Relief

We got some relief from the heat with a late afternoon shower and overnight rain. I'm not sure how much as I had taken up the rain gauge, but it was a nice rain of about two inches cumulative. A nice break from almost two weeks of 100 degree heat. It was overcast all day on the last day of June and that was wonderful for a change. I had just completed my watering around the house when the rain came so the grass has 'greened' up well. Some had already gone dormant though. Still lots of grass in the goat pasture and in the cedar.

The birds were not as active in the heat, but some out some today. I did see a painted bunting on the fountain in the courtyard. It was hard to find water before this rain.

There have been a lot of deer at the feeders. The fawns are getting active as well. They are discovering their legs and like to run.

It's the Heat!

If you read my cruise blog you know that I was away on a cruise in the middle of the month and I was not prepared for the extreme heat when I returned. It was over 100° everyday this week . With dental work scheduled and the heat there was to be little work to be done on the ranch. With no sprinkler system around the house it took all week to get the grass watered all around. Looks like that will be the project for this next week as well. Also keeping the wildlife tank full of water.

The Mountain Pinks are now in bloom. They look good.

We had a big group from the TSF&HG on the ranch this weekend for a dinner. They seemed to have a good time. I cooked 20 big rib-eye steaks on the grill in spite of the heat. We did eat inside though. Good fun.

June is here.

I'd been in the 'big city' for a week working on the Texas Scottish Festival so the critters have been in charge of the ranch. All the feeders, both deer and bird, are empty and the deer helped themselves to some holly growing around the house. Not too bad though as it's still very green and there is a lot to eat. The deer have been dropping fawns so they are not going far.

PHOTO: My neighbor went out to pick tomatoes this week and this is what he found in the tomato plants.

We've had big thunderstorms all around us for several days, but none have actually passed over us. The lightning and thunders has been very loud at times.

It's starting to warm up, but still cooling off at night so that makes it fine. Working inside in office this week anyway.