It’s supposed to be 89 degrees here today. EIGHTY. NINE. DEGREES. In April.
(Nope, I don’t think I will ever get used to it. That’s some craziness, right there.)
When we did the big closet clean-out a few weeks ago, we took a load of the kids’ outgrown clothes to our local consignment shop, and picked up a few new things. Amongst them was a smocked sundress for Chickadee, suitable for Georgia summer, but completely UNsuitable for the 50- and 60-degree weather we were having at the time. She has asked to wear that damn dress every single day since we bought it. Yesterday I checked the forecast and she said, “NOW can I wear my new dress tomorrow??” I said sure, and now I’m the greatest person in the whole wide world. (Until I do something that offends her, of course. I’ve got that scheduled for about five minutes after the kids get home from school today. I figured I’d give her time to have a snack, first.)
Also, my garden is growing by leaps and bounds and the pollen is starting to dissipate a bit, but none of these things are the reason why I know it’s summer.
I know it’s summer because the geckos anoles are back!
After a season of tracking our friend Bob hanging out on our deck, I sometimes wondered why we never saw OTHER lizards. I mean, there had to be more than one, right? And then at the end of last summer, just once or maybe twice, we saw a baby. The kids dubbed it Baby Bob. Of course.
Then summer ended and so did our lizard sightings.
But the other day, I was hanging out on the deck and got to witness a battle royale.
It started with two lizards circling each other on the railing.
They circled each other verrrrry slooowwwwwwly for quite a while.
The, of course, one decided it was time to puff out his neck fan thing. Because that makes him more scary.
When his opponent didn’t seem sufficiently impressed, he added in a push-up. You could almost hear him thinking “And now I shall MAKE MYSELF BIG!”
Well, that was the winning move. The other lizard scuttled down towards the ground, and first our hero chased him for a minute, and then he returned to gloat.
I’ve decided to call him Hercules. Hopefully he’ll be just as mighty when it comes to eating bugs on my plants.
Anyway, now it is officially summer. You’re welcome!
Great pictures.
It will be 87 here on Sunday, I think. Only 73 today. We’re in Maryland.
I had to go to Albany yesterday and when I left the house, as you so eloquently put it, at the butt crack of dawn, it was snowing. Today it’s a bit more seasonal.
Summer is still hibernating in central NY.
Warm up the pool for us.
I love the anoles in our yard. I have yet to see a stand-off though – lucky you!
Beeyewtiful lizards (I love lizards) and hopefully Hercules will have many, many little lizard offspring, all with a healthy appetite!
Also – we went from snowing last week (no, really) to 85 degrees yesterday and I’m planning on whining about it for at LEAST a month… possibly two…
We have skinks here instead with BEAUTIFUL bright blue tails. That keeps the kids entertained for days!! Lucky for the skinks they’re fast!!! Happy summer!! Sunshine makes EVERYTHING better.
Please let Hercules know that my boys were VERY impressed at his apparent domination of the tiny lizard world!
I have been rescuing lizards everyday as my white cat loves to bring them inside and then chase them until they are dead. Sigh… I live in Texas – our lizards came out a few weeks ago. Along with the 89 degree temperatures.
It is snowing here. Yes… really.
I thought that neck thing was a mating thing for anoles. If that’s the case, she didn’t find him attractive. Poor guy.
Hey! I smock!
Yesterday it was 88 degrees here also…and guess where I am..MINNESOTA. It was crazy warm. But I loved it!! Downside, the house was hot and we have yet to take the plastic off the windows and uncover the air conditioner. I don’t think we were ready for summer quite yet.
Snowed here last night. Isn’t it fun Sarah?
I’ll take 89 degrees.
I’ve had the great experience of watching these standoffs as well. I also thought it was a mating thing, too UNTIL one was left crippled on my picnic table and now lives behind my planter on my porch. We named him Mr. Peppers. Also, I always thought their tails grew back, but Mr. Peppers didn’t, well not all the way.
I can’t wait—get to play in the dirt this weekend (and sweat, YUCK)!
It was 102° here in Phoenix earlier this week… I think summer is here!
nice pics! it was 93 on monday in san diego! i drank all the water available for this city i think! :)
Love the lizard photos! I remember seeing a few of those while traveling through Florida. The story is great; gave me a laugh for the day. Bravo to Hercules! The angle on that photo is perfect, like he’s rising above all the trials and tributions to conquer all.
You know what’s really crazy? I live in CT, and it’s supposed to be 89 degrees HERE this weekend! IN APRIL!!
Herc-u-les! Herc-u-les! Herc-u-les!
(Uhhh…you have to imagine the hand-clapping, I think.)
I wish I could say it was 89 here, unfortunatly for me its only 27, with a high of …wait for it…39. yes this is the truth, I cannot even plant anything outside yet due to the temperatures at night getting as low as 12, and my neighbors dog thinks that the blankets over the plants are for him to lay on.
I would live to have little lizzards living in my yard, My 4 year old would love them, Hopefully Hurcules has a healthy appetite!
We have zillions of those lizards here in FL. How funny that they were having a little turf war. :) Hope they keep the bugs away!
As a name, Hercules definitely lends a certain gravitas. (No offense intended to any Bobs out there, but just sayin’.)
I had to admit it might be summer when my 2 year old asked to wear shorts yesterday. First I was all, no way then i remembered it was sposta be 80 degrees outside. I guess it’s time to rotate out his closet. Oh yeah and he keeps coming home smelling of sunscreen with half the playground in his hair and the other half in his shoes. That is a sure sign it’s summer.
Here in the south of France it feels like spring – it’s lovely and sunny, the flowers are in bloom and the temperatures are pleasant (though definitely not hot). It’s been like this for about 2 weeks, and will be the same for the next week or so. Every day. Every day? No, not quite every day. This Sunday, the day we plan to celebrate our younger daughter’s 5th birthday in a park 20 mins from our flat (we don’t have a garden, and right now we also don’t have a car), the forecast is predicting “heavy rain” in the morning and “thundery storms” in the afternoon. Meaning we’re going to have to deal with 15+ small kids in our small, cluttered and utterly unsuitable flat for 2 hours.
I feel like SCREAMING.
I wish we lived somewhere with PREDICTABLE, RELIABLE weather.
Don’t ever believe anyone who tells you the south of France has a great climate!
Um, I would like to start my comments with “Here in the South of France”…seriously.
LOL @ Scottsdale Girl!
Here in Green Bay Wisconsin we don’t have lizards (my girls would flip). Instead we have mosquitoes…definitely not as cool.
Today it got up to 82 degrees and we’re loving it. Last weekend was in the upper 70’s, however this past Monday it snowed about an inch and was only in the 30’s. Tomorrow is down to a high of 54 degrees. It feels like only here in Wisconsin can it go from 70’s to snowing to 80’s to 50’s within the span of a week.
Oh, how I long for summer. Thankfully we don’t have lizards to deal with here but I could do with some gardening! Great pics!
Aw, I love the lizards. We only have squirrels here.
Yay summer! Yay lizards! Yay sundresses!! Goodbye, Winter…I won’t even pretend to miss your chilly behind…
It was 90+ here earlier this week, and then yesterday it was only in the 60s. The pollen was out in full, horrifying force though. We’re having a very strange spring here in SD.
Here in the UK, it’s 14 (ok, justaminute…57.2) though it was warmer the last few days. I’ve been weeding & tidying the garden, but no planting because were moving at beginning of June. The sun has been lovely, but today it’s cloudy, then it’s not, then it is. But no rain. That’s the main thing.
Hercules… adorable!
I am loving that the weather is finally warming up… except for the fact that my newborn wants to be outside ALL THE TIME and screams whenever we bring her in. Unless she’s asleep, which means that when she wakes up, she screams because we tricked her into coming inside! Oh, the horror… !
The one with the fan is a male. I think they use it attracting mates sometimes?, but it’s also good for “Hey you kids get the hell off my lawn.” Anoles can be pretty territorial.
Hercules totally made me think of this… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9gaq-MzlmE
Ah coming into winter for us in Oz. Of Queensland to be exact. Today is supposed to be 27 (80.6) but high summer is around 35 (95). And sometimes, in winter where I am even gets down to 1 (33.8). Brrrrrr!
yeah, you’re getting our high pressure from last week. Don’t get too excited, it’s back to high 60’s here in Nor Cal (after high 90’s for a week!) Pretty sure you’ll be back to the weirdness next week, like us. Just saying, don’t put all your Winter/Spring clothes away. Trust me on this.