Hot Summer Days

Blue Merle Collie (Ariel) and 'Blue Merle' Ram (Jeffery)

(Picture taken several years ago)

It's been hot the last few days and the temps are suppose to climb this weekend. I expect the only thing to do is get out and work early in the morning and then hibernate during the day! I've got several fence repair jobs I need to get done, before the sheep further their wanderlust. I do have the hot job of mowing the yard behind me, as I did that last night. My yard 'proper' (inside the fence) is not huge and I have lots of trees and plants so its easier and neater to push mow it. I will be mowing all the front where the sheep have grazed it down also, but that's pretty easy with the rider mower. Once that's done, the place should look pretty spiffy.

The ewe's are getting out on new grass in the evening, and the rams are also getting switched over. They won't have grass for very long, but I'm hoping that it will last into August before I start feeding hay.

Boone, the big french mastiff, is always 'helping' me in everything I do, and mowing is no exception. He knows he can't chase the push mower when its running, but the minute I kill the motor he starts trying to bite and pull the wheels off. Evidently this is an exciting game. As I mow, I usually have to throw piles of toys out of the way, and he will run and grab them and return them to where I didn't want them to be. Very proud of himself, but when you are hot and sweaty it gets old pretty quick! Last night he finally decided to move them all outside the yard (I had the front gate open) where I assume he thought they would be safe. This hot weather is pretty hard on him and he pants very loud with tongue hanging out. It's not really very quiet around now, when everywhere I go all I can hear is this loud huffing and puffing following me!

After I got in and had a shower, I sat in front of the fan to cool off. I was having problems with my modem for the DSL so had to end up calling them. Seems somehow my modem got fried! I keep everything unplugged when I'm not home (except the phone line) or when its storming. Anyhoo, it was fried for sure, and they are sending me a new one, no charge thankfully. I was quizzing the guy about what I could do to avert this from happening again. He assured me it was a fluke thing and wouldn't happen again. He seemed puzzled when I laughed a bit hysterically! Oh please--it will happen again---spoken by the lady who has had two flats (and one caused from an animal bone for pete's sake!) in the last two months on perfectly good tires, and two different cracks in her windshield...and... Things just happen.

Once I settled in bed, with the ceiling fan and a large oscillating fan (that doesn't oscillate anymore) pointing right on me, it was still pretty stuffy and hot. I ordered the cats to leave me alone. (What is it about cats, that even if its a 150 degrees they still want to lay right on you??) Surprisingly they were agreeable, for awhile anyway. The house did cool down quicker than I expected though. Because it was so hot, I switched ends and was laying with my head at the foot of the bed, closer to the fan. Now a little background here---Meshach likes to lay in the crook of my arm most of the time, or curled against my head. Sage on the other hand, sprawls out across the foot of the bed near my feet. So there I was settled in at the foot of the bed, with Meshach laying near but not against me. Sage jumps up---looks around with puzzlement on his face. First he looks at my head, then looks at my feet, then back again.. His look clearly said--hey whats going on here? This is not the way its suppose to be. He huffed off and went and lay somewhere else. Pretty soon Meshach curls up on my arm and I finally drift off. I wake up in the middle of the night, still with a cat sorta curled up in the crook of my arm. Only its really stiff, and just doesn't seem right. I blearily look and its Sage! He was semi-curled in a large ball, with his feet propped against my arm, but grimly bearing with it. Just to see what he would do (he usually doesn't like to be held and cuddled--gets rather emotional about it) I scrunched him up a little. He didn't even stir, but squinched his eyes tighter and pretended all was well. It was quite funny! I can't imagine why I rarely get a good night's sleep! :-)

Have a great weekend. I'll be internet-less for a few days.