Monday, July 01, 2013

Only dogs get dog days

I think Dozer was the only one who took it easy yesterday!
It's HOT! So when I awoke bright and early yesterday morning, I couldn't see wasting the coolest part of the day laying around in bed. So I arose alone and started my big Tour de Fleece project:
Once my guys were up, we ate a quick breakfast, did chores – and went to work. Sunday is usually our most productive day, because it's the only work day we're usually home together. So while Brian mowed the lawn, Rick and I hit the berry patch:

Raspberries are tender and many were already too ripe, but we managed to pick 11 of these plastic containers full. Then Rick harvested the rest of our Bing and Rainier cherries while I chopped thistles and pulled weeds. (There's a lot more of that to do.)
By then it was lunchtime. After feeding my fellows a friend of Brian's came over for the afternoon and Rick took a nap, so I got to sit and spin "Bubblegum" awhile. Once Rick got up to start work on the new chicken yard, I tackled laundry and made a four-loaf batch of bread (we polished off most of a loaf for supper, fresh out of the oven; mmmm!).
Hens checking out the bigger, better, but not-yet-done yard.

Thankfully, even during this heat wave the coast breeze is coming through in the evening, cooling inside and out to a comfortable temperature. I took advantage of that fact and schooled my horse; the wind makes it dusty but keeps the flys and mosquitoes at bay!

That's it for Sunday from . . .

12 comments:

Mama Pea said...

Oooh, I am SO envious of your cherries! (Love cherries, I do.)

How do you like your yellow raspberries? We put in some plants a few years ago and don't think they have near the flavor of the reds. (Must that doesn't keep us from snarfing them down!)

Michelle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michelle said...

There are an abundance of cherries this year, Mama Pea; I wish it was feasible to send you some! My neighbor's orchard is going to waste for lack of pickers.

I prefer the red raspberries, but DID figure out that the yellows ones are very tasty if they are ripe. ;-) (At first I was picking them when they were yellow, but they need to turn almost apricot in color.)

(Edited for typos.)

Tombstone Livestock said...

Oh how I wish I had a wooly winder. Good job. Nice looking berries and cherries, enjoy.

Mary Ann said...

Okay, how hot is hot in the Pacific Northwest... I have to ask!

Kelly said...

I simply adore Bing cherries......my favorite fruit ever, I can sit and eat any entire bag of them in one setting. And then open another bag.

Michelle said...

Audrey, I wasn't going to invest the extra money, and then I tried a miniSpinner equipped with a WW. That did me in!

Mary Ann, it officially reached 96 degrees here yesterday; our record for that date was 99 degrees, set in 1942. Our "average" summertime high temp is 83 degrees. Of course that IS an average; June started with unusually cool weather and ended with unusually hot weather – so we probably averaged out to average! heh

Bings are my favorite cherries, too, Kelly. That's why Rick planted a Bing tree a few years ago. ;-)

Mama Pea said...

Yes, I've noticed that, too, with our yellow ones. They fool you because they're soft when they're yellow and one might think they're ripe, but the flavor does get better if you wait until they are that nearly orangey color.

Dang. If you notice a short person in a down jacket (from Minnesota, you know) picking the cherries in your neighbors yard one day soon, you'll know it's me!

(I see I have a typo in my comment, too. "Must" instead of "But." Doh!)

Anonymous said...

Oh the chicken yard... I'm still trying to figure out how on earth I am going to get a chicken coop and predator proof it (we have coyotes and foxes and a bobcat to mention just a few... DH is not mechanically inclined so I need to find a kind soul that will do it all for not a lot of money... I was hoping to have my chickens this summer but...
I love all those cherries, they are wicked expensive here in New Hampshire so I don't get them often.
Talk again soon,
Hugs,
Beth

Thistle Cove Farm said...

Michelle, someone recently showed me a water barrel that had a hoola hoop with a screen attached to the top. The females would lay their eggs on top of the screen, eggs would fall thru the screen and they would land in the water and, eventually, drown.
NO mosquitoes!!! Hurrah!!!

Michelle said...

Beth, believe it or not, cherries are really expensive in the stores here, too!

Michelle said...

I'm confused, Sandra. I thought mosquitoes laid their eggs IN water. How could they drown?