How could it be almost a month since I last posted?
I actually composed posts in my head, and never sat down to do them.
We have had some hellish temps here in Northeast Kansas, friends.
Clear back on June 13, Ben and Isaiah came to get the sheep. They literally had eaten the pasture down to dirt. I went out there last night and took a good look, and with the little rain we have had... it has not come back. I seriously do not think I will see my sheep friends again this summer. Yes, I miss them.
The pen they are standing in grew up, I had to mow it yesterday, but when I went around the back of the barn, it was still eaten to the ground. I do miss hearing them and watching them.
A week ago today, I went out at 4 PM to find my propane tank blowing off gas, the smell of sulphur filling the air, and a sound like a freight train coming at me.
Two trucks from Stranger Creek responded... that is Sam, the third brother of the sheep owners, who is a volunteer with them. They stayed two hours... the feels like temp was over 100.
Here is Tristan behind my house, directing water...
They put 500 gallons of water on the tank. The head of the safety valve was five feet from the tank.
The first fireman to respond got my hose and began cooling it, but I turned the tank off myself.
Yes, my hand was shaking.
My propane provider was called, because the tank, which had been filled on March 22, was still reading 80% full, and we don't fill past 80%. The gauge is broken.
No one came or called from Ferrelgas. The next morning I called and talked to the "emergency line" and my call from the day before had not even been logged. That was alarming.
A technician returned my call and was 70 miles away. He walked me through turning everything back on, and told me he would enter an order to replace the gauge. I called yesterday to see when they were coming, and there was no order... so... I went through the whole thing again and it is now scheduled for Monday.
My next door neighbor, Troy, is a captain on the volunteer fire department, and he stayed an additional hour on Friday to make sure everything was okay, and then came over Saturday and relit the water heater.
Never in a million years did I expect Bob the Porch Cat and Bullseye to share a chair.
The next day they had a knock down drag out.
No one is laying here currently.
The next day I removed her from the little hen house where no one is laying. She keeps striking out.
I did lose one in the heat. She had been in front of the fan for two days, and had good, cold water right next to her. I believe there was an underlying cause.
I have never had raccoons come in the middle of the day like Mama does.
She must just be starving.
Here she comes up the back porch... eschewing the steps for some reason.
I had a camera out there that caught her.
My poor Mama cat was laying where the fan could blow on her. I keep the door open now during the day to the shop. (This was the now-neutered mother of last year's kittens).
And the shop cam caught a raccoon laying in front of it a few days later.
Coco was beaten up one too many times by Bob, and started hanging on the back porch.
She is now...
Coco the House Cat.
When Bob comes in to sit on my lap in the morning, Coco has to be locked up in my bedroom for safety's sake, and yes, it gets harrowing in here.
She is spending very little time outside now.
Look! There are still flowers here!
I planted so many wildflower mixes and butterfly mixes this year, and my gosh, except for the fact that I have to water EVERY DAY, I have loved the beautiful, beautiful flowers blooming.
I planted one cherry tomato plant, and I am going to go out and pick some right now, and make myself some nachos for dinner.
Everyone have a great weekend, I will be at the Ag Hall of Fame tomorrow.
