Lazy, hazy days of summer

The song calls it the lazy hazy days of summer but I think here that time refers more to the lazy hazy days of early fall, although I guess technically it is still summer. You couldn’t ask for better weather, the sky is crystal blue, the deep clear blue of fall. It’s warm enough to be comfortable - near 80 - especially with a nice breeze and low humidity. The nights are cool and comfortable and in the morning we either have heavy dew or like this morning, fog.

A high pressure system is responsible for this lovely weather and I think that’s where the lazy comes in, you just want to sit around and bask in the sun because you know it won’t be nice like this for ever and the high air pressure makes you drowsy. Maybe people are a bit more relaxed right now too, although that might only apply to those of us who don’t have kids going back to school Tuesday. I sure hope most of you were smart enough to get the school shopping done early so you could enjoy this last summer holiday.

The trees are starting to turn, every year people remark on how early the leaves are turning and they certainly can’t turn colors early every year, but think about it, when have you ever heard people say “Wow- the trees are late turning color this year?” The fields are turning purple and gold - purple asters and goldenrod. I have been going out snapping pictures of weeds and wildflowers for my examiner articles - you can see them here but I can’t help snapping fall landscapes as I go.

We had puppies born this weekend, the first babies on the farm this year other than the wild kittens. Honey our cocker had seven pretty babies. Three are black like dad and 4 are light - either blond or red like Honey. They all appear healthy and happy, no obvious runts. I spent one of these beautiful days locked up with her, being her midwife. Honey does not do birthing gracefully. She thinks the pressure she’s feeling means she has to go to the bathroom and she wants to go outside. Even locked up in the spare room she has to get out of the box and squat over paper each time a pup is born and I have to be there to catch it and make sure she cleans it, otherwise she goes back to the box with the rest and leaves it on the floor. And she takes up to an hour between pups - which makes for a long day. This is her fourth and last litter. I am going to neuter Bubba and we won’t have to worry about any surprise puppies, he’s the last whole male dog on the farm.

I still haven’t been able to get my little brat horse Charlie gelded. He still has only one testicle down. We moved them over to the east pasture because the west was pretty eaten down and I don’t like them over there when the walnut leaves and nuts start falling. But the east side fence is the oldest on the farm I think, and last weekend Charlie broke through the road side of the fence when some riders came down the road and Lily followed him.

When I went outside because of the riders yelling, Charlie and Lily were running around the group of riders, tails up just as pretty as you please, showing them how much fun it was to run free as the wind - which did not make the riders happy. I was able to catch Lily with a bucket of food, of course, and Charlie came back to her in just a few minutes. The two rascals had to be locked in the barn overnight and then we had to spend most of the week on and off - fixing the fence and eventually running a hot wire around it. They are now back to full pasture on the east although I am keeping a wary eye on them.

All of this expense and time makes me seriously doubt whether I need horses, especially Charlie. Since we spend so much time fixing things I barely have time to handle them and while they are cute - the fun is wearing a bit thin. If Charlie were a larger horse I know he would be gone by now as he would be too dangerous. Steve wants me to sell him and get another mare for Lily’s friend. But baby bad boy horses need someone who cares about them too and he’s likely to get sent from one place to the next. If he ever gets gelded maybe he will calm down. Age will help too. I just hope Lily doesn’t get bred by him before he is gelded. We haven’t been able to separate them - he finds a way to get to her no matter what we do. He just turned a year old so maybe we are still safe.

If I could afford it I’d send him to someone to train. But it’s hard enough to afford hoof trimming, hay and gelding costs. So I should get my act together and just do it- right? (The training, not the gelding part.) Make him the poster boy for mini horse studs or mini horse geldings. A good Charlie horse instead of a pain in the butt Charlie horse. Ok, it’s a resolution- I’ll report on my progress here.