The heat this week is approaching unbearable. I actually put the air conditioning on in the house one evening when the house hit 80 degrees. After being out in it all day and dragging my heels slower and slower I need to come in and get cool...The sheep were too hot to lay down--they just stand there in front of their new barn fan and hyperventilate. I offer them a big bucket of fresh water every day and a small bucket of electrolyte mix, which they do actually choose on the hot days. They always have loose salt with selenium and E, and a plain sodium chloride salt block. Even Oakley is going for the salt which I never saw him do last year.
My appetite drops when it's this hot, so it's tough to have the energy for some of the harder jobs sometimes.
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| Lasagna garden--a long way to go! |
Yesterday I got three yards of topsoil in the truck bed, and managed to offload more than half onto our lasagna garden at the side of the house. I was pretty shattered by 6pm and still had the barn to clean along with the rest of the regular evening duties.
G landed at MSP at 6:45 (he was in Salt Lake City) and I called him not long after to tell him that Lorpie was missing, and I couldn't find her anywhere. It's just not like her. Especially that close to dusk, she should have been waiting around the backdoor for me. I called and called and looked under every tree, looked in the garage, under the horse trailer, under the front deck where Mr. White used to sleep, I looked in the basement to see if she'd snuck in and gone to lay down somewhere cool.
I got the barn done and waited for G to get home to retrace my steps and look with fresh eyes. It was not fun waiting while it got darker and darker out and our window was closing. G found her!! Under the front deck where I'd already looked, but couldn't see her. She seemed to be at a loss as to how to get out, since it's all surrounded by lattice. I opened a section and G started up with the ultimate Lorpie lure: digging with a shovel. She couldn't resist, and slowly made her way out to see if G had unearthed some bounty for her. What a relief! I'm not ready for you to leave us yet Lorpie...
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| Lorpie waiting for me to take her inside for the night. |
I was looking through some old photos the other day (as I often do) and found these shots of Lorpie and Pepper after a freak snow storm in Victoria. I think this was the first time they had seen snow. : )
They were the brave ones, venturing out. Venga got as far as the fire pit cinder blocks and proceeded to stand there and scream, as if she was on a raft with sharks circling around her. I like to include these funny little tidbits for anyone reading who still can't quite believe chooks have such diverse personalities. Fun times!
Next post I think I must write about what else the heat brings, other than heat stroke, wild mood swings and constantly sweaty clothes.
Oh yes, there's more...
Missing the temperate west as always, but enjoying the fireflies at night, like our own sparkly snow globe....There is magic in every season, I just have to wipe the sweat from my eyes to make sure I see these things ; )
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