Finally, the misery has ended. The weather has taken a turn for the better and being outside is now not only tolerable but actually quite nice. As I slid the windows open for the first time in weeks and let the sound of the birds and rustling leaves into the house, I felt a sense of relief come over me. I think that was mostly for the money that we'll be saving on electricity by being able to turn off the AC finally!
Took a trip on the Kubota out to check the bluebird nest boxes and enjoyed the breeze in my face as Kip and I raced to the back of the pasture. It's easy to feel like fall is just around the corner as most of the boxes are empty now. There were a few pleasant surprises as I opened some of them and found some nestlings well on their way to leaving the nest. We have one box of bluebirds, one of house wrens, and one of tree swallows yet to finish up. I'll miss the suspense as I open each box all summer to see what wonderful gift it holds. Terry has more boxes ready for me to put up, and I need to do that on my next trip out since there won't be as much to do anymore. And as you can see in the pictures of the mice in the box, there were even some unexpected residents that surprised me today too. I'll leave them for a while (after all they do feed the owls, hawks and fox) and then clean out the boxes when they're finished with raising their young. We had more problems with unwanted box inhabitants this year than in any past years. With the wet weather, the mice, ants and wasps were all looking for a dry place to nest too and the boxes were an obvious choice they thought.
The foals are all growing so fast and watching them race each other and play games to see who's going to end up the next boss mare or stallion at the head of the band is so fun. They just get pure joy from being able to ran all out and see what their legs are capable of. One of the foals has managed to injure herself on something so she and her mama are in the barn lot for a couple days. Nothing that some care won't fix but treating her isn't going to be the easiest as she's not halter broke or anything. We turn all the mares and foals out to just grow up for the first few months so she's going to be getting a lesson in how to lead and when to eat from Roger the donkey. We'll wean her off her Mom since it's about time anyway, and let her have Roger for a buddy for a couple days.
The lambs are doing great and growing fast on all the pasture we have due to all the rain we've been getting. Usually in August, it dries up a lot but not so far this year. There's grass everywhere and plenty of it. Sure makes it nice for saving a couple bucks on feed here and there. No need to supplement anything for the sheep or horses when they can't even keep up with all the grass.
Well, hope everything is as wonderful where you're at as it is here. Off to rest my weary body and prepare for the world of work and meetings this week. Night all.......
