Dog Days of Summer

So I may have just made that colloquialism up. Colloquial phrases are so tricky! When I was living with a French family for a month, colloquialisms just slipped out of my mind. I remember I was writing an email to someone and wrote 'out of the blue'. I stated at that phrase for a good ten minutes trying to determine if that were the right words. Blue. Why not green? Both made no sense; how was I supposed to decide what color was sufficiently random?

But I digress! Dog days. Hot days. Brutally hot days. Last summer I were a post called 'victims of the heat' where I posted pictures of the flowers, burned to death by the sun.

This summer the fatalities have been more sinister ones.

There was a robin's nest, some four feet off the ground in a small tree/brush by our driveway. Eagerly, I checked on the nest almost everyday, much to the mother's dismay. It started out with three adorable little squeaking baby robins, their mouths eagerly open, begging for more food.

Then, there was one baby. The other two just disappeared. They weren't even old enough to have feathers, still mere babies.

So I continued to check on the remaining chick until one day my mom took a long look at him and realized he wasn't moving.

And then he too was gone from the nest. The once crowded, noisy nest was now barren.

I know, I know, c'est la vie and all but it's sad that out of all the chicks not one survived.

Then, after checking the nest one last time, I stumbled upon what was most likely another victim of the heat, a dead squirrel, hidden partially by the bush.

Well I can tell you who isn't a victim of the heat! Moi! I just got back from a half hour bike ride. It was 100 ((felt like 102, according to my phone, like that's supposed to make a difference;)) degrees when I left, but it didn't feel that bad.

I love to ride my bike, even if I'm so out of shape my legs are burning by the middle of the first song playing on my phone. It's a great way to get time to think. Back when I wrote more, I would grab my bike, some plot problem on my mind, and ride until I had solved the problem. I would edit plots, design characters, and plan my stories on a bike.

I paused briefly to take some pictures of well...probably just grass but I liked the way it looked ;)

Don't you hate it when you can't decide between two edits of your photo?

 

 

Which one do you prefer? I can't pick between them ;)

Anyway! Just a little update. I can't believe that it's almost July! With all this free time on my hands I want to go back to school. However I know when I get there, I'll miss all this stress free time at home ;)