Busy with the Blahs......

I wish that I could tell you that I have been too busy to blog but the honest truth is that I have been too LAZY to blog.

Still no rain but the temperatures are so much cooler that I hesitate to complain. I went out to check cows this morning and was actually COLD! The temp was a brisk 52 degrees. The out look is so grim for pasture, hay, and fall crops that I just can't open that Pandora's box. If I dare to think about it, I become overwhelmingly depressed.

The growth on my ear that I had removed early last week was benign...... Thank you Lord! Now I am headed to the hospital early in the morning for an ultra sound of my gallbladder. I have been having interesting pain and digestive disorders...... Frankly, I don't care what they find--- I am not in enough pain to have surgery.

The two milk goats that stayed with us most of the summer are back. My friend is just not well enough to take care of them and I am very afraid for her future......

We are expecting six calves to be born before the end of September. Better late than never, I guess!

My daughter came home from her summer in Yellowstone for a few days before heading back to college.

We will begin our school schedule after Labor Day.

I think that I am going to be taking a little blogging break until my mood improves or we have a significant amount of rainfall. Maybe by the time September arrives, I will have lots to catch you up on!

Enough!!!

I have had about all the canning that I can stand for a few days. We have plenty of apple jelly, peach jam and apple pie filling. Even a few quarts of apple cider that probably won't last very long unless I hide it at the back of the pantry.

I was hanging out clothes this morning when Neil and Seth pointed out a visitor......

This doe was just across the pond getting a drink and browsing around. She didn't seem very concerned about us at all--- until I got the camera. I managed to zoom in and get this one as she slipped back into the woods.

It was wonderfully cool this morning and I turned off the AC and just never turned it back on while I was working in the kitchen. It warmed up to about 93 degrees but after nearly a month of over a hundred, this feels wonderful and give me a hint that fall IS on the way. Still no rain...... I have been catching as much of the grey water from my canning and washing dishes to use to water the fruit trees and berries.

I have time to plant a fall garden but I am very wary about doing it..... there is absolutely no moisture in the ground to germinate seeds and I am not set up to do extensive irrigation....... decisions, decisions......

Sweet Morning!

I got busy pretty early this morning in the kitchen. Of course, I had a little cider for breakfast.

By lunch time, I had gotten this much done. The lighter colored jars are just canned cider. The darker rows in the front are apple jelly. I made them in assorted sizes because I am sure that Sis will want to take some with her when she heads back to school.

Now I am taking a break and trying to decide what to do now. I have a doctor appointment late this afternoon and I am just not sure I am ready to jump on the next canning projects....

                              Future apple pie filling. The white bucket behind the basket is also full.

Some friends were kind enough bring us back a box of peaches from Colorado..... they are sooo beautiful! Planning on canning some of them and also making jam. If I get back from the doctor in time, I just might whip up a peach cobbler for dessert tonight.

This will be my second trip to see my doctor in the last two days. Yesterday was just my regular blood pressure and general check up. That went fine but when I showed her a funny growth on my ear, she scheduled me to come back in tonight to have it removed. All those years of wearing my hair in a pony tail!!

Missed Photo Op!!

A friend and I took our kids and headed to the apple orchard this morning. The owner is a dear friend who has patiently waited for me to get the fair out of the way and cattle sold before calling to tell me that I HAD to come soon or the apples would be too far gone.

This morning, we pressed about 11 gallons of juice. I brought home a couple of buckets of apples to make pie filling and sauce out of.  We also brought home all of the "mash" from the press to give to the chickens as a treat.

I forgot to take my camera!!

Afternoon Escapees....

It all started because I felt the need to brag a bit..... Seth was splitting kindling this morning to make some "women wood" for me and he had a little accident. Nothing serious and a band-aid fixed it. I posted about it on face book and a friend commented about how hard it was to get her grandsons to add to the wood pile. We jokingly call Seth our "American Logger" because he really likes this chore. I told her that I would post a picture of his pile for this year--- so far.

So I wandered out with the camera.....

Please note that this is a double stack about 75 feet long........ anyway back to my story.

I went out the back door of the house--- this will be important later.

I ambled across the pond dam to go to the barn since I had the camera. I might get some good pictures.

This should have been my first clue that all was not well but..... I was oblivious. The new babies were hanging out by themselves in a spare shed. Alone.

I gave the bucks a drink of water and began to think that things were very quiet over here at the barn..... and still. Then it dawned on me ---- NO GOATS.

I walk down to the pasture gate and it is still open from letting Holly in for milking this morning. I walked out into the woods and saw a few goats---- not nearly enough of them!

I begin to get slightly alarmed! If they were out, they could be on the road, walking down the highway headed for town, pillaging the neighbor's crops.........

I had left the truck at the barn during morning chores so I hopped in and headed for the entry gates. I was planning to head down the road to check the highway when I realized that I had left my phone at the house. So I headed to the house to let the boys know the problem.

As I came in the driveway, this is what I found :

  
The renegade hussies were all hanging out in my front yard, cooling it under the shade tree!!

The interesting part about all this is that as soon as I got out of the truck and began to quiz them about how long they had been there, they all began to stroll around the corner of the house and head back toward the woodpile.... They all knew right where the gate was and led me there....

They were all talking to me and skipping and hopping around as if they had played a really good joke on me.

                         A few of them straggled behind but they all filed right through the gate.

And seemed happy to be back at their home.

                                    And I ended up right back where I started --- at the wood pile.

A Little More Hope.....

Saturday night it rained a little more! We ended up with only 3/10th of an inch but somehow things just don't seem so "crisp" right now. On top of that, we had much cooler temperatures yesterday--- only got up to the mid 90's!! We woke up this morning to a cool 65 degrees! I opened a few windows......

Planning on gathering up the cattle this evening and sorting of the calves. It is a bit early to wean some of them but it is the best management practice to protect the cows and the grass. Heifers will stay in the lot and go on full hay while the steers head in to the sale barn in the morning. We have a cull cow that is going to have to ride along, too.

It is still supposed to be hot over the next week or so but not the scorching 100+ degrees days. I am very grateful that there seems to be a break in the heat and just a hint that fall is on the way.  

Orchard Triage

I have been hauling buckets of water down to the orchard near the county road. This morning, I decided it was "make or break" time. I had Seth load up the water tank into the truck.

We have just about passed a critical point. Some things just can not be saved. I am having to make the decision about what to water and try to keep alive and which trees and plants I just have to let die. Since we do not have a well and have to pay for water, it would be a waste of resources to keep watering something that is just too far gone. It may very well reach the point that I have to let all of the orchard die in order to water our livestock.  We are being very frugal with the water but....... the bottom line is that we need rain and lots of it.

This is the fruit trees near the house and garden. The greener peach tree in the back was planted last year and has a well established root system. I even got to eat a few very small peaches from it last week. The apple tree in the foreground was planted early this spring. As you can see from the green Bermuda grass at its base, we have been faithful to water it but it is still suffering.  These trees are doing better than the ones closer to the road because this area is somewhat shaded for part of the day.

This is the oldest apple tree..... barely hanging on. If you look closely you can see a 2 litre pop bottle that I have buried at the base. It has a few holes in the bottom to allow water to get directly to the roots of the tree and reduce run off and evaporation. Usually while I am out watering by hand, I fill it up at least twice. This morning when I drove the truck down with the tank, I made the rounds and filled each bottle at least 4 times and saturated the ground at the base of the trees.

There are some things that no amount of water can save in this heat. All but two of the blueberry bushes are baked to a crisp. My beautiful lush strawberry beds are literally toast. They just could not survive the seemingly endless days of over 100 degree temperatures. We are expecting it to hit 111 degrees today...... a cool spell is expected early next week with temperatures only reaching 98 or so......

The fig bush is still hanging in there and the grape vines are wilted but green. I am not sure whether to pray for rain or an early, snowy winter........