Too Hot!!!!

I'm with X, we only got 1/10" here but it dropped the temperature by about 10 degrees and it almost feels cool (at 79) today.

Same here,..hardly could see it in the rain gauge. Alot of sound and fury...signifying not much.
I snapped a pic so I can remember what a thunderstorm looks like. :)
Deb

Nice picture! Gotta be fast to catch that lightning!

X

Cool pic, Deb!

August off the calendar? I'll speak for all Leos and say that would simply not be acceptable, but every year I think about my mom being 9 months pregnant..talk about misery...I love that woman, lol.

I'd gladly swap these couple hot weeks for just ONE good snow every year! We've not gotten any rain in the past couple of weeks, and in the winter, it's all ice. We have sleds and stuff, just as a tease. Even in the mtns. it hardly snows much anymore.

Oops! Forgot about all the Leos! You're right about your mom.

I felt compelled by this weather to respond. UGH! Ugh, Ugh, Ugh! (lol) The heat last week about killed me, and *did* kill my container garden - well, the heat & the yellow jackets that decided they owned my garden last week.

I'm fairly new to upstate SC, and have lived in No Calif, Nevada, and upstate NY where I was raised, so I'm feeling all the weather you all are talking about. But, my heart is still with the snow; to me, it's easier to get warm than it is to get cool.

I was here last summer, but don't remember it getting this hot - am I getting Alzheimer's already, or is it hotter this summer?

It is hotter this summer but I say that every year. LOL

SCNewbie, I'm in Pelzer, and last summer was my first as well. Now, I know that the temps are higher this year, but I don't _feel_ as hot. Must have been more humid last year. I like the colder weather, too (raised in lower NY) but after S Florida, this is a pleasure *g*.

Last year about this time we were grousing about the heat as well.

X

YEah, we always grouse! :)
Having said that, last week was unusually hot.

SC Newbie: Just gotta wait for your blood to thin a bit.

Deb

"SC Newbie: Just gotta wait for your blood to thin a bit."

LOL It already has, and that's something I never thought would happen!!

Now, if I could just get used to all the flying, stinging, thingys down here. And all the bugs & spiders. And the snakes I was just reading about in another thread.... It's enough to give me nightmares! lol

SCNewbie --- Uh oh, you just put me on alert. DH and I plan to move to the Raleigh, NC area in a few years when he can retire. My sister lives in Pinehurst, NC and she has not mentioned bugs, spiders or snakes. We don't plan to live in a very rural area so hopefully these critters stay away from the areas closer to the city.

We have no mosquitos here in Albuquerque and the desert roaches stay outside and are taken care of by pest control services twice a year. My "no kill" policy stops at roaches. We get an occasional spider which we just put back outside. That's about as much critter life as I want to contend with.

Hmmm. I need to have a talk with my sister.

June

South = Bugs .. You'll get used to them.

X

june_NM - I don't want to scare you & I don't want to offend the Carolina lovers here, but these bugs have been a challenge; more so than anywhere I've ever lived.

I do live a few miles outside of town and have 3 acres, the back 2 of which are woods. I have my pest control people on speed dial. LOL

Fire Ants, ticks, fleas, mosquitos are a never ending battle. Several flying stinging thingys I've never seen before - wasp nests under my deck, yellow jackets taking control of my container garden. Even lady bugs invaded my house last summer.

I've learned that moth balls & crystals all over the place help quite a bit, tho. I know they get rid of mice & stuff, which'll help keep the snakes away, but I've also heard quite a bit that they also repel snakes. I've tried them for the yellow jackets & I think they're working. The yellow jackets were actually very aggressive towards me last week, buzzing my head, landing on me & chasing me even. (They swarmed & killed a man in upstate SC last weekend.) And I use Zodiac "Fleatrol" spray in the house, which kills every bug known to man for several months. I discovered that in Calif when I was battling sand fleas. I've introduced it to several of my relatives down here, and they're all using it exclusively now. Every spring I spray every entrance to my house, including window sills & around the windows, even cable holes & the dryer exit hose; then around all the baseboards. That keeps the bugs, including spiders, out of the house for the whole season.

There *is* a flip-side. The moths & butterflies down here are the most beautiful I've ever seen. ;)

June-

Love Raleigh, great city. However, Xeramtheum has it right. South = Bugs (and spiders and snakes.) We just had one the the school principals on Hilton Head Island find a 4' snake curled up in a potted plant in her office and we just had a very sad event where a student died from eastern equine encephalitis, a rare mosquito borne disease. Could just be down here in particular, we have so much water in Beaufort County.

However, I was raised in Los Angeles, and I remember problems with rattlesnakes and black widow spiders.

Anyways, I've lived in several large cities in the west and northeast and I'll have to say I love the south the best. I love the open spaces, wildlife and the people.

Jenny

SCNewbie -- Thanks for the information. I'm not fearful of stuff but do like to be prepared.

For the first few years we lived in Albuquerque we would spot scorpions in the house. Now those are nasty and they are hard to kill. We worked out a system using a mayonnaise jar and a piece of paper to capture them. We would then drop the scorpion over our high back cinder block wall where there is just wild brush. We had a jar in every room and the loud scream "Scorpion Alert" got us into action like a well-trained Swat team.

Then my next door neighbor, who is a Native American, told me that a chunk of serpentine rock kept it in the house would keep scorpions away. I didn't want to offend him so I went on Ebay, ordered a big chunk of serpentine rock from a minerologist, put in the front hall, and to our amazement we haven't seen a scorpion since. Go figure. (But we still keep a mayonnaise jar in every room, just in case.)

What I am looking forward to when we eventually relocate is lush greenery, soft breezes, beautiful birds and butterflies, growing some peonies and other plants that don't survive in the desert. I'm also looking forward to a little old-fashioned neighborliness which I had in California but which is very lacking here.

I can get used to bugs but will be super careful about yellow jackets. You can get away from a snake but can't outrun a yellow jacket.

Jenny -- We've had a few cases of West Nile virus in some areas here where there is standing water, mostly around horses and cattle. It is mosquito-borne. There have been a few deaths but mostly just serious illness from it.

June

They had an article on yellow jackets in today's Charleston Post & Courier

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/aug/15/yard_workers_beware_yellow_jackets_hate_13006/

WOOOO HOOOO!!!!! ITS RAINING! BUCKETS!

x

Its now raining tea spoons. The buckets only lasted a few minutes .. rain gauge saw 1.5 tenths of an inch. Better than nothing!

X

X: I was out at lunch over by I-26 and Main and it was "bucketing" down. Got back to my office in downtown S'ville. and nothing. I bet when I get home the rain gauge will be like yours. :( Gonna have to put on my rain-dancing shoes. ..or wash the car...or something.
Deb

In looking at the radar, we might get a second wave!

X

SCNewbie, where do you live in Anderson? I'm up there every few months. My son and his wife are in Greenville and her mom lives in Anderson across from Anderson College. They want to move out of the "city" and have their house on the market.

You'll get used to the south then there's no turning back. Yes, we get the bugs, snakes (once in awhile), etc., but don't ya' just love grits, fried okra and barbeque?! LOL! Hmmm? Is that why we have so many bugs??

June, Raleigh is a great city. In town it's really gotten huge and congested, but the suburbs are beautiful! Being on the coast and 3 hours from Raleigh, I sometimes get tired of it being so flat. It's nice to visit Raleigh for some of the rolling terrain and beautiful hardwood trees. Be sure to visit the coast when you come east. Matter of fact, my area is rather uncrowded and has become a big retiree place (younger retirees). I love it! It's cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than Raleigh.

Barbara

BDunn,
I'm in South Anderson, actually only a few minutes from Georgia off 29S. I *love* the quiet here! No road noise, no air traffic.... just the breeze in the trees. And these people had never done anything to the property when I bought it, so I had/have a bare canvas to build my landscaping on - that's cool.

I do love the barbecue down here. :)

We've been exploring the financials of both NC and SC, with SC seeming to be more tax friendly. By the time we are ready to relocate we will have slightly less income, less generous health insurance, etc. and are trying to get informed about factors that will have a financial impact on us.

Right now I'm exploring information about Summerville, SC where I see Xeramtheum lives. It's a long way from my sister in Pinehurst, NC but it sounds lovely and is only 45 minutes from the beach. And Summerville is a lot closer to Pinehurst than Albuquerque, New Mexico. ;-)

http://www.city-data.com is a wonderful resource for information. And all of you are too! I'm thankful.

June

Deb lives in Summerville too and I used to live there many years ago. I am guessing it would be about 3 1/2 hours to Pinehurst. (Was trying to subtract how long it takes me and I live a bit further south outside of Beaufort.) Old Summerville is a charming community and we still have a lot of friends there.

June: I can certainly recommend Summerville. It's only 30 min. out of Charleston, too, which is nice. A couple of hours from some other lovely old towns like Beaufort and Savannah. It has grown alot in the past 15 years, but still has a nice "small town" feel.
Deb

Y'all I just have to complain for a second...in this heat, we have not had rain for 3-4 weeks, I honestly can't remember. It rained for about 3 seconds one night this week, by the time I got to the window it had stopped and it instantly evaporated.

....need all the rain dancers to step up....

June-

Summerville is a great little town and they have a neat flower festival.
http://www.summervilleymca.org/flowertown/

Charleston is one my favorite all time towns- it's lovely.

Since I live in Beaufort County I'm a little biased to Beaufort!

The lowcountry is a lovely place to live... well, except for August. ;*>

We just wormed all our sheep and goats this morning and that is a hot, dirty, greasy and generally icky job. I think I need a nap.

Jenny

Jenny, do you have dairy goats and do you make cheese and or soap?

.....and August is bad anywhere in either Carolina. LOL

Tropicana: I'm with you.

May I just say, some rain would be nice. I'm now watering every day just to keep things from falling over dead. I'm not bothering with the lawn, just the beds. Even if I give everything a good soak with the sprinkler, the next day the soil is bone dry.

Took this tonight after overdoing it a bit, but it's an area where I'm trying to encourage the grass to spread, so there ya go.
Anyway, this area will dry all the way down by this time tomorrow.

Deb

Hey Ardesia-

Nope, I have meat goats, boerX and kiko. I've had friends that have made cheese before- way to time consuming for me! My sheep are meat sheep, too, katadhin x st. croix. I mostly dabble in herding with them. I have several big, ol' fat wethers that are as big as calves. ;*>

Jenny