Heat Wave, Pond Happenings and a Dose of Real Life

Yes, it has been HOT.  Rowdy has the right idea, a cooling dip in the pond!

And speaking of the pond, the picnic pavilion has been going up.  Sam got the posts set with very little help from me and then it was time to build trusses.  Once the trusses were ready, all it took was a case of beer or 2 over the 4th of July weekend and several neighbors and Sam's brother showed up to get them in place.  Fortunately no hammers were dropped on anyone's head!

I may have mentioned before that we have great neighbors, but you can't say that too many times.  We are all lucky to have such a good relationship, both for work and fun.


All we need now is the metal for the roof, which has been ordered from some local Amish.  Sam also plans to put an aerator in the pond which will be powered by a windmill which will be mounted on the roof of the pavilion.  Since our pond is sourced from run-off and not springs, the aerator should help to keep the water clearer.  Right now it is still so muddy because there are not yet any plants to keep the dirt settled.  


We have had several days of 90 + degree weather this week.  It has made getting any outdoor work done difficult to say the least.  But now we have the bush hog on the tractor and we have lots of mowing to catch up on.  I often think it would be nice to have another tractor so we could just keep the mower on it all the time.  We have pastures that need mowed, which I call "weed control", we have our walking/4-wheeler trails to mow, and just various open areas which we don't want to get totally grown over.  


I have been doing some spinning since it is so hot outside.  It's nice to sit in the air conditioning and spin.  I also canned another batch of beets this week and probably have 1 more to do next week.

Life on our farm is for the most part pleasant.  Yes, we work hard, but we enjoy the work.  It is satisfying to do a good day's work and be able to see the results at day's end.  

Sometimes the other side of life intervenes and we are faced with death.  I have had to choose to euthanize 3 dogs and a horse in the last 12 years.  Most were aged and their quality of life was compromised if not uncomfortable and I have always known I was doing what was best for them even if it hurt me. 


This past week we lost a 3 week old cria.  She was our last cria of the spring to be born.  She was the only female cria of our own that we had this spring.  She was the 9th cria from one of my 2 favorite females.  She was so healthy and full of life on Thursday, and on Friday morning, she was down and having seizures.  Within an hour of my finding her, she was gone.  Her mother, Peg, cried for her for 48 hours, gazing out the door of the barn in the direction in which she saw her baby being taken. 


I have always had the hardest time with the death of the young ones.  At least this one had a chance to enjoy life, no matter its brevity.  I feel really bad about the ones who are never healthy from the start and whose lives are a struggle until we finally lose the battle.  These critters never get to enjoy life.  Fortunately, this is a very small segment of our farm population, and most critters here live long happy lives.  I couldn't do it otherwise.

                                                  Aurora     6-11-10 to 7-2-10