I have just got back from the store. I went to pick up eggs and a pack of batteries for my camera.
I came back with eggs, tomatoes, water Mellon, and ice cream. NO BATTERIES !!!!!!

I took pick at the creek of 3 of our grandchildren keeping cool in this heat wave. Need new batteries to upload to the computer though.

I place my chair in the waters edge so that my feet are in the water. It feels sooo good.
I slipped and fell in a couple of times much to the delight of the 6 and 9 year old.

The animals are all feeling the heat but we are fortunate to have a large enough area for them to wander down to that is well treed and much cooler than their upper yard.

I will post some pictures once a I get the batteries for the camera.

I called the vet out a couple of days ago as I was concerned about Maggie. (She is the momma angora goat.)

She showed no interest when I went out to feed them.
Not like her at all. She is usually the first at the gate waiting to get her head in the feed bucket to get a few extra mouthfulls before I distribute it to them all.

Also, her breathing just didn't seem right and her eyes looked dull and half closed, not the usual bright wide open look that is normal for her. At times it looked like something was in her throat that she was unable to clear.
Last year my first little angora goat, Angelina, died from internal parisites after only having her a few weeks.
Maggie, Hey Babe, and Jenny are from the same breeder so when Maggie lay down and showed no interest in her kid I didn't want to take any chances. I called the vet.

Farm animal vets are few and far between. The closest one to us is about 30/45 mins away and often booked up.
Fortunately, the vet was already on a call in our neighborhood so was able to get to us around lunch time.

After giving Maggie a good examination she told me that her lungs and stomach didn't sound right plus she is loaded with mites.
She is also too thin. Something I had noticed so I have been giving her extra grain. (That may have been what caused the stomach problems)!
Vet thinks she could have had a bad case of indegestion.

I have to give her a shot of peniclin once aday for 3 days and dust all the goats for mites.
Peace of mind knowing she will be ok will be worth the price of the bill. (That I haven't got yet)

After a few cooler wet days, the sun is out again.
The grass seed that I put down is looking good and I am hoping a few days of the suns warmth on it will prompt a few of the slower growing areas to sprout a little faster.
I was told it would take about 3 weeks before the animal could use the area. Looking at it after about 3 weeks I think it will be another couple of weeks yet before I would let them in there.
Sectioning off the other half of their enclosure will be a bit more complicated to do as their shelter is there.
I may have to leave a few feet right in front of the shelter without grass.

I have been clearing out and taking out a few of the smaller trees in the grandkids 'Forest'. I seeded an area to see if enough sunlight got back there for grass to grow. Its looking good so far so will do the whole area.

I have been vocally out of commission for almost a week.
It started with a headache then a sore throat then a runny nose. The runny nose turned into a plugged nose and then the usual snorting and coughing then the loss of my voice.
The voice went a week ago. Then my 6 and 8 year old grandsons arrived for the summer.!
At least they have learned that yelling 'GRANDMA' at the top of their lungs from the bottom of the yard will not get a response from me.
They now come within visual range before yelling for me!
Their logic seems to be, if I can see them I should be able to talk to them?
I have told them my ears are just fine, yelling is not necessary, if they need to talk with me they need to come within touching distance so I can talk back with them.
My headache is coming back. It will be along summer!

This is the rented drum carder.

Here are some of the blended rovings.
It is a alpaca/wool blend.
I have started spinning some of it and it is looking pretty good.

I will add more pix of it as it progresses.

I rented a drum carder from the Spinners Guild in the hopes that I could get my bags of alpaca fleece ready for spinning.
Turns out the teeth on the carder are too corse for alpaca so I am blending some wool of unknown origin with it.

The wool is a little rough, but with the alpaca blended with it, its not too bad.

Jeanette, my sister-in-law in England offered to knit some slippers with it for me if I send it to her.
Say no more. It will be its way as soon as I can get it spun!
Knitting is not my forte.
Not good when you like to spin!

I took some pix of the rovings that I have so far, problem is, they are not down-loading (or is it up-loading?) from the camera to the computer..gerrrrr..!!!!! Frustrating!!!!!!
Will post them when I figure out the problem.


Meanwhile..
A couple of pictures of the roses in my garden for my dear friend Sharon.
One of her close friends died in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Love and a hug Sharon. I am thinking of you.

Either my critters are always eating or the only time I take pictures of them is when they are.

I was going through some of my pictures and noticed how many there are of them.

Here are a few.