Cool! Tuesdaytwitterdeedum

Cool!

That's what I wrote in an email after receiving this photo from Annie yesterday.

Seems her latest world travels have seen a shift in predominant animal sightings.

I don't know if Switzerland and Liechtenstein have as many cows roaming virtually everywhere as the ubiquitous sheep of New Zealand and Ireland, but I'd say the cows certainly have been prevalent in our daughter's most recent travel pictures.

I like this picture,  and I like all of Annie's recent cow shots, so much so I can almost envision that mythical, lovely Jersey matron,  grazing in our green field of grass alongside the lane.

Cows are cool---no doubt about it.

In addition,  the morning is cooler on this Tuesday.

We're ready for a cooldown, and I know at least one local doctor who says he's ready for rain.

He says his tree seedlings are suffering big time from all those dry days we've had in August and September.  He says he has deep dust.

He's not alone.  Things are getting dirty again, and smoke is wafting through the air from one of the forest fires north of here.

When we were hiking through Boulder Meadows, Sunday I kept saying to Bill that those brown clouds overhead sure did look like smoke.  We also watched an airplane circling over our area.

Last night Bill came home and said it was, indeed, a fire in the Smith Creek area.  And, this morning's paper confirmed the "Birthday Fire," which could be as large as 600 acres. 

In the wettest of years that most folks can remember for a long time, we're suddenly seeing the dryest of conditions---tinder dry.

Streams overflowing their banks just weeks ago are turning into trickles.  

It's an odd year, for sure.

I noticed another trend when I told the doctor that the only forseeable rain in the forecast is a 30-percenter on Sunday.  Then, it calls for more dry weather. 

He said he'd been watching the ten-day predictions and that he's noticed they keep pushing the much-needed moisture back three or four days.

Sounds familiar.  

I can remember just a while back when the prognosticators kept promising a dry day, only to push them back three or four days once we could almost smell sunshine. 

As always, we live in an area with no moderation.

Whatever the case, I'm glad for cool.

Maybe I can start riding my horses again.

Over the past several days, by the time I have my morning projects completed at noon or 1 p.m., it's been too hot to saddle up.  

And, with the darkness getting earlier each day, the window in the evening after the sun goes down is pretty slim too.

So, maybe today, conditions will be good for climbing aboard and riding one of my horses down the road. 

Who knows---if that happens, I might even snap a few pictures of Selle Valley cows and send them to Annie.

Happy Tuesday.