Baseball and Heat

This Saturday morning the kids played baseball. Both are on a team. The games started early as we are all suffering from the heat. It is currently 35 here with the humidity around 30%. I simply droop and drip. Everyone else hopped into the pool when we got back, but I didn't go in. While the pool is not actually cold when it is this hot here it feels utterly frigid to me. I guess we are lucky since the south coast- Melbourne among others- has been well into the 40s.

The other night I saw my first possum climbing in a tree outside. They are a bit smaller than the ones I have seen in North America- in the dark it looked a lot like a koala. Around here they are considered quite a pest so there are various companies that specialize in their removal. They are protected so one can't shoot them or anything like that. The one I saw, or perhaps a buddy, climbs on the roof and, if he can, comes into the house. Trina tells me that when they first came something in the kitchen was not sealed and she found a possum in the kitchen cabinets.

Other than the possums I see the usual birds and lizards a fair amount. Right now the birds are quiet but in the later afternoon they no doubt will start up again. The lizards come in various sizes, as small as a couple of inches up to around a meter. Yesterday I rescued a 6 inch one that had managed to fall into a water bucket- it was swimming but it could not of course continue indefinitely.

Next weekend we will probably go visit a Hunter Valley winery. I am not sure which as Trina is going to ask her brother for a suggestion. He is a bit of a connosieur.