Animals

I've been watching how the new donkeys are interacting with the animals. The new ones are doing fine, very happy in the grass and yesterday discovered the salt block which was something new to them. Annie hasn't been as accommodating, she won't allow the new donks near the goats. She lets the newbies know who is the biggest ass in the pasture and seems not as happy with the visitors. There's room for two groups, but I think they will be merged into one group of animals soon.

The big family group of deer seem to be back. There is a family of raccoons that visit every night. A mother and three babies. They are so fun to watch, the babies are climbing and exploring. They will climb the tree just outside the bedroom and stare into the house. They won't be as fun or cute when they get older and start overturning rocks and other mischief.

Weekend Update

The week continued the HOT weather. We did begin to see some relief from the heat when remnants of Tropical Storm Erin made its way here late in the week. Clouds and bits of showers helped. We only received 1/2 inch of rain total, but the cloud cover was great. Very humid though.

We do have some new guests on the ranch. I built a temporary pass gate from the neighbors place to our mountain pasture. They have no grass and I have plenty, so now three donkeys, Lucy, LittleBit, & Lucky can come over and graze. They love the grass and so far no problems with our animals. I watched them interact with each other and it is interesting to see how they get along. Annie, our spotted ass, is the biggest animal, but I think Zulu is still the boss of this outfit. I'm sure all of our goats are exposed, even the younger ones, so we'll be back in the goat business soon.

Something has been emptying one of the large bird feeders each night for about a week. I strung some barbed wire around the large limb of the big cedar tree that holds the feeder and at least the first night it seems to have worked. I really believe that feeding the birds has controlled the bugs especially well considering all the rain we have had this year.

Weekend Update--Hot, Hot, Hot!

Hot & Dry. We knew it would get here eventually, the 100º heat. Obviously on summer hours now if you want to do any work, outside very early and inside by 11:00 am or noon. The landscaping looks better than it ever has before, but the grass won't last much longer though in this weather. I bet we only have two weeks before everything begins to dry out. It's amazing that it lasted this long.

The JD dealer replaced the broken hose on my tractor, delay was waiting on special hose (it has unique fittings), but it's running fine now. Did some delayed tractor work especially on the road.

Watering the tomatoes every day now and they look good, not sure the watermelon will do well. They may now that I have started watering though. I planted them as an afterthought, but if I do them again I'll put them in a better area.

The tank is really drying up. It's at it's normal very low level for August. Also having to fill the wildlife stock tank every other day. There have been a lot of deer. One night early this week 5-6 in the back at once even before dusk. Oddly though, last two nights only one. May be a big cat around again. Lot's of cardinals and hummingbirds as usual. Another painted bunting as well.

There won't be much activity on the ranch with the heat so we'll work on other projects.

Weekend Update

I think summer is finally here. Although we did get .75 of rain early in the week it has been more typical summer weather, hot & humid. I think hot & dry is just around the corner. Time to begin watering the garden and filling water/stock tanks.

We do have new baby gold fish in the stock tank. Amazing, we have had the same two gold fish in there for two years. Not sure how many young ones there are as yet. I see three in the photo. The fish have learned to come to the surface when I go to feed the goats. That way I don't forget to feed them. I do keep fish food in the gator. The goldies do keep the tank clean so they are doing their job.

Still feeding token feed to animals as there is a lot of grass. They did get a new salt block to enjoy in the heat. The girls are bagging up so I guess Billy has done his job. I'm guessing six weeks until babies for two of them. A little later for two more and not sure about the rest.