Hold that Heat, Please!

Wow, we have been baking in NE Kansas.  Nothing like the 

western states, or Texas, but hot, hot, hot. 

My yard, lush and green just two weeks ago, is brown and sere, 

and literally just dirt in many places.  Ask me... I cut last night, 

because I did not cut the north end last week.... and the roadside. 

When I finished, the Dust of Ages was everywhere on me, and in my eyes and mouth. 

Ugh. 

The light is changing. 

The leaves are changing. 

The flowers that were so full weeks ago are starting to fade. 

I have never grown this before, but I love it. 

Going blank on the name.  

The two petunia baskets looked like this on Tuesday of 

this week. 

Today, they are almost totally brown husks.  I'm taking them down tomorrow. 

They did last all summer, for 6.97 at Walmart.  I shopped there maybe four times since 

March.  I may have to go there tomorrow to get some 1.00 mums to start filling in. 

There were five beautiful calibrachoa in here, they are gone, too. 

The box needs repair, so I will have to dump it and see if it can be used again. 

This is Spot.  Spot likes the sheep, and they like him.  He is the second feral eating here, he came right before Tanner died.  He will sometimes lay on the deck and wait for me to put canned cat food out for him.  

He was waiting for dinner here. 

Jester wants to be friends very much, Fritzi... not so much.  Snowy is indifferent. 

I'm keeping a close eye on seventeen year old
Snowy in this heat, in fact, I can tell when her tongue lolls and she walks slowly, even after three or four minutes, it's too much for her.  She recovered nicely from her mammary tumor surgery, and they got all the cancer. 

My little Fritz was hiding from the doctor yesterday.  She had her ears and eyes checked, and though her cataracts are not complete yet, I can tell by the way she gets startled that she cannot see.  I watch her very closely, she still wants to go outside.  She is having increasing problems walking, though, and the doctor thought that was weight related (she is not gaining or losing now for months) but also as a result of her medications. 

It hurts me to see it affect her, because she was such a happy little dog.  She is also my watch dog, nothing gets by her.  The other two dogs do not bark. 

The doctor did tell me that Fritzi cannot undergo anesthesia for anything at this point. 

I keep the ground wet by the little blue swimming pool under the tree.  This sheep was watching something going on yesterday. 

I had a new roof put on the old hen house.  It was an investment in 

my future here, maybe another year or two. 

The two men worked fast and it was torn off,  and redone in about 

four hours.  In the heat. 

Thank heavens they were directly under a tree. 

The pumpkin patch is going nutso.  In fact, as soon as I finish here, 

I have to go out and water.  

We are expecting rain in the next four days, and I am 

praying it comes sooner rather than later.  I have to watch how 

I do laundry, fill the sheep pools, etc., because I run myself out of 

well water, and then it takes an hour or so to pump back up.  

It would be good to have a surplus of water for a while. 

Pumpkin "Howden", growing on. 

I also have summer squash, and I must have 

planted a few cucumbers, and didn't remember.  I'm cutting them 

up for the chickens, because they are picklers.  Smelled GOOD, though!.

They are holding on in the heat, I thought I was losing an old hen today, but 

ten minutes later, I saw her go across the yard! 

I have something interesting to note here. 

I have been removing all seed from the flat feeder at night, and locking up the finch feeder, suet, etc. in tin cans with bungee cords across them. 

Three weeks ago, I had fourteen to fifteen raccoons feeding under the feeder every night.  I noticed that in the last week, I have had only three or four. 

Monday night, I saw a possum for the first time in weeks. 

I'm wondering if the natural food is so available right now, that they are all somewhere else eating. 

Do you realize it is dusk before 8 PM now? 

I am praying for those affected by the terrible storms and by the terrible fires.  We are so lucky here in the Midwest, and I feel 

for the humans and animals who are suffering during this awful summer of Covid and disasters. 

Fall is coming.