Another hot day and the grass is mowed

Ok, not THAT kind of grass... not the lawn... the north hayfield. It's mowed. It was fluffed today too. It didn't rain again. Hasn't rained in 4 weeks. Not supposed to rain for another week either. So, the stunted grasses to become hay were mowed. Perhaps Tuesday... maybe we'll bale hay then, if the winds blow in the afternoons, the heavy dew dries off in the early morning hours, and we have enough energy to keep fluffing up the drying grasses. There won't be much hay, perhaps only 1/3 of what it should have been. I'm not sure how we'll find more, but somehow we will, because we're farmers. We're used to disappointment. And to joys. There's more than a dozen bantam chicks in a big crate with a mother hen right now in our smaller chicken coop. There are Black Pied Muscovies in the big chicken coop setting eggs. So far they've hatched at least a dozen ducklings, well, they and the Chocolate Pied Muscovies have hatched some too. If you've never owned a few of them, you should. They like sheep. They don't quack. And they're not much on taking baths, which certainly keeps a cleaner coop. And they are very smart ducks and know when you are talking to them... they will wag their tails. See? I told you they like sheep... they've been watching the Shetlands wag their tails perhaps??

And it was hot today. Too hot for us, too hot for the cool-weather plants that live up here too. It was 77 degrees here, and I was out in it far too long. I feel burnt. Some of the sheep were down at the arena all day too... it was fine while there was shade from the trees, but as the heat got hotter, they were not too happy. They lay in the shade until it was too hot to be comfortable laying down. They got up, ate some more grass, and laid down again. Poor sheep. None of us are used to this weather. Tomorrow they will get to stay home, and rest in their cool shed. I think I owe it to them to feed them in their shed tomorrow too. They are good sheep.