Summer Whine

"One and two, and one and two."  I can hear the epazote counting off as it does its every-other-day calisthenics.  I certainly don't need a fancy hydrometer as long as this plant does its wilt-and-stretch exercises; these before and after photos taken a day apart tell it all.  I water the deck plants one day, the vegetable garden the next, and everything else in between.  The big chickens are sucking down two gallons a day.  In addition, I fill a one-gallon waterer for them at night and it's dry by morning. 

My daughter and I were contenders in the Summer Whine and Snivel Contest yesterday, trying to outdo each other with tales of how hot we were.  She said her husband kept checking her for signs of spontaneous combustion as they did their yard work down in the valley.  I told her she was probably safe, in that the pouring sweat would put out any flames that appeared.

Twenty-Two has upped his intake to a bottle and a half at each feeding.  As a point of general information, I use sixteen-ounce plastic 7-Up bottles with a lamb nipple.  I've tried water bottles and other sodas in the past, but they all collapsed under the kid's vigorous sucking.  When Twenty-Two was born and I wasn't prepared, Larry and I went on a quest for 7-Up that day.  (7-Up could probably put that commendation in their advertising.)

Not conceding defeat, I have reached a compromise with the critters about bedtime.  Timing it just so, the Silkies will go into the Taj first, tempted by their nighty-night treats.  Moving over to the big pen, I tuck Pick-me-up Peggy under my arm and together we put down the treats in the hen house, gather any eggs laid, and shut the little door, leaving the balky chickens to their own devices outside until after I get done with the goats.  Peggy seems content to be put down in the house when I leave her to fill the nighttime waterer.  If it goes well, this gets me to the goat barn while it's light enough so they all go in readily and Twenty-Two gets his bottle(s) while I can still see.  After topping off the water trough (done three or four times a day in this weather), I stop at the hen house on the way back to the house where they've all tucked themselves in for the night and shut the big door.  It seems a bit convoluted, but way better than chasing chickens and bucking bedtime goats.  When it's all said and done, it's nine o'clock and all's well.

In response to Callykid's comment from yesterday, alligator lizards and skinks are different lizard species.  The alligators are much bigger and look very much like their namesakes with elongated snouts.  Skinks are much more like snakes, smaller, with narrow, triangular heads, and I have no idea what their namesake could be.  Skinks are really rather pretty, but I think the alligator lizards are just plain ugly.

As for Kathryn's question from a few days ago about "bump and strip," I refer to the May 13, 2010, entry for an explanation.