BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Inspiration Where are you and how is the weather?

Yes, 32C and it was hot. Fortunately the wind wasn't hot, though, and was actually kind of cool. That helped. The only bugs we have around here are these flying grasshopper things and some little white butterflies, no mosquitos, thank goodness! I know what you mean, Nancy, about the spiderwebs. It's always icky to accidentally get my face or hair tangled up in one of those.

In Summer we can see trees with their tops completely covered in spider webs. And when you walk very early in Summer mornings some parts of the streets near the grass are also covered in webs. I bet even people without that phobia would develop it if living here for a long time, it's that crazy! And they are so big here, some are tarentula big! Saw one crossing a street two or three Summers ago from several feet away, at first I tought it was a rat or something then I realised what it was. I had to continue (i could of went back then walk about 2 hours to cross a small bridge then follow the other street to come home...if that spider would of stayed in the middle of the street i would of done that!!!) and that was so scary, it was black with white lines. Had one that was brown inside the house, I screamed like I was dying but my parents never came down so it got away, I spent almost one year freaked out over that.

I'm glad the wind was not hot. It's always worst when the wind is also hot, there's no escape from the hot.

Nancy, that's outrageous about the spiders! I think of Quebec is being mostly blanketed with snow through much of the year (for example, in Denver CO it seems to snow literally 6 months out of the year, and that's way farther south than where you are). So you'd think the bug population would be minimal where you are, and at least you could get some relief from them after the first hard freeze.

I know what you mean about a phobia. We get some weird things out here in the desert. I find them not so bad when they're outside, but when I discover them inside, it's much worse! It's always a shock to see a large spider or bug or something indoors where you really don't want it.

Yesterday before my walk it was partly cloudy, windy on/off and rainning off/on. During my walk it was partly cloudy and windy on/off. After my walk it was partly cloudy, windy on/off, rainning off/on and at one point there were thunder and lightning.

The night was raining on/off and windy off/on.

It was windy off/on when I went to bed.

It was calm when I got up.

Val,

When I was young we had our first snow end of September then it would be gone late April. Now we are lucky if we have snow in late December.

Before I moved here I never saw any bugs out during Winter. Even when it was christmas and we could still see the grass in some places. Never ever until here.

And I did see big spiders but never tarentula size. One was close to it and my mom too had an experience with one like that but compared to some here these were babies.

And the bugs we see in Winter are not even sleepy or anything, they are as fast as they are in Summer.

No other bugs scare me. Sure some are creepy and I won't pet them or anything but I don't have a phobia. It's just bees and other bugs like them that I make sure to keep away from, I never was bitten by one but I still know that hurts plus my mom is allergic so I may be too so I take no chances (bees too are huge here...some are like little birds!!!!).

Do you have snakes where you live? Probably since snakes are often found in deserts. I wish I would have a phobia like that, there's none here so only videos and pictures would scare me.

Nancy, yes we do have snakes -- a couple of different species of poisonous rattlesnake. When I was a kid, we had them everywhere, and my parents were always running for the shotgun to kill the snakes! No wonder I have a slight phobia of rattlesnakes to this day. However, most people never see them because they don't like to live around a lot of humans. You have to really be out in the sticks before you'll run across them.

We do supposedly get tarantula migrations where all the males get the urge to walk for miles to the river to find the females. I'm kind of grateful I've never seen this! I did see one tarantula once when I was out walking in my old neighborhood; it was marching along on the other side of the street, and I was so surprised to see it that I thought someone's pet had escaped. I'd forgotten that we have them in our part of the world. (I probably would've had a screaming fit if I'd seen it indoors!)

That's really interesting about your lack of snowfall. In Denver this year (and I always look to Denver as an example of extreme winter weather, ha, ha!) it was snowing off and on through May. So the fact that you are so much farther north still doesn't guarantee a long winter full of snow. Maybe it's an altitude issue. Denver is about a mile above sea level. Are you close to sea level?

Val,

Tarentula migration? Wow, just reading this gave me the chills!

I never lived near an ocean (thats what sea level means right??). Here there's a river in front of my house and we do have smaller rivers close by. There's also a lake less than an half hour away. It would be cool if the river would freeze in Winter so I could skate in it but the current is too strong. The lake do freeze but not completely so I never dared try to go skate there, there's probably no danger since a few people fish there in Winter with their little houses they bring there and there were never any accident but I'm too afraid, some even fish near the water that is not frozen.

Yesterday before my walk it was partly cloudy and windy off/on. During my walk it was partly cloudy, windy on/off and rainning off/on. It was the same after my walk.

The night was windy off/on.

It was the same when I went to bed.

When I got up it was partly cloudy and windy off/on.

Nancy, yes, sea level is basically when there is no elevation at all and the ground is at the same level as the shoreline. For example, Denver is in mountainous terrain and is actually 1,615 meters above sea level. If you're used to living at sea level, the oxygen can feel really thin when you go to place like Denver. I was in Denver for a conference and it was funny to hear so many other out-of-towners whining about the oxygen (I'm from ABQ, NM which is at the same altitude as Denver so I was doing fine.)

How very cool that you know how to ice-skate! I've never known how to even roller-skate, let alone ice-skate, but it looks wonderful in the figure skating events for the Winter Olympics. I know what you mean about not trusting the ice on the river or lake. That would make me very nervous. And I've heard about those little houses that the ice-fishermen use. We get that in Minnesota and places up around the Canadian border in winter. I've heard some of those little houses can be quite nice to stay in with heat and protected from the wind while someone's sitting there fishing through the ice.

Val,

Thank you for the explanation!

I always hear about the players complaining about the oxygen when they go play the Avalanche, they don't get to get use to it even the teams who play there a few times during the season sice it's mostly go in the city then play then get out.

I haven't ice skated in many years. My old city (Saint-Hubert) used to put water in the trails of the park for many years so I would go there to skate during Winters but then they stopped doing it. There was still a small ice area there but it was always packed so I did not went there after they stopped having ice trails.

I love roller blading. When my first and only pair broke I never bought new ones.

I did buy a new bicycle one or two years before moving but I have not used it once, I'm too scared that I forgot how to do it (i know its stupid...we never forget) that's my excuse. I always hated Summers but when young I was always outside all day long during that time. When I was not playing or reading in my backyard I was at the park or on my old bicycle (when that bicycle broke is when i started slowly going outside less during summer).