Pictures worth a thousand words.

Nice Guy

Traffic

Wildlife traffic is picking up with the raspberries ripening well all over the acreage.   Expecting to see more deer and bears, as the big apple tree (their favorite) has a nice crop already dropping off the tree.   Nice bucks hiding out but comfy here.
We've dropped twenty degrees from Sunday and although, still too humid, it is much more tolerable for dogs and the resident human.
The fields are actually turning a lot brown, but there appears to be hope of some slight rain this evening.
Blueberries are holdouts, green and tiny, at least on this acreage, but some bit of ripening.  We love Joe Pye
weed and so do the butterflies.
And the field strawberries never did even blossom.
The sunflowers are the height they usually don't reach until August and the pumpkins are doing well.  Not so,
the peas.   Odd year.

95 Degrees

Hot and humid, but fortunately, it's a bit windy.   The dogs have had a tough few days, but their pools are cleaned and filled, they have fresh water, they've been bathed and the weather forecast says that it will be down to 73 by 6PM... do we believe it?  

Buddy has been hiding out in the house and thinks being a house dog is far preferable to the sandy pens.

The wild creatures are hot, too.  We find them hiding /cooling off in unexpected places.  Not telling where we saw some nice bucks.

The cabin is being painted brown and it's looking very nice.   All in all, we're hanging in there in the
impossible heat.

Summertime living is NOT easy

Heat, humidity and no rain make for uncomfortable surroundings for our good dogs.   We do what we can to minimize their discomfort, including fresh, cold, clean water twice daily, clean pools each day, water baths with a massage towel and yes, ice cream from a spoon when it's high 80's.  They're very polite with the ice cream, waiting their turns to lick the spoon.

We haven't had rain for quite a few days so a thunderstorm predicted for tonight will be welcome, even though it will scare the dogs.  We need the pounding rain in the pens and on the grassy trails.  It could bring a break in the humidity but not for long.   Mid July, the summer time living is not easy, especially for the blueberries.    The raspberries are alive and well, but the blueberries and the lily of the valley are having a hard time developing.   Buddy likes his inside bed (with air conditioning);  Copper spends time outside but is quickly acclimating to air conditioning too.