July Hollow Update

We've hit the ground running since returning from vacation. Yes, the dog was happy to see us. The goats we hauled back with us from Ca. made it fine and are settling in. Ann took no time at all to establish herself as herd queen and is quite happy to eat anything green, herbaceous and delicious. Iris, on the other hand, is more picky but sweet just the same.

We're in a major drought this year. Hay prices have gone sky high and we're hauling in hay from 100 miles away, 2 1/2 ton at a time. We'll need to make a few more trips north to bring enough down for the next year. It's not just that prices are sky high within the few surrounding counties, there won't be enough to go around either. Most hay fields aren't artificially irrigated, in case you were wondering, so whatever grows off of what falls from the sky is it. Fortunately for us, it's cheaper up north AND more abundant, so providing we've got the time to go up, we should be just fine.

We've got visiting friends with us. Because we've pulled all the posts and fence line from the west side of the property we've got the neighbor's two paint horses here. We could easily have the lines back up in a day but ran out of time Wednesday evening to get the lines up. We weren't around Friday and so today may be the day. It's either all or nothing as I would hate to get one or two up to have the horses get caught in them. To be perfectly honest, putting up the fence line is the quick and easy part! Taking it all down and cleaning the fence line beforehand is what takes the time! The goats haven't minded the horses and visa versa but I did lock the goats in the "main pen" so I could be sure they weren't visiting the neighbor's. I don't mind if the horses are over here but I don't need the goats getting into mischief over there.

It's been so hot which only adds to the misery of having no rain too. I try to get out as soon as the sun's up but getting back on Central time has been difficult. It also stays light out here until nearly 10 o'clock and working in the evenings is nice and cool. Jeremiah's a night owl anyway. I am not, but have been working well into the dark to maximize the time we can work.

Other than that, the kids are fine. We're preparing for the county fair in which Rachel has a few entries. I suppose I also need to think about getting the paperwork in for the state fair as well.  Jeremiah goes back to work in a few weeks. His classroom and shop are being painted right now so he's back to square one (as in, the same place he was last year with his shop in total disarray). The summer sure is flying by!