Heat, July 6, 2012

The weather has been incredibly hot, ninety degrees and warmer for the last five days. Today will be the last day for a day or two. Bob and I have been watering the garden twice a day and the plants continue to be stressed. The water pressure in the garden is better since Mike Dyer from Dyer Drilling came and deepened the well by eight feet. He replaced the original pump and installed a smaller reservoir. He did not have to install a new well! We still cannot run the garden hose full blast, as Bob would like. The water stops completely, but the pressure is maintained enough to run a sprinkler. The cost for the adjustments is significantly less than a new well. The increased pressure and volume are adequate. The grass across the road seems to be holding it's own. I did set up a sprinkler and will start to water over there tomorrow. It does need to be reseeded. I would like to do that within the next week so new grass will be ready by September. The animals are suffering in the heat. Bob enlarged the chick area and set up a fan for them. The plastic was removed from their area so a breeze can get through. They all pant but none are sluggish, moving away from stimulation easily. The pastures are turning brown and are becoming bare, eaten to a nub by hungry sheep. I have resorted to feeding more hay. Katelyn was here for the weekend. We made a kist of people to contact and things to do. Minutiae, as Bob would say. Better to do now than rush around closer to the wedding. Katelyn picked blueberries on Sunday in the heat, a rotten job. I have since picked twice. We now have enough for ten pies for the wedding. She also helped me get hay from Bob Roth. He had many questions for her as he always does. I have started to dehydrate the herbs. The chamomile did not survive the heat so I don't have any for soap for next year. Unfortunate. Maybe I can use carrot greens with the chamomile essential oil. Hum.....Carmen