Dog Days of Summer

In the blink of an eye it seems summer is starting to wind down. We looked forward to it for so long and now we are having to prepare for the changes of fall and starting school and a change in pace. I always love the transition of seasons but this could very well go down as one of my most favorite summers and I will be sorry to bid it farewell. We did get to experience some of the almost forgotten wet stuff earlier in the week with a change in temps and it added some nice moisture to the farm and perhaps helped me catch up a little with the watering. I admit I am not the best at keeping things evenly watered. It never seems to be down on a regular schedule which is necessary out here to keep things looking their best. But it is not an exaggeration when I say that there is probably 10 acres of grass and flower beds to keep watered out here and Doug goes a lot of the watering on the big piece of grass east of our house and I try to keep up with the rest of it. The Dry Creek levels dwindle this time of the summer and we are trying to get enough water on the 30 acres east of our house to seed it to alfalfa this fall so that is where the priority lies.

This is the first full week that we have shared with our new neighbors/friends, Tara and her daughter Ashleigh. It has been a lot of fun and a nice change of pace. The girls are enjoying the new faces and go back and forth between the two houses all day it seems. It really makes it so much easier for me to a get a few more things done when they run down to Tara's. I am really thankful for her help with them. Ashleigh and Hadley spend a lot of time on their bikes. Now that Hadley is riding without training wheels it has breathed new life into her interest in bikes. I had forgotten what a big deal it is to finally master bike riding. Freedom. On Friday we even loaded up the bikes and headed over to Hadley's friend, Lash's, house. They have a great driveway for bike riding and this added space gave Hadley the practice she needed to get really proficient at bike riding.

My mom rescued some cats from the mountains this summer. I am sure you all remember the photos of Weed and the babies she had. Well, Mengus is the other cat she rescued and she had her babies on Saturday. I had dropped by to pick up a t-post puller and decided to check on the cats when I was in the barn. Mengus was hard at work having her babies and Weed was right by her side coaching her along. When she had her baby, Weed and Mengus both took the job of licking it dry very seriously. My cat loving sister and her cat loving son, David, hurried over to see the excitement.

Things have been getting wrapped up with the fencing project. Doug and I completed the parameter fencing around the horses and now all I have left to do is pull the t-posts holding up the Noble panels and replace with railroad ties. Cruiser is tough on fencing, things have to be pretty goof proof in order to avoid injuries with that walking accident. I can't tell you how nice it has been to make the improvements we have over the past year. A new tack room and now new fencing...I would eventually like to get electricity down to the horses and also improve the fencing around the goats and chickens.

Last week I picked up a book recommended by a good friend. The book is called The Last Lecture. It is well worth your time to check out if you are looking for something to read. It isn't very long but it has a great message about life and time well spent. It was recommended by my friend, Nancy, who I got to know when I was living in Snohomish and working at Inglemoor High School in Bothell. There are some people in life that we come across and they are just heaven sent. Well, Nancy is one of them. I truly believe she is an angel.

Doug is looking forward to a big hunt in Idaho come September. He has taken 2 weeks off from work and has done a lot preperation and we are now trying to figure out the logistics of joining him for part of the hunt. Let's hope this is the year that Doug bags an elk.