[Ag-eq] almost melted!

[nfoster at extremezone.com]

Hello All:

Yes, we almost melted here; it has been an extremely hot summer.  It has reached
115 several days.  We have gotten a couple of really good rains, which is always
welcome in the desert.  About 3 weeks ago it rained so hard the irrigation canal
bank broke and the water ran down my street like a river.  My street dead ends
at the canal.  The water washed across the front of my property moving my trash
bin and a hay feeder.  It washed dirt and rocks over my drive way and side walk.
 Some of my neighbors had quite a lot of damage.  I had a couple of spots of
standing water for almost a week!  It has rained a couple times since, but
nothing like that!

The exciting news is that my chickens started laying.  I got 1 egg last Friday
and they have been laying ever since.  I have a toatal of 1 dozen eggs now.
They are small and a couple had very thin shells.  I really didn't expect the
girls to start laying in this heat!

The summer has been very hard on my poor old goat.  I really thought I was going
to lose her one day, but she pulled through.  I've been giving her electrolites,
which seem to help.  I hope she can hold on until the weather cools down.

I got a new baby goat, who is about 6 months old.  She is very lively and has
more energy than me and all the other animals put together.  Her name is
Lollypop and she is very cute and a lot of fun.  I'm teaching her to shake
hands like a dog and walk on a leash.  I hope to be able to do some therapy
work with her some day.

2 weeks ago I had to have my old female GSD put down.  She had cancer and had
stopped eating and had no interest in life.  I knew it was time, but it was
still hard.  She had been fighting it for a year; we never thought she would
make it as long as she did.

All the other animals are doing well considering the long hot summer.  I haven't
been riding much; it's just to hot!  We did take the horses up north and camped
for a weekend.  We rode a lot and had a good time.  We are going again next
weekend.

I start school next week, so am getting ready for that.  I left my job July 30
and have been completing projects around the house.  I've applied for a few
part time jobs, but haven't started looking real hard yet.  I do have a couple
of leads and have been doing a few massages.  It feels strange to be returning
to school at age 40!

I hope everyone will write and update us all.  Take care.

Nella