Thunderstorms, toads and geese... oh my!

Summertime in South Carolina always brings three things with it: storms, toads, and geese. This time of year, you are pretty much guaranteed to see all three of those things where we live. This year, I have managed to take photos of all three "gifts" of summer. First of all, storms.

I took this photo on I-20 one day when I was driving to Lugoff after work to have dinner with my best friend. Within about five minutes of taking this, it was raining so hard that I could barely see the road! Overall, summertime in the South is beautiful. But as the old saying goes, when it rains, it pours! We've had a couple doozies this year, one of which knocked out our air conditioning for nearly 3 days. Boy, was that miserable!

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Secondly, summertime in South Carolina (or at least at our apartment complex) brings with it an infestation of toads. The little guy in the photo below actually kept me out of my apartment for a good five minutes one day. He thought it would be a good idea to hang out on my doorstep, with his body squished up against my door, all the while giving me this look that said "I know your type. You don't much like amphibians like myself and won't touch me. I can sit here for hours, babe."

Well, after a few minutes I finally got up the guts to move him, but I still refused to use my hands. So instead, I picked up our welcome mat and gently nudged him with it until he hopped away from the door. Whew! What took me so long to think of that?

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Last, but not least, geese. One day, just a couple weeks ago, I was pulling into our complex with our Chinese takeout when I saw something amazing: a family of geese, walking in a straight line. Momma goose in front, goslings behind. I know this isn't something revolutionary, but for some reason that image was so awesome at that moment, that I knew I had to get my camera. I parked quickly and ran inside, throwing the Chinese on the coffee table and grabbing my Nikon. "Be right back!" I yelled to Justin. He stared at me with a completely puzzled expression. Unfortunately, by the time I got back to where the geese were, they had already made it to our complex's manmade pond and weren't in their perfect little line anymore. Still, they let me walk really close to them, and I took this:

Sure, they leave droppings everywhere, which my dogs like to try and eat whenever they can. (Gross, I know!) Even so, I kinda like the little guys. As I walked around them, they all had their beaks to the ground, pecking around for something to eat; all except one. The "babies" were so big that I couldn't decipher which was mom anymore, but as you can see in the photo, one goose always stayed "on the lookout" and watched out for the others as they ate in peace. I just thought that was neat. :)

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Now, I could talk about many other things that come with the Southern summer season (try saying that three times fast!), like the heat for instance, the humidity, or the insects and spiders (EW!). But the three that always stick out in my mind are the storms, the toads, and the geese. Without these things, it just wouldn't be summer where I live.

Love and Lattés,

Katie