Hot! August

The past week has been the hottest week I can remember. Riding has been postponed. The horses have suffered and sweated, as have we all.

Luckily, Fred came to shoe the horses before the heat wave arrived. It was the last really pleasant day we had, and that was ten days ago. Somehow, I neglected to get a picture of Stone getting shod. He only wears front shoes, so his shoeing takes less time, and I guess I was distracted.

We had a great ride on the new shoes before the heat set in, but Bart was a bad boy, and made an escape as I was untacking him after our ride. He is an expert at taking advantage of my inattention. Note he had only one boot removed before he vamoosed from the barn to greener grass…

I have seen two Monarch butterflies, which is very exciting. Last year, I saw NO live Monarchs here at all. Any pollinators are cherished, but Monarchs are my favorites. I mentioned this to a friend, and she wondered if I had indeed seen Monarchs or, perhaps, Viceroys, which are similar. I learned the difference, and went back over old pictures I have taken. It seems I have never seen Viceroys, which are the state butterfly of Kentucky, so now my goal is to find a Viceroy!

We had a brief visit from Bradley and Abby, theater people, who performed with Harry during the Tennessee Williams Festival last year. They are involved in this year’s production of Suddenly Last Summer, which we are looking forward to watching next month.

Marilyn had a weekend away, and I fed my favorite Foxtrotter, Trigger, biking over in the heat, which helps prepare me for a real bike trip in October. Much more preparation is in order, but this was a start.

A nice surprise, Corinne visited, bringing a delicious lunch and much fun conversation. It was a pleasant way to spend a hot summer day.

There isn’t much to say about the heat. We had to endure it. The horses wear fly sheets for turnout, because August is peak horsefly season. Every morning, they came in drenched in sweat, and needing cool showers. It was just miserable.

It is very strange having only two dogs. Cedar sleeps much of the time, and she is losing weight, but seems happy. Weedy is being an exemplary patient in his long recovery from TPLO surgery. He is counting the days to September 27, when he will be allowed to adventure again.

Roscoe is glad that he is a house cat. Rosie doesn’t tell him that the barn tack room has air conditioning.

I hope this has been summer’s last hurrah. We will certainly have more hot weather, but no more record heat waves, please! Certainly, we are luckier than many, so we are not complaining (well, maybe a bit…). There are already welcome signs of autumn approaching.

And today, we have been blessed with rain washing the heat away at last.

Be safe, be well, stay cool. Slava Ukraini! Peace.