawn was covered with these webby creations. Tent moths? What do you think?

Enjoy your Monday everyone!

Love,

Mack