Running Late (Update)

Had to get the trash to the big road...rush.  Had a wonderful early morning phone chat with my daughter (it's her birthday!)...rush.  Need to get to the barn before I melt like the Wicked Witch of the West (or was it East?)...rush.  I'll come back here after I get done with chores and catch up with yesterday's news...no rush.

Whew!  Rush hour(s) over.

Had to laugh this morning after I dropped off my trash barrel.  Camille was coming out of her driveway (she lives on the corner) and we had a gridlock (all two of us)!  That's rush hour in Fair Play.

The old saying goes, "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today."  That's twice as true down in the goat barn.  The other day when it was so bloody hot (today was just hot) and I was running really, really late, I could not make myself clean the stalls without keeling over with heat stroke.  Just milking was hard enough and one night of dirty stalls wouldn't hurt the girls.  Yes, well.  In-N-Out Burger has nothing on goats; they invented the slogan In-N-Out.  Whatever they take in is going to come out.  Goats are prolific poopers.  My coming late to the barn left them more time inside to drop their loads and, believe me, they did.  Yesterday I raked and hauled two full buckets of roly-polys out to the poop pile.  Note to self:  never again let a day go by without cleaning stalls.

I saw an amazing sight on my way back to the water trough from the barn.  I've never before seen a hawk go into a stoop for a kill.  Catching movement in the air over the big section of pen, I watched a red-tail drop like a stone from the sky and heard a very short cry from an unwary ground squirrel.  The hawk then stood on its prey, obviously giving the coup de gras (grace).  It waited and postured over the body until it finally took off with its trophy meal, giving a victorious screech as it went.

The delta breezes are blowing hot air from the valley through the foothills and up, causing thunderstorms over the nearby mountains.  We had a power blip yesterday and right now thunder rolls and the winds blow.  It's cooler for us, but the constant threat of fire from lightning strikes hangs over our heads.  So far, so good.