Too Hot To Trot

The Follywoods Weather Report Continues

I have developed a severe allergy to heat.  It's more mental then physical, but I dread going outdoors this summer.  This morning was not too bad out there, either. It actually felt nice under the trees and there was a bit of a breeze. But already the arena was in the sun and the bugs were out in full force. 

Yesterday, I even surrendered the swim, mostly because I heard thunder on the horizon. The pool closes quickly when there are storms in the area. I don't think we ever got a full fledged thunderstorm, but we did get some off and on rain. It doesn't do much to cool things off. But it does make the grass grow, which means I will have to mow the lawn soon.

The big riding mower is back but there is still some kind of glitch in the new clutch they put in the mower. The guy told me what to try to see if I could fix it. If that fails, they will have to take it back and adjust something or other. It should be fine to mow the lawn, however, as the problem only shows up in the heavier weeds.

All three Boys were out under the apple tree this morning. Apparently, Chance's secret stash is no longer safe. The apples are not dropping in huge numbers yet and they are still too green to tell how many there are on the tree.  Since I don't do anything to encourage the trees, they seem to produce apples with a whimsical inconsistency. Sometimes, they produce heavily and sometimes lightly. I would think it has to do with the weather, of course, but I haven't yet figured out the pattern. When they are not yet ripe, it's almost impossible to see them up in the tree, so I never quite know if it's a heavy season or a light one. Either way, as I've noted before, I do need to keep an eye on things as I don't want any of the Boys gorging themselves on apples--green or ripe.

I am not a baker, but my Mother used to make a fabulous Dutch apple cake.  I keep thinking some year that I will make one myself. It is a not too sweet cake underneath with layers of sliced apples on top with the obligatory cinnamon sugar.  The apple's juices kind of bake into the cake layer below. Yummy.  But, I'm not at all sure it would bake well in the toaster oven, so that means I'd have to fire up the stove's oven which then heats up the house and we're back to my opening remarks.

The air conditioning has been working a lot, so it will be interesting to see what my electric bill will be. This is the first time I will get an idea of how efficient the solar panels are. One thing is for sure, with all the heat and sunshine they have been producing energy at the max. Last month I had a credit on my account, so I will be quite happy if that ends up paying the bill this month.

But, I have also added the fans in the barn to the equation. I have a decent sized floor fan in front of each of the three stalls so the Boys can take advantage of the breeze. And since it comes from the floor, that's where the air is coolest. "Cool" is, of course, a relative term this year, but it's an effort. The box stalls are just a bit under 12'X12' and often both Tucker and Toby end up sharing one. I have no idea what that is all about, but they seem quite content packed into the small space and far be it from me to try to convince them otherwise.

That leaves Chance a lot of options and he seems to be ready to take advantage of all of them. Sometimes he's in his stall, sometimes he's in Tucker's stall, sometimes he's under the trees--apple browsing--and sometimes he simply hangs out under the run-in roof in front of Toby's stall.

He is, however, most often fond of using the run-in shed at the end of the riding arena for nap time--especially att night. The floor is fairly deep sand and more than once I've found him totally flat out in there after dark, bedded down for the night. A few times, I've even taken his midnight snack out to him there when he showed no inclination to come in to eat it in the barn. Talk about room service!! But he's so cute when he's settled in like that I simply hate to see him get up. 
As one of our fellow bloggers noted the other day, I could watch my horses for hours, just enjoying their little habits.  They are truly fascinating creatures.