It's Hailing!

[LindaM]

Well.. apparently it was. When my husband and I finished showering this morning, I heard loud drip-drop sounds outside and got super excited about it being a such really rainy day. So while I was getting dressed and brushing my teeth, my husband comes back into the bathroom and says it wasn't rain at all, but hail instead. A most fortuitous moment, as none of our ferrets have experienced hail before. I can't recall a time I got dressed faster either. So off hubby went with something to scoop and a bucket to gather hail off our deck for the furkids.

After that I stormed downstairs to their room with a towel and bucket of hail. Watching them experience it for the first time was wonderful, we had an absolute ball just watching them figure it out and play and dig in it. My alpha, Athena seemed the most interested of everyone and she ended up eventually goading everyone into trying to play in it several more times this morning. There were lots of excited sniffling, tentative pawing, freaked out backwards bounces from the cold, and tons of little flying hail bits.

I do wish they would've allowed me to get some better photos though.. most ended up too blurry.

[Sherry]

Actions of a true ferrent- enduring a hail storm to get babies something different to play with lol. Glad they enjoyed it! It's so odd- it hailed here the other day as well. Odd because this is the first time I remember it hailing this late. Hail season is June/July, with maybe the very odd time one in early August.

[hiddenstars826]

I bet they had fun! Do you guys get snow, too? The last time it hailed was earlier this summer, and after seeing poor Sammy have such a freakout over the noise I never would have thought to bring some in! Poor guy was shaking and frozen in place between the thunder and hail we could hear.

I'm excited for snow though this year. Brought some in for Peter last year but he was far from thrilled. Deanie I think will enjoy it, and probably Monday too.

[LindaM]

Sherry The weather is a bit odd lately, there's no doubt about it. Utah has experienced a really good summer this year I feel.. the snows lasted on the mountain ranges long after they'd usually have melted off (thanks to extra cold temperatures up there from already accumulated snows and extra rainfall to bolster over and over), and the summer has sprung many a decent rainstorm throughout too. It was an excellent battle against the drought, even though there was one or two wildfires still. The mountain sides were good and green this year eitherway, and the lakes got added water from the rain, the year before was problematic to the point that some of the lake marinas had to close early due to all-time low water levels at the edges.

We live very close to the lake right now at the new house, there's a row of houses across the street and the lake is beyond them. So I hope to order some strong harness leashes for the ferrets and try to take them down to the lake shore to see if they will enjoy exploring down there. This past winter, the lake froze really good too, though I am not sure I want to take them out in the cold for that far, so I think I'll stick close to home for winter fun and let them play in the yard instead and inside with buckets or tub of snow.

This was the lake early this year, fully frozen and covered in snow. There was some shifting from water which caused huge cracks and chunks of ice to shift, but they ended up fully frozen again for a good distance into the lake from the edges inward.



hiddenstars826 We most certainly get snow, that's me up on the frozen lake this last winter. Utah is known to have the best snow in the world for skiing, or so it brags, lol. I haven't gone skiing myself, so I can't say. But we get a good amount of snowfall. Loki and Athena have both experienced snow before. I tend to gather snows throughout the winter and make snow dig buckets or let them dig in the guest bathroom tub filled with snow (hubby and I haul bucket after bucket in for them to get a lot in there). Ares and Apollo who I only got earlier this year, well after the snows on the ground have melted, will be experiencing their first snow this coming winter, and I can't wait to introduce it to them.

This is Loki and Athena in snow in the tub from last year: