Surviving

Summer, how I love to hate you. The severe heat has arrived and we are having a similar summer to last year (which was horrible). Drought conditions are causing everything to die off. There is very little green outside at all. I've been dragging hoses around the yard each morning trying to keep what little grass I have alive. The outside animals are pretty miserable looking. All except the goats. The goats seem to thrive in 108 degree weather for some unknown reason. Dym, the black nubian, likes to stretch out and soak up the rays during the hottest time of the day while the horses look on in amazement from their shade. Goats are a little strange sometimes. There is nothing left to graze so all the animals are enjoying the last round bale of the season.

The garden gets watered once a week and stays looking great due to all the mulch we put down. Hay on the garden has worked wonders again for keeping the moisture in and weeds down. I still do have to get out there once a week and pull weeds, which I've been neglecting due to the heat.  The garden is producing in abundance right now....I'm up my elbows in tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. The corn came due while we were on vacation and now has been half eaten by bugs. Bummer. Some black beetles stripped every last leaf from my tomato plants but they seem to still be alive and new growth is sprouting so I'm hopeful they will survive. I might have to go get some Sevin dust or something if they return. The only problem with that is I have two little tomato thieves that go out to the garden and glutton themselves on cherry tomatoes whenever they want. Greta was out there with me yesterday and discovered several large cantaloup. Gotta love good surprises.

The dogs absolutely detest the heat. I suppose I don't blame them, I can't imagine being outside in a fur coat on a day like this. So they let me know they want indoors by jumping over the small chain link fence (that we put up to keep them from scraping on the bay window) and scraping their claws in the windows. We think Cody tried to climb the fence and got a toe caught which ended in him not putting any weight on his foot or leg for that matter. The vet said he had an crack in his toenail which caused an infection in the bone in his toe. He put him on some steroids and antibiotics (which he's enjoying in a chunk of cheese each morning and evening). Cody has been lounging in the living room the past several days in the air conditioning while getting loved on by the kids. I think he's going to intentionally hurt his paw more often if he gets the royal treatment each time. He's such a good dog.

We are sad that Granny Randi had to leave yesterday. It's much quieter around here. We miss you already Randi, thanks for making that long drive to see us.