September 9th Prelude to Indian Summer

Good morning everyone! Boy, was it beautiful this morning! When we saw this magnificent sunrise we knew we had to go downstairs and take a picture from outside.

It is only 44°F outside and forecasted to reach only the 60’s, so bundle up!

Yesterday’s pressure went back to normal (1013 mBa) after our brush with the outer arms of Hurricane Dorian on Saturday, where our barometer registered 1004 mBa! It was also sunny and warmer than expected. Winston and I charged the solar batteries in our bellies plenty. However, we didn’t need to worry that much – a warm air mass is scheduled to break through from the South, and we are getting warmth – up to 80°F even! But don’t trust the temperature rise too much. Remember the 12 seasons of New York? After the second summer and the start of true fall, we have Indian summer! Meteorologists will love to disagree with me, because Indian summer is defined as warm weather happening after a frost (our lowest post-summer temperature has been a mere 43°F). Well, guesss what – last year, we didn’t even GET a frost! It just started snowing and that was the end of fall!

We are excited because my humans haven’t taken the kayak carrier off the roof yet and that might mean one last kayaking adventure is in store!

It was hard for us to get up today, but that’s only because we had such a good productive weekend. Everyone is still in nap mode. We are extremely happy and pleased that we have a good life where we can nap to our hearts’ content while humans go to work!

Enjoy your Monday!

Love,

Mack

September 1st Sunrise on the morning of a hurricane

Good morning everyone! Today the sky is on fire even though it is a chilly 46°F! We raced in the dark and in the silence before the sun came out (what happened to all our morning birds?!) We heard only a few species: a rooster, an early cardinal, starlings, and crows. All in all, it was a pretty desolate September morning.

August 11th Fall is coming

Good morning everyone! Fall is surely coming quicker than we expected. You can feel it in the air this morning! A nippy cold wind has pushed all the clouds away and made some rare maple leaves turn a dusky red. At 58°F, we know we’ve had colder – this just happens to feel different! A triad of high pressure systems will ensure dry weather until Tuesday, so get out your summer gear and enjoy what could be the last week of typical hot and dry summer weather!

At Grandma’s house yesterday we marveled at the warmer morning temperatures and at the abundance of fruit. Look at these gorgeous sweet apples!

 We also got to spot an orange spikey caterpillar which we identified as being a “question mark butterfly” in the making.

You can already tell that is mid August because our morning shadows are much longer! The sun is starting to dip in angle, rising more East than North of due East. That means that on September 23rd, the fall equinox, the sun will rise perfectly East and set in the West, before dipping further and further to the South. . .

If this keeps up, our prediction for Fall this year is gorgeous, showy autumn colors with chilly mornings and warm afternoons! We are hopeful for a snowy weather too, and with El Niño gone, we might have that chance. However, it may be a stormy fall for the Southern U.S. without El Niño winds to break up hurricanes.

Have a fantastic Sunday everyone and enjoy the last days of summer!

Love,

Mack

August 7th Coyotes

Good morning everyone!

The rain and thunder we received yesterday was surely the outcome of the warm front passing by, but the rain we shall get today will be the result of a cold front bearing down from Canada! No more 85°F for us – perhaps not until 2020.

The temperature was solidly at 60°F as we walked outside this morning before 6 a.m., just in time to catch a beautiful pink and orange sunrise. But if you looked at your paws and then back up to the sky, you would have missed the blushing colors – that’s how fast they acted up this morning. The ground is still very wet from all the rain we got yesterday, and the weeds were full of dew. Winston and I looked as if we had been submerged in water when we emerged from the nature trail.

Our human stopped to eat some late raspberries and early blackberries, as we raced around the property chasing smells. We’ve always suspected that there are coyotes to the East of us – we’ve found what looks like coyote scat at the edge of our woods, and we’ve heard (or imagined) howlings in the night. Well, it is no longer in our imagination! Non-blogging human successfully recorded the coyotes howling in the night he was woken up because we were chasing meteors. Their howl is a convoluted, high-pitched series of yips and cries, and it is hard to tell if it was a single coyote or a dozen. Long story short, Winston and I are no longer allowed to race each other in the dark.

Our flock of starlings seems to obey some sort of mysterious nature clock, timed with the rising and setting of the Sun. For days we’ve noticed that the flock seems to un-nestle itself shortly after the Sun pokes out over the Eastern horizon, and after the Sun sets in the West. Not only are they timed with the Sun, but they change their habits daily to accommodate for the Sun rising slightly later every day and setting slightly earlier every evening. Today, they seemed to be in a fuss at precisely 6:12 a.m., whereas we noticed the colors of sunrise showed at about 5:50 a.m. Starlings aren’t so much fun as blackbirds. Winston spends a fraction of a time chasing them before giving up, but if he finds a red-winged blackbird, he can be entertained by simply barking up a tree for full minutes (I’ve been told that humans don’t think it is very impressive to have an attention span that can last for minutes, but it certainly is a novelty in our world!).

Non-blogging human has been tracking the progress of our baby birds as well. He reports very excitedly that they opened their eyes yesterday. All three chicks and both parents seem to be in good health and out of reach of our numerous Gardner snakes.

It may be a sunlit morning, but we are expecting clouds and rain for the rest of the day! Isn’t it odd how mornings are often very colorful, even if the rest of the day is dreary? To think of all the people who miss this colorful start to their day. It’s almost like someone is spelling ‘hope’ all over the countryside before drenching us in rain.

Take care everyone!

Love,

Mack

July 20th Heat Wave

Good morning everyone,

All my humans are home! This is really good because I can now smell both of them. But at the same time, I did get lots of toys and I got to sleep in the bed while blogging human was gone!

We are up early this morning at 5:15 – and can you believe it was already 71°F? Here’s an incongruent selfie of us as we try to make sense out of what’s going on. Notice the gibbous moon in the background!

 We got up before the birds – can you believe it? They started chattering today at 5:48. By that time we were inside!

The grass is surprisingly dry this morning. Our nighttime temperature did not drop below dew point, which seems to be at 70°F today. A lot of thunder passed us yesterday without dropping their load on us. Will it rain today? Probably not, actually. But it will be hot. 85°F is very hot for us, actually!

Look at the purple sky behind our newly planted river birch. Ain’t it gorgeous?

Gorgeous things have been happening inside the house as well! Winston and I witnessed our non-blogging human work like a dog (why is that an expression? We don’t work very hard LOL) reflooring and repainting the walls and trim to our room. We know it’s our room because we sleep in there. But when blogging human came home, it seems like a new rule was established – no more dogs sleeping in the bed!! Say what?!

We protested, of course, and I won. I snuck into bed last night 🙂 Hey, it’s my room! I heard they are even going to decorate it with clouds, rainbows and hot air ballooons. Three of my favorite things!

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Love,

Mack

June 27th Attack of the Robins

Good morning everyone! It is tradition to sleep in the first day of summer vacation. The days are getting slightly shorter, too. The sun is rising a whole two minutes later now (5:23 a.m.) then it rose on the summer solstice (5:21 a.m)! We keep waking up at the same time, though, and it took a lot of whines to get our humans up this morning.

But we just didn’t want to waste the day. It’s beautiful out here! The sky is blue, the air is already at 62°F, and there is no chance of rain in the forecast. It’s the perfect weather to run free in the grass while humans toil away.

Today, after three months of chasing after birds, WE got chased by birds!! Can you believe their audacity? A flock of four or five robins descended upon us as we were peacefully observing the beautiful flowers neighboring our garden. Winston was scared of a bird for the first time! We respectfully ran walked at a distance from the crabapple tree, where the robins seemed to be stationed at. Not content with merely attacking us, they swooped upon us and literally chased us around the yard, hopping from tree to tree. Boy, were they mad! We didn’t even get to see a nest. We fled inside for safety and watched them continue to bicker among themselves from the windows.

This takes “angry bird” to a whooole other dimension. Look at this guy’s face!

Well, the sun is calling. I hope everyone has a fantastic start to their summer!

Love,

Mack

 

 

June 6th Nightless Days

Good morning everyone! This title is a bit misleading because, of course, at 42°N latitude (where we are in the Catskills), you are not going to get real nightless days as if you were in the Arctic Circle. But if you go to bed at a little before 9 p.m. (like my humans did when they simultaneously crashed) and get up a little after 5 a.m. (like we did, as always) you are going to observe a strange phenomenon – there was just as much light yesterday before going to sleep than there was this morning!

The sun is rising North of due East now, and the days are getting loooong. The longest day of course is the summer solstice, on June 21st. That’s in just 15 days!

Today the temperature was cooler than we’d expected, at 59°F, after yesterday’s high of 78°F. Can you picture which front has decided to make an appearance today based on the picture below? I’ll give you a hint: strong upper winds, clear skies, cooler temperatures, clouds whipped up into cumulus fluff balls. Yup, you got it – we have another cold front!

The air feels very fresh. After a brief episode of rain last evening, all the particles in the air have settled. Blackberries are in bloom, and I can’t help but think that they smell wonderful. Everything is green, glistening, and smelling great.

The forecast is for the temperatures to rise into the upper 60’s with clear skies.

Enjoy your morning everyone!

Love,

Mack