Can't Take the Heat......

Get out of the kitchen! That old saying has a new meaning for me. The outside temperatures have already passed the point of being hot. In order for Charlie to sleep comfortably during the day (since he works the night shift), we have already turned the air conditioner on for this year. It just about kills me to hear it kick on and we keep the thermostat above 80 degrees...... that is all the comfort I am willing to give him. If it is too cool, it makes it very difficult for the rest of us to work outside, come inside for a bit and then go back outside to do more work.

One of my rules of the house is that once the AC is turned on, the clothes dryer goes off. There is no way that I am paying for the AC to cool down a house we are deliberately heating up.....A good portion of our day is spent hauling clothes back and forth to be line dried. Cooking in the kitchen is just about as bad. The stove that came with this house has almost ZERO insulation and it is pretty unbearable to use the oven. I have been using the crock pots quite a bit but you just can't bake cookies in one of those......

Luckily, I still have my old stove. It was a pretty pricey item when I bought it but it is set to run on natural gas. This house uses propane and there is some sort of valve that has to be changed out to make it work. After nearly two years, I am about to get my "good" stove hooked up. It has been stored at the barn and the guys brought it over for me to clean up. As soon as I get that done, I am hauling it into town for a repairman to change the valves. It has much more insulation and I am hoping it will make cooking more bearable.

Earlier today, I heard the sound of a large tractor nearby and went to investigate. Our Farmer/Neighbor was no till planting soybeans in to the wheat stubble!! Yippee!!! Now we need a little rain to get those little guys to germinate.

Time to call my hay guy and begin ordering cow feed for next winter...... seems like we just got done feeding out the last of it!! We are so pleased at how well our pastures have recovered from the drought last year. As a precaution, we are undergrazing it and it looks like it has paid off. We are making plans to graze a portion of it "intensely" and then let it rest and grow. We are hoping that will give us "standing hay"stockpiled for winter and reduce the number of bales we have to feed.

After replacing the starter on Hammer twice, Neil was able to get a little weed mowing done in the pastures. Then the front tires began to take turns going flat...... He finally reached the point of not being able to repair them any more. We have two new tires and a new rim on order for this week.

My green beans are coming in! I have a big batch cooked up for meals but it looks like I will officially begin the canning season tomorrow. Since it will take a few days to get the new stove installed in the kitchen, I will be doing most of the actual work with the pressure canner over in the barn kitchen. I am planning to do the prep work, and getting the beans in the hot jars at the house and hauling it over to use the stove over there.

All this is going on while Seth and I are getting ready for his trip this weekend. I am trying to trim down the chores as much as possible so that crew left at home will not have such a hard time. My mom will be flying in on Friday to act as supervisor.

One of those chores I am eliminating is taking care of this guy......

Remember him? He has just about tripled in size since he arrived but unfortunately, his brain function has not..... This is the last of the bottle babies for this year. His owner has agreed to take him back a bit early since I will be gone for a week.

My friend will be taking another round of chemo on Wednesday and we really do not believe that she will be any where near able to take care of her goats by the weekend. Another friend has agreed to take those two girls and milk them until I get back.