AL - Recording baby steps: Newest Addition

[ohiofarmgirl]

ohmigosh that pic of Rio is classic!

we had to sedate Lucky once and it looked like his face was melting off.. ha! crazy dogs.

sorry about the heat, baby... stay cool if you can.

 

[AL]

My electric bill is going to cover the national debt this month. Oh my mercy.... 117* heat index. The frozen bottles for the rabbits nearly melted before I even got them to the cages! Poor old Skye had a hard time today. I rigged up a redneck cooling station for her - hanging a box fan from the pecan tree in my backyard via a hay string and spraying her down. This afternoon she was in bad shape, I was already dressed for work but spent about 20 minutes hosing her off. It looked like I had been dunked in the pool I was so sopped with sweat. I had to call in 15 minutes late to work so I could clean up and change clothes.
I have a couple of box fans and an oscillating fan in my trailer so I don't have to run the AC as much, but today even set at 78* it hardly ever shut off. Ridiculous.

I wish I could get a good clear pic of Rio when he is 'stoned'.... his hound dog eyes and droopy jowls... but he never does it when I have my real camera and I just have to use my cellphone. blah


Hey guess what??? Tomorrow is supposed to be our hottest day year to date. Yippee.



ETA - Buddy LOVED the redneck cooling station. He likes to let the "wind blow through his mane" like the grand stallions of old..... or it's a Fabio impersonation, I haven't decided which. He usually stands over my AC unit and lets the wind blow.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

keep cool today baby!

 

[Farmfresh]

I was thinking about you the other day at the hardware store. I saw a stand alone pipe looking thing that is used to mist people while they sunbathe. Then I got to looking on line and found This. Maybe you could set something like this up for Skye?

 

[AL]

too late, OFG lol

Wow that is great, FF!! Did you see the one they hooked to the box fan?? I may have to look into this!


Took my niece from Texas and her hubby, 2 of my nephews and 2 of their friends fishing today. HEat index of 110* so of course the fish weren't biting much. I was glad because it was a stocked pond where you pay by the pound lol. My youngest nephew caught a 7lb and a 5lb catfish. Most of the guys are outside cleaning fish, my 16yr old nephew is helping my mom in the kitchen, my niece called her cousin and a friend over to swim. I am in hiding in the den . I sprayed the chicken yard, gave them a fresh tub of water, refilled their totebin "wading pool" and gave fresh ice bottles to my rabbits. The biggest rabbit has taken to chewing the bottom out of the bottle and eating the ice. *sigh* lol

went to bed at 230, up at 630 work tonight until 1am. Wonder if they'll miss me if I go home for a shower and a nap.

 

[AL]

Now that it is only 101 I have been pouring on the outside work! I cleaned the chicken house, the chicken yard, the rabbit shed and the little shelter for Pat the bullied hen. I put all of that on the compost pile to cover up the fish guts etc from where the boys cleaned fish on THURSDAY. I didn't know they put it in the compost bin until the smell met me at the door this morning. Gah! (imagine if you will.... about a 3 gal bucket of fish trimmings and heads full out in the sun for 2 days with heat index over 115)

I showered the horses and moved their water trough back up close to my house instead of my parents house. 1) it is in the shade now (they cut down the pecan tree that was over it) and 2) I only moved it down there so I could shut Buddy in the pasture to leave Buford alone. Now they have the run of the place.

My shoulders are kind of sore from my workout yesterday and I am feeling the exhaustion that only comes from working in the heat - so I am gonna shower and head over to my friends house for homemade pizza and board games!

 

[AL]

HAHAHA So my friend and I tried our hand at "30 minute Mozzarella" yesterday.
About 3 hours later we had this... ricotta-looking -but not really- maybe some mozzie flavor if you think about it- cheese dip!
It tasted great - added some fresh rosemary, lavender, oregano and used it as a veggie dip. Mozzarella it was not!!
So we scratched the pizza idea (because we wanted our own cheese on it) and just made a smorgasboard of meat, cheese, veggies and fruits. She mixed some cinnamon, fresh nutmeg and vanilla flavoring in the cheese-stuff and we dipped apples in it. YUM.
No idea of course on what we made or how to do it again.

Last night it was 87* and breezy ... I thought I was going to catch a chill! Seriously, after a week of over 105* heat index enough is enough!
I have turned the horses out so they can graze in my yard, the pasture adn the garden. They pretty much have the garden ready for me to mow and till this week. I had one tomato plant (a Solar Flare or something that likes heat ) that was still kicking out tomatoes like crazy. It had about 10 big green ones on it. This is one I had planted in my former potato basket, I also planted 2 grape tomatoes in a different basket. the grape tomatoes were so covered in yellow blooms it looked like it belonged on someone's front porch instead of the garden. Dang Buddy! He walked right through the electric fence and pulled the big plant up by the roots and very neatly and carefully nipped off every single bloom on the grape tomatoes!!! (then over the last day or 2 he has eaten them all pretty much to the ground). Jerk. He is Soooo going to the trainer next Sunday!

I bought most of the supplies I need to put a bachelor pad down at the barn for my extra roos. My friend (cheese, processed chickens, etc) wants a place to bring her hens for "conjugal visits" since chickens are illegal for her (upscale neighborhood on the bay) and she has 6 hens. She wants to bring a couple to the BR / EE roo and a couple to the blood red roo. LOL I feel like I am running a mutt chicken stud service.

 

[FarmerChick]

LOL you had me laughing cause we had a big storm and it cooled down to like 85 and my kid said it was chilly outside.
I thought, HUH ya got to be kidding, but I went out and honestly it was chilly, compared to the 110 the day before!

rough heat huh?

tomorrow is 100 here. geez

 

[Britesea]

I thought about your rabbits and chickens suffering in the heat, and remembered something my MIL used to do for her guinea pigs, which die with great enthusiasm in the heat. She had like 500 of them so no way they could be in the house. She had them housed in an old chicken coop, and during the summer she would put a hose up on the roof and run a slow trickle all day long. Between that and an old window style swamp cooler, it kept the caviary cool enough to keep them alive. The run off from the roof was channeled to the plum trees as well.

 

[AL]

Thursday and Friday are supposed to be back around 115. Boo.
A friend of mine in Texas sent me a link where a small town had water pipes rupture, so they shut off water to the entire town for 48hours to refill the tanks - no notice. Rancher was on there pointing out the "pond" in his pasture where his horses have been trying to drink. Sad stuff. So at least we have water.

That's a good idea about the hose on the roof! Usually when I spray down the horses I spray down the tin roof over the rabbits as well. I also faked some insulation between the tin and the rabbit cage so they don't bake . I'll have to look into that some more!