This week we spent getting our first crop of hay in the barn. It went far smoother than we could have even hoped for, and I am grateful for the blessing of it. Because our flatbed truck is busy hauling water to our cows, we had to find another way to transport the hay from the field to the barn. Luckily, my hubby’s boss had a trailer he was not using, we just had to go get it, and we had all the small bales in the barn in two days’ worth of work. It’s a hot, laborious job, but a bale loader makes it go smoother, and thankfully the weather didn’t get stinken HOT while we were working. (It’s supposed to reach 106* F later this week.)
Not sure if you can see in the picture, but that’s our resident bat colony. They were quite comical while we were piling the hay in the barn, scooting down where they could peer out of the eave and chitter at us. Many people don’t like bats, but I love having them around. These guys (the “little brown” bat) doesn’t bother our fruit trees, and they eat TONS of mosquitos and harmful moths and such. Good little guys to have around. They may find another roost this next week when the temps soar, but they’ll be back when the temps come back down.
Every day, I try to get as much done as we can first thing in the morning. As it has gotten hotter over the course of July, my days have began closer to 6am, and are often a flurry of activity because by 9am it’s already getting ridiculously hot. I used to check the cows first thing in the morning, but that has gotten pushed back to the afternoon. The heat is tolerable if you’re on the ATV and are moving. 🙂 The cows are drinking a LOT, though. Livestock’s water consumption almost doubles from 70* F to 95* F. About every 3 or 4 days we are bringing the truck off the mountain to refill the 1500 gallon tank. The nice thing is, whenever I’m up there, the boys and I get to say “Hi” to our girls and their calves. Makes it easy to see that everyone is doing well on the summer ground.
I’m sitting here right now listening to the cricket-song through my open screen door, and feeling satisfied; this morning I helped lead church worship in the park, and we couldn’t have asked for a better day. There is not much I love better than singing outside. ❤️
Tomorrow begins another week. With the first crop of hay in the barn, my schedule has freed up a bit and I look forward to doing some lessons and maybe some vlogs this week. My squash are going nuts, so I’m thinking it’s time to try zucchini bread. I tend to have... bad luck... with traditional breads (Grandma could make AWESOME homemade bread, but I missed the knack for it)... however, I found a recipe I think I can manage. Pray for me! Haha. 🙃
Until next time....!