Day: September 4, 2016

You know … it is a LONG way up for a chippy to get to the top of this bucket…

Is it safe out here?

Darby sure is looking regal these days.

She is lithe and alert …

… and OH those beautiful eyes!

Rosie’s tail was doing double time today.

We’ve still not got ahead of this batch of flies.

But I’m working on it Rosie!

Saying it all with her ears.

There is a reason these chains hang into the water bins. Chippys fall in!

Glad the trees seem to be weathering the drought.

Fall fluff

The happiest part of the garden is along the paddock fence … the rest … not so good. 8(

Holy Sheet! 😉

Rosie peeks out as she hears me arriving in the Bully.

See that little white building … soon it will be sporting a new piece of artwork!

I LOVED being back out in the paddocks today. I took my sweet time to clean up and spent lots of time brushing and hanging out with the jennies. I could feel the fall freshness again in the air today. Bonus!

I took a good long look at the Tanglefoot traps I had hung in the back paddock. The coated plastic (cups, plates) worked pretty well. The coated cardboard tubes … not so much. The flies are always around our ankles – the donkeys’ and mine – so I had tried hanging a plate below the bench in the feed bin area. At first I thought it wasn’t doing much more than catching stray strands of hay. Today though I can see it has been catching the flies at their tiniest. I took down all the weathered traps and put up three fresh ones. I’ll get at them with my flapper plates again too.

Now for the bees. Seems that the fall may be similar to the spring … ? Before the flowers came out the honey bees seemed to go for the sweet smelling hay. Now that the drought has wiped out most of the flowers in the yard … we’re at the same place. Problem is donkey noses are also in that hay. I looked up today to see four bees chasing Bella into the Bully Barn. Running past the sheet seem to brush them away. Don’t tell my poor granddaughter, Lexi, that! She is convinced the bees will come after her. I think she is safe as long as she doesn’t take to eating hay as well. 😉

I really should get ‘brave’ and take some pictures of our woebegone gardens … I don’t remember a summer like this … ever. The poor hydrangea are so droopy they look like they are in pain. I gave in and took the hose around and watered at the roots of as much as I could reach. I used the ‘count to thirty’ method and then moved on. Ponds and even marshes are disappearing along our road. So messing with the well is not really a wise thing until we get some water back into the system. I hope we get some of the remnants of Hurricane Hermine… maybe Wednesday.