It’s been hot, sticky, and on and off rain for several days now around here. The grass is tall and the animals are fat and it’s time for us to start looking ahead for the fall and winter weather. (I’m also looking forward to not breaking into a sweat just standing on the back porch…) Our cows have a run in barn available all the time, but they don’t mind the heat. As long as it’s dry, you’ll see them sunbathing in the middle of the field most of the summer. The sheep prefer more shade and we’ve had to move them around a lot more this year because one of our shade shelters has been out of commission.

Our portable shade shelter is just a slant roof mounted on an old wagon running gear. We had a Spring storm rip the slant roof off in one piece–which sounds helpful, but is actually really awkward to try and maneuver to re-use. So until we had time to deal with that problem, we’ve had a tarp over the running gear and support beams to maintain some additional shade area. Problem with that is it’s constantly blowing or dragging off in any kind of bad weather. So, life being what it is, it’s been sitting in the field waiting for a little TLC most of the summer.

Coal seems to think we left it there as some type of junkyard agility course just for him.

Every time he’s out choring or walking with me, I can’t keep him off the thing. It’s ridiculous, why would anyone look at it and think they should jump up there and walk around? (You can see the roof laying in the background.) The dog has nerves of steel.

I think he’s been watching too much Olympic gymnastics.

Wiggling, shifting, creaking balance beam walking, anyone?

Just another project we’ll be tackling once we get the mowing caught up. Downsizing our herd and flock has meant more tractor mowing to offset fewer mouths feeding on the fresh growth.

But Annabelle is expecting a calf soon, so we’ll have babies on the grass for a little while longer.

Speaking of grass, I found these awesome plant id coloring books the other day. I love to have Dover coloring books around for the crew to use while listening to read aloud time. They’re educational as well as fun, and I find the kids really can multi-task just fine and absorb what I’m reading to them just fine if I let their hands by busy.

How are things around your homestead or homeplace? Have you started school or looking toward Fall yet?

We’ve been trying to get everything in good order before the school year starts and we’re super busy again. We’re also dealing with new daily routines as our Ladybug heads into middle school and we have two different school start/finish times in the family. Even though the kiddos were at different schools last year, everyone left and came home within about 10 minutes of each other. This year will be different by half an hour or more. It’ll be a big change for us. What about you?