It is hot here. 105.7* And the sensor is in the shade of an overhang on the east side of the house. It feels it too.
Jack and I were weedeating(I was manning the weedeater this time)and when I turned off the WE I immediately heard a tiny meow and knew it could not be from any of our cats. 2 1/3 grown kittens had showed up from I don't know where. Both are pretty tame tho the little black and white male was a bit more afraid of me than the white female. I called Holly to come see them and she said there is at least one more, a yellow one, between the end of their drive and the corner to the main road. I'll go down in a bit and see if I can lure it out and catch it. Holly indicated she might like to have the black and white male. The others will go to the shelter. We do NOT want any more cats. If the youngest one(about 6 or 7)we now have lives as long as the oldest one(about 15 & going strong)I will be about 75 when she dies. I don't plan to replace any of the animals as they die off. Our dogs are about 12 and 4.
We have been opening the windows when I go to bed about 11 and closing them and turning on the 2 window AC units by 10 in the morning. That lets the nice night air in to keep the house cool at night without the expense of running the AC units.
I dug the last of our potatoes last night. As usually the Pontiac Reds did the best of the 2 cultivars. I only grow Yukon Gold for our daughter and her family. Jack & I prefer the Reds. I have 3 nice looking plants that I planted several weeks ago. I have decided to go ahead and plant the shrivled & dehydrated but sprouted ones left from last year. If they don't produce anything at all at least we can till under the plants for green manure. I don't expect much from them but some nice small 'new' size ones would be nice to get in the fall.
In spite of a very mild winter we have very few insects. Maybe the poultry are taking care of that. Jack mentioned tho that there aren't many out in the fields either. He has walked out thru the alfalfa more than I have. I tried the trick of planting cigarettes with squash seeds and it seems to have worked quite well. I had to use butts from Holly and Kyle as I couldn't find my bag of tobacco when I was ready to plant the seeds. I need to keep them watered and mulched better with this extreme heat and lack of rain.
I need to pick the few yard long type beans that we have. Maybe there is enough to make a meal for Jack and I. Looking at the fence from the bird yard side it appears that the second planting is there ok, but just not growing very well because of all the competition from tomatoes. I have more seeds soaking and will plant them elsewhere. Not much chance of a good crop from them but maybe will get a few anyway. I'll do what I can to baby the second planting into growing and producing. I think only 3 of the 8 seeds in the first planting made it to maturity.
I think I need to go try to find that poor kitten and get it some food and milk. The other 2 were very hungry when they wondered in a few hours ago.
GOD bless and keep each of you.
Journal, July 19th, 2006
Oh, please don't take the kitties to the shelter....... This time of year most of what comes in the front door is never placed in a home (I worked for a shelter for several years and with people traveling and on vacation in the summer, adoptions go way down). Does your local paper have a "free for free" section? The paper here will let you place a free ad for things if you are not selling it. There is also a computer group here called Columbia Freecycle which does the same thing. You might do a computer search and see if there is something similar there.
You and Jack be very careful being outside when it is so hot........ the heat index here in Columbia right now is 110 degrees....... you are too important to us to get sick from overdoing......... :)
Thank you for your concern for us, TT. I have the same concerns about you and everyone in these terrible temps. Heat index here is 115*. I grew up with only fans at the most. Often those were handoperated and had been furnished by some funeral home. :>) We are staying inside most of the time. Especially Jack. When I do venture out it is only for a few minutes like hooking up soaker hoses, pulling a dozen weeds on the way to do that, etc.
As for the kittens, around here there seems to be a lot of pit bull terriers and I am concerned the kittens might be used to train those dogs to kill. So I think the shelter is the best place even tho I know the possibility they will be put down. Pitbull trainers probably won't pay $35 for a kitten to teach a dog to kill. Several workers at our shelter take home lots of animals themselves and will either keep them permenantly or place them privately into inspected homes. Usually after being neutered. And if they do get homes thru the shelter they will be neutered so the cycle will be broken to some extent. I like the idea of no kill rescue places, but I think they go too far sometimes and keep animals alive who would have been better off dead. I also think the money spent on all those animals could be spent to help some child have better school clothes, school supplies, etc. or given into the kingdom of GOD to spread the gospel & help meet needs of poor. Right now tho they are resting in the utility room because it is just too hot for them outside. I had them in a cage outside but when I saw them panting I brought them inside. They have eaten dry cat food soaked in milk for the second time since I caught them and have water in there with them too. We just can't afford to keep 6 cats fed and cared for and I can't bear the thought of 6 cats in the house again in the winter. Then there will be expense of getting the female neutered. We had our 5 in here last winter and then our daughter came for a while and had 2 cats with her which she ended up leaving here. I did find a farm home for them. They were both already neutered so no more kittens from them.
I picked our longest ever asparagus bean today- 29 1/2"! Most are about 15 - 18 inches when ready to be picked. The biggest ones really aren't good snap beans. I don't see anymore blooms tho so I'll put some bloom buster on this evening.
I think we'll just have cold sandwiches with some of the lovely tomatoes Holly and a friend have given us. I just don't feel up to cooking and there are a lot of leftovers in the 'fridge we need to clean up. It will kind of be a smogasboard with the sandwiches. Then I'll feel more like making new dishes. What doesn't get eaten for supper will likely end up as a dog's meal. Our dogs eat quite a few table scraps.
I'm so looking forward to the fall RoundUp. Not sure what I'll bring to give away and/or swap, but I'm sure I can find plenty when the time comes. Just getting together with other DGers is great.
GOD bless and keep each of you.
Just dig in the compost pile at PG and bring those to the RU! lol. Nah, just whatever works for you. Stay cool.
Good idea, Pepper. LOL. That could be closer to truth than one thinks since so many of the plants in our yarden came from the compost pile and give aways at PG.
it's some where between 102nd105 here just depends where you look the barns are holding about 95 thats 6 or 7 *to much but i've got every mister running and still can't keep the temps any lower at least this looks to be the last of this run anyway Garden is doing good if i can get back to picking it has been just to hot by the time i get the chores done in the morning and i've been feeding between 7 and 9 in the evening to be able to do it even
stay cool or try to anyway
Dave719
I went into Sedalia's WalMart last evening and bought a 20" box fan for the poultry shed. It has plenty of ventilation but needed something to get the air moving. We wear out a fan every year or 2 out there. They haven't had one all this summer until now. I just couldn't stand to seem them panting in there at night any longer. They have to be locked up at night because of predators.
I can't spend much time outside these days so I have to make every minute count. I have carried water to a few food plants today. Then I put down heavy paper and wood chips on top of that to conserve the moisture. I've also cut off some large weekds that took off after the last rains just so they won't keep using so much moisture from the soil. I have a couple more squash plants to water and mulch around the base of. But they are so entwined into and accustomed to the shade provided by the weeds that I have to just the weeds lie where they fall. Any seed heads get cut off and put into burning barrels.
Anne, the kittens are doing well. I have found out they are both well motorized(means they purr)when happy. The little girl almost wags her tail when I am in there. I have noticed that her stools indicate she is getting fed richer foods than her system is accustomed to. I won't get in a big hurry to do anything with them. No, that doesn't mean I am keeping either of them. But while they are here they are being well cared for and kept socialized.
I am taking care of Holly and Kyle's cats and dog for a few days. Their AC is on the fritz & in need of a new compressor. So she and little Skyler went to stay with her parents until Kyle is off over the weekend and can come home and have time to work on it. He rented a motel room last night when he got off work. Jack thinks they may be able to find a compressor online for a lot less than the repair man priced to Holly yesterday and that Kyle and he can put it in themselves. That will leave only the regassing to be done by someone professional. I need to go reice the bowl and let the mother cat back into her kittens(about 3 - 4 weeks old)soon. I'm freezing more bottles of water to help hold them thru the night and while I am gone tomorrow. I've used all their ice cubes and their freezer can't keep up with the demand. We are keeping a bowl of ice cubes under the bed where the kittens live.
Drink plenty of water everyone. In these temps it would be hard to drink too much. A cold gel pack under a hat helps a lot to keep you cool.
GOD bless and keep each of you.