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A break in the weather: cool respite

I was afraid to believe in the forecast of a 72F high on Sunday. It has been in the mid to upper 90’s for over a week.

Sunday morning started at 68F and overcast … at 5:00 a.m. Shortly after, the wind came up and the temperature dropped to 58F in 20 minutes. And it rained. Well, it drizzled. But, it was moisture.

And it stayed cool all day. I was able to leave the windows open, the fan and A/C off: blessed quiet and cool.

Overnight, it dropped into the 40’s making for a wonderful sleeping night.

The fuschia survived the heat and I enjoyed the blooms I cut inside as well. We are to warm back up, although not quite as hot and possibly more rain this coming weekend.

So far, there are 2 fires: 1 which has been contained and is burning out in the middle. BUT, high winds on Saturday night sent a spark from that hot center that ignited a 2nd fire. The fires are near the Canada border about 50-55 miles north of where I live. So far, no smoke or ash has come this way. Hopefully the forecast thunderstorms will have plenty of moisture, but it is very, very early in fire season.

Still, will enjoy this break in the weather and cool respite.

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Dealing with the heat and my 24 hours as a farm and ranch hand

This week was a repeat of last week…took time midweek to head to town and stock up on supplies so we could hunker down over a forecast hot 4th of July weekend:

Full frig and freezer!

Version 2 of the long, long cat … a cat inside to escape the outside heat!

Good news, bad news: The good news is that all fireworks have been banned this year. The bad news is that the fireworks have been banned because of the severe fire danger from heat and lack of rain. I don’t believe I’m saying this, but I’d rather it was green and moist and I was complaining about fireworks for a week. The fire danger is off the charts. I have the motorhome fueled, filled with water and stocked with food and clothes. We can roll quickly if necessary. Hopefully, it will not be necessary.

Meanwhile, my across the road neighbors, home to the chickens that supply me with THE MOST GORGEOUS EGGS – the neighbors went camping. They had hoped to do a 2 day trip but because of the 4th and fire danger, decided on an overnight. They asked if I could collect eggs, feed the horse and pony, the chickens and the barn cats and water the garden…in addition to eggs, I also get extras from the garden. So, I said: “YES”!

So, for 24 hours, I was Ms. Farm and Ranch Person. This is SO out of character for me. I do not like to be out in the hot and dusty and stinky, etc. BUT, the chickens are not only beautiful and supply the most wonderful eggs but they are a kick to be around. The horse (Bernita) and pony (Lexi) and cats (Oscar and Gerti) are so much fun also…

Lexi and Bernita. Lexi aka “Miss Piggy” LOVES her food. Bernita has restraint. They now love me because in addition to forking (pitch fork!!!) over their hay, I took carrots – YUM!

The cats. So funny – these cats are like Auggie: Norwegian Forest Cats!

Oscar, the gray. Oscar kind of has Mr. Bob’s build… wide body!

Gerti, a calico is a bit slimmer but still fluffier than Auggie and shorter tail.

They are both sociable and followed me around as I did the chore routine.

Some of the “girls”. These are last year’s chicks. For whatever reason, this year’s prefer to stay in the coop per Mel. But they are all together in the coop overnight so it is not a “get along” thing ??? Chickens are funny, I think. I can’t remember the breed names, but I think these are an incredibly beautiful group of hens and it was fun to feed and talk with them.

The “inside girls” … this year’s chicks in the coop. So, the other funny thing is that inside the coop there are nesting boxes for each chicken. BUT, the eggs are almost always in the left side boxes…rarely in the right side per Mel and Jesse.

On my watch, Friday night there were 6 eggs on the left side: 3 in 1 box and 2 in another. Saturday morning there was 1 egg on the right side but above the boxes! Saturday, 11:00 a.m. ish there were 2 eggs in 1 box on the left side.

Hmm.

But, there are 15 chickens so I told them a few of them were slackers!!

They said: “bawwk, bawwk, BAWWKKKK!!!”

The garden – lush and beautiful. Jesse set things up so I only had to turn on 2 faucets and all of the garden got a good drink.

After Saturday morning chores, I headed home and gathered my boys for a walk in the woods while it was still cool…

Mornings – still the best!

The long, long cat and the hot, hot dog.

This week.

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Bear saves us again

Thankfully, we needed none of the above.

BUT, they are the only photo, albeit after the fact, that I have of the “adventure”.

Sunday morning…6:15 a.m….we all blasted out the front door to enjoy a bit of cool before the forecast record breaking 101F day! It was 67F at the time, which is still a bit warmish for morning, but in “all is relative” world, felt grand.

Bear and Auggie went their respective ways and I headed for the well head and sprinkler duty. I got water going and then I noticed that Bear was standing at the edge of the turnaround, looking intently to the northeast. When a beardog looks intently, a beardog’s person MUST also look intently!

I walked to Bear and looked in the direction that he was focused on. I saw Auggie leap. And I saw a fluffy black and white tail about 3 feet from Auggie.

And since the only fluffy black and white tail that I knew was “safe” was on alert next to me… GAH!! Skunk. And Auggie was stalking the skunk.

I roared to Bear to go inside which he did immediately and I think, happily. I ran in and grabbed the 2 bottles of Skunk-Off, the pepper spray and a large towel. Back outside Auggie and the Skunk were doing a kind of dance of face to face with the skunk stamping, then turning with tail high. Auggie was cautious but giving chase when the skunk turned away. When he got a bit close, the skunk turned to face Auggie and stamped the ground.

They did this dance thing with me on the chase and calling to Auggie and throwing sticks between Auggie and the skunk to startle and stop Auggie. Seriously, I absolutely NEED !!! to buy a GoPro video cam !!!

We did the run, dance, stomp, tail in the air thing ALL THE WAY out onto the state land with me all the time thinking that Auggie was going to get sprayed. Finally, the skunk went one way and Auggie the other way and then Auggie rolled over for a stomach rub and I threw the towel over him…

At one point, I thought I detected a spritz of skunk, but Auggie had no smell on him. He snuggled into the towel and dripping sweat, I walked back to the house.

Inside, still no skunk smell – hoo… I say HOO-RAH!!

Bear was waiting and I gave him high praise and extra breakfast and an extra Greenie and told him that he saved the day! Without Bear’s alertness, I never would have seen that Auggie was challenging the skunk. And I do not for a moment think that would have turned out well.

Beardog SAVES THE DAY!

“I could have taken that stinky ole skunk….”

EDIT: Sunday Evening:

We broke the all time record of over 100F in June in Montana. First time, I’ve seen 100F since I moved to Montana in February 1994.

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Staying home

I work from a home office. Except for groceries, I do most of my shopping online. I do not belong to any organizations.

I am home a LOT! And I love it. My little house is not perfect and there are things I’d like to do inside and out, but it is comfortable and the few things I have, I love.

And I love being here with Bear and Auggie. Bear loves Jeep rides and I am so happy to take him along with me. We have our spots for walks. But, we are both happy to return to the house and to Auggie, who is often waiting and watching from a window spot.

Anyone who has read this blog for any time, knows that I really do NOT like hot weather and hot for me is 80F. Still, I hate “wishing away” days and I don’t like to waste energy being too grumpy … especially about the weather! I’ve tried various tricks through the years to reduce the amount of whining and complaining.

Last week, when the weather folks started talking about the record breaking heat this weekend, I decided to approach this like I’d approach a Winter storm. I made sure the pantry was full and the frig and freezer were stocked with good things to eat. I’m used to being home so the idea of staying inside, which I enjoy during a Winter storm … not a problem.

The main difference is instead of sitting in front of the woodstove, I’m sitting in front of the fan!

Mornings are still beautiful, even if not quite as cool as usual.

We take a long morning walk while the sun is low and there is a lot of shade.

Then some time in the yard together while I run sprinklers, check the motorhome and water the fuschia.

And while fushia might not be typical “cut flowers”, I trimmed the plants to hopefully make it easier on them through the heat and brought the cuttings inside to enjoy during our heat wave hibernation.

As usual, it is often about attitude and perspective: making the best of a situation, looking at the bright side, counting my many blessings – all of that!

I don’t know that I can honestly say I’m enjoying the heat wave. I worry about the animals, both wild and especially livestock like the angus (black) cattle. BUT – I can only take care of me and mine and so I do that. And I enjoy being in my cool and comfortable house … relaxing, reading, doing a bit of work and being excused by weather from even thinking about outside chores :) !!

AND … having homemade peach ice cream for breakfast!

Staying home.

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Friday!

This week really flew by…REALLY! Between various things with work and new computer and prepping for the “HISTORIC HEAT WAVE” … the week evaporated.

But, we started with the Summer version of the morning kitchen snuggle with Auggie.

I’m a bit more upside down than normal timewise…to bed 6:30-7:00 p.m. with a midnight-ish up and about to open up the house and take Bear down the driveway…and then a 3:45-4:00 a.m. get up and enjoy the dark and the cool before a 6:30-7:00 a.m. work start. It might not be everyone’s “cup of tea”, but it works for me and the boys in this odd early Summer heat thing.

This was 3:15 p.m. or so on this Friday. It was 89F but not that bad in the shade.

Bear relaxed and so did I … Auggie was sleeping inside… Friday!