I don't know why we refer to our four-legged family as pets. They are every bit as much of our family as the two legged kind. It has been so hot here in my part of Texas that even Satin has left for Hell. My Honey goes out in the morning, runs around the yard like a banshee, barks her head off, then comes inside for the day, sleeps most of the day away only to repeat her morning routine after 5pm. She prefers around 7pm because the sun is usually not on my back yard by then. And forget going out in the middle of the day. Yep. My farm dog is one spoiled dog. She will not go out in rain, nor if it is too cold, and for sure if it is hot.
Jock, on the other hand, loves to be out because he stays in the shrubs under the Burr Oak tree. I have tons of Turk's Cap shrubs under there and he loved to pick the fruit from them. I have to make him come in. But he is good for sleeping most of the day. I don't like to let them out at night because they could stumble onto a snake and copperheads are out in the night. So we make a trip to just off the patio and then I make them come in.
I have rabbits in my yard. Honey will chase them if they run. If they just stay still, she will trip over them and never see them. I also have visiting raccoons and possums. I know this because all my pomgranites disappear before I can get them. And I find them all over the yard, at least what the animals did not eat. I don't use any poisons so I have lizards, ground snakes, toads, lots of toads, hummingbirds, cardinals, blue jay's and I have a resident hawk so I have to watch Jock close. He only weighs 10 pounds and while a hawk cannot carry him off, that hawk could cause a lot of damage. Oh and I have woodpeckers. Love my wildlife. Would love to be in the country, I would have a few goats, a couple of cows, ponies, and a donkey. No people, though.
