Summer Arrives

So summer arrive here on July sixth, and with a vengeance.  It went from cloudy, frequently rainy and cool to sunny and hot- into the mid 90’s.  This necessitates a whole new range of farm chores.  There’s finding and filling more water containers, moving animals to fields where there’s shade and trimming the old skinny sheep that did not get sheared in the spring (for fear they would chill) so that they do not now overheat.  As I am not keeping their wool I just used hand shears and got the wool off with the least possible effort in the blazing heat.  I also do not want to trim them too close so they do not sunburn and hopeful have some insulation for when the temperatures cool again.  So in this vane above’s Ebony, below is Sadie,

and last, but not least, is Bob.

Not very pretty but hopefully they are more comfortable now.  All the fields are turning to seed so I am trying to mow them all too.  Plus the garden needs constant weeding and watering now too.  With all the baby critters, we are going through feed like crazy so there’s frequent trips to the feed store as well.  Tom has been gone for a week on a trip with his buddy so I have been doing everything myself.  He came home yesterday while I was at work and received a call en route that our hay is being baled and can be delivered.  I was at work so Tom called in his son to help out.  I was getting home at 9 PM to help out, but we were expecting 16 tons of hay to be delivered.

So when I arrived home (fully expecting to be bucking bales all night when at least it is cooler) I found that 5 tons had been stacked, and we were expecting another 5 tons either last night or this morning.  This second delivery thus far has not shown up so we are thinking it won’t be until tonight.  Since I have to work again tomorrow I may not have to put up hay this year.  Above is the 5 tons in our hay loft.

So now Tom is safely home to a list of chores that need done, hay being delivered who knows when, and a frazzled wife.  Welcome home. honey!