The ol' homestead

Folks, it's just plain sweltering here! I hope you have found a few ways to cut back on the heat -especially in your homes. There are few things I have done have helped keep our heat down in the house and also the electric bill from jumping out of sight. One of the main things that has helped this summer is that I am using my clothesline for all wash -yep, all of it. I have been doing this for the last few months and what I have noticed is a that: 1. white clothes are crisper, whiter, and disenfected naturally better by the sun. 2. Towels are definatly rougher on your skin BUT, they absorb more quickly and actaully do their job better. 3. They just smell and feel so much better. 4. I enjoy the time that Little Miss helps me with it (and the way she looks through the damp laundry for a kitchen towel to wrap over her head to keep her cool while we are out there hanging it up in the 100+ heat) 5. It takes about 10 minutes for a load to be completely dry in this heat! How can it not set your heart all a twitter to look out and see your line full of clothes blowing in the breeze.

I have also been cutting out all un-necassary baking with the oven. That means I am making only our daily bread for now and doing that only twice a month. As I said before, the garden has burned up but we have been blessed with squash and tomatoes and corn by friends and family and I do appreciate that!

The turkey's are doing great and look half grown now and the little chicks now are no longer little but roam all day with their momma's. I do have another hen who has decided to try to set in this heat and I keep trying to break her up but she is determined and I really expect to go out one day and find her expired from heat exhaustion.

This is TJAF...

She is beautiful isn't she?

She looks so...innocent doesn't she?

She's not.

She turned me on to this...

And it's becoming a problem. I need another habit like a hole in the head. Really, though since we are both dieting, things are not so bad. TJAF is on a low carb diet and I am on a I think I am starving low-calorie diet. She is now NOT drinking the asaidfore Dr. Pepper and I am. But I am proud that I have been drinking water too  which is quite difficult for me.

Remember all that corn that we shucked? We made some into Margarita Corn. Yum -Yum-Yum. Now this may sound like inebriation is involved but, it's not. (Not to say you can't have a nip of the ol tequila while your cooking it if'n you have a mind too) But this corn is on the up and up. Can you say dee-lish?

Frontier Man is having to leave at 6:00 for work now as the thought is that they can beat the heat and be home in the afternoon. I have yet to see him home that early and seem to think all they are doing at this point is making the men work longer hours in this heat. Anyway, I have been getting up at 6:00 every morning as he is leaving (he gets up at 5.00) I am getting up to pray for his safety every morning as it is still dark when he leaves riding that bike to work in the dark is much more dangerous as vermin and animals all are on the move at dawn and dusk. He seems to be making the best of it all though, even though he is not getting near enough rest.

We are missing Big Miss who has been MIA since last Friday. She is in Washington with family and I have it on good authority that she is having a great time. We can't wait to have her home -as all of you know, she is pure life, and when life is missing things don't seem the same.

Lastly here I want to make sure I thank Sunshine for our stay with them. She goes to a lot of trouble to make us comfortable and well fed and I appreciate her. She is a gem!

Look at that smile - doesn't it just brighten your day?

Pure Sunshine!