Thursday, July 18, 2013

Old dogs and beekeepers go out in the noonday sun...

Old dog or...


...mad dog? Bwaaa hahahahaha!



Tristan had a nice little swim in the pond the other day, then a good roll in the grass.



Happy boy! 

It has been stinking hot and humid all week. Okay, I hear all of you in, say, Georgia, or South Carolina,  or Death Valley, going "Oh yeah, not as hot as here!" But still, it's pretty hot! 34C/93F but the humidex makes it feel like 42C/107F. The humidity has been suffocatingly gross. Just cleaning and filling the ducks' water tubs makes me break out in a sweat. I'm so glad our house is air-conditioned. It's hard to spend much time outside when it's like this. I did work with my bees a little bit the other day, but I started early before it got too unbearably hot. Then I had another shower. I've been having many, many showers lately.

It has been a busy week. Lots of stuff to do around here, lots of stuff to do around Gordon's new office, blah blah blah. Last Saturday, we dragged the deck chairs behind the barn and relaxed with the dogs. I let all the birds out to free-range for a couple of hours under our supervision, and they had lots of fun. it was the guineas' first outing and they seemed to have an excellent time running around catching bugs and rooting through the lawn. Everyone came back to the run in a timely fashion.

We have ducklings due any day now. Mama Karène has taken to flying from her nest at the opposite end of the duck coop all the way over to the doorway when I enter, a good 20 feet. She aims at my head but aborts at the last minute. Sophie snuck in there today and got a walloping before Karène chased her out. Bad dog! She snuck into the lower barn when my back was turned and I had the door open for a minute. Sophie likes to steal eggs, but she sure wasn't getting any of Karène's!

We'll see how crazy Mama K is around her babies. Once she takes an initial shot at me, she goes back to her nest and lets me look at her eggs and pet her. Most days, she just runs across the coop at me when I enter, but every so often there's this flying assault. But then she calms down. I fed her some watermelon from my hand the other day while she was on her nest.

Back to Saturday. I had my iPad down there, so I took some selfies with Tristan...


I can't get over how old he's looking in this photo. He turns 11 this fall. We're both going grey! 



He is clingier than ever these days. I often feel guilty, because anytime I move in the house, he has to follow me. He is having a tough time on the stairs these days but he insists on trailing behind me whenever I go up and down them. But apparently the basement stairs are no problem for him when he wants to go down and snack on kitty litter "Tootsie Rolls."


"Tell me all your secrets, Tristan!"

"Those Tootsie Rolls were really good."

"That explains the state of your breath."



And here's a caption-contest photo if ever I saw one!!


X-rated barnyard antics! 


And then Tristan stuck his tongue in my ear....


Eeeeeyuw!


Meanwhile, Sophie kept a close eye on other duck shenanigans...


Yep, Bianca and Twitchy all but smoking a post-coital cigarette!


Gordon relaxing with his iPad. CLose enough to the house to get WiFi. And a nice view beyond the screen.



Tristan mellowed out on the lawn.



I can't remember if I already posted this or not. Behold the dogs and Emily waiting for some of my morning toast. Each dog gets half a crust. Emily was jonesing for some cashew butter. She's got me trained now to give her a little piece of toast with nut butter on it every morning.


They are all too cute to resist!

23 comments:

  1. Yup, mine get bits of MY toast too. Yet again some great pictures; especially that last one!

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    1. So glad I'm not the only one! :)

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  2. Anonymous12:05 am

    We dog-sit for a golden retriever that really misses her family, so won't eat her chow. She WILL however snarf down as much morning toast as I will let her have. LOL

    Your photos are beautiful. Tristan is quite a handsome guy.

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  3. Those are beautiful pictures of a lovely family time. I think you and Tristan look forever young! It must be all that good, clean farm living!

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    1. You are too kind! I do love country life.

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  4. Great pictures. I agree with Maureen, country living is the best.

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  5. I believe Tristan was saying of Bianca and Twitchy, "That neutering stinks!"

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  6. Your pics of you and your family, and your stories of life always warm my heart. I LOVE that "Eeeeeyuw!" photo!

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    1. Aww, and you even tolerate my bees a little, Mitchell. Thank you. :)

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  7. I swear I saw Tristan's tonsils!

    I remember all to well that stinkin' humidity from living in the Midwest--sucks the life right outta you.

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    Replies
    1. Dry heat is definitely better!! Our summers just keep getting hotter. :(

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  8. It looks like a perfect day was had by all (apart from the heat).

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    1. It was pretty relaxing, melting into our deck chairs! :)

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  9. Anonymous4:02 pm

    Oh, my! Tristan likes to watch. hehe :)

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  10. I'm so glad the guineas enjoyed their free ranging time and went back in when it was over! That's awesome. I love all your doggy photos - too cute! I guess I wouldn't necessarily call the x-rated one cute though, haha! Hope you have a nice weekend and get a break in the heat. It has been the same weather here in MO this week as you're having so I totally feel your pain!

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    1. The guineas were out again yesterday with us and seem to have it figured out. They seem pretty content! Hope your heat wave has broken like ours just did!

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  11. Anonymous12:51 am

    Glad you're all surviving the heat...and thunderstorms. It's hard to resist those hungry faces, isn't it.

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    1. Today is so perfect! Nice breeze, high of 24C. My idea of perfect summer weather!

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  12. Love all the pics Natalie and the captions too!!
    It looks so lovely and green there. Hard to resist those pleading furry faces.....
    I hate humidity, it just saps your energy and causes you to break out in a sweat no matter
    what you're doing. I can't imagine living in Louisianna. We visited New Orleans many years ago,
    great place, but the climate, uggh!!

    Claire x

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  13. Great photos, although I don't think I'd want to be that near to Tristan when he's been in the cat litter!

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!