This is Jan speaking. I'm alive and well in Sloughhouse. Blogging has taken a back seat in my life, it seems like there is so much going on but so little of it is newsworthy.
I have been raising chicks since February, the last few are still in the house waiting for an open pen outside. This week I'm sorting through the birds to take a load to the auction on Sunday. It's the same story every year, raise a bunch and cull down to a few I can show.
The show season pretty much ended in April. Anna and I did drive all the way to Fallbrook, near San Diego, to a new show. It was very small, we had to take our own cages for the birds.
I've spent a lot of time out in the flower garden, too. Anna and I planted a lot of flowers, it takes me at least an hour every day to hand water and keep weeds pulled. Note: don't ever plant morning glories, they come up by the thousands, must be related to kudzu.
Bob and Anna are fine, they both leave for work early every day and get home late at night. It's really no problem having them here because I don't see that much of them.
Wesley and Gollie, the house cats, are fine also. I had them tested for feline leukemia after the feral cat and Biscuit succumbed to it, but they tested clear. They had been vaccinated, but sometimes that doesn't work.
There are 2 new feral cats outside. Both have clipped ears, so someone took them to SPCA and had them neutered and given rabies shots before they were dumped here. I guess that's a good thing. One is the ugliest cat I've ever seen. We call her Ally. She looks like a starved opossum. I don't have a picture of her yet. When she's hungry she stands on the back steps and yowls like a mountain lion.
The other cat is a little black one. It stays in the weeds at the perimeter of the back yard and shows up every afternoon for some food.
I can't see that either of these new cats actually catch mice, but they also don't bother the chickens or the pigeons. Ally can walk down the sidewalk with pigeons sunning themselves on the lawn, and the pigeons don't even move. The black cat never comes into the yard.
July was very hot here, most days over 100 degrees. I did my chores early and late and stayed indoors during the hottest part of the day. Mostly I read. A book every day and a half, so I read over 20 books last month. My ancient Kindle finally just gave up and died, so I transferred everything to my iPad. I've found I prefer reading on it, anyway.
I've had problems with the horses. Blue Top is 30, Dusty is 20. Last fall BT was really thin and we worried he wouldn't last the winter. I started buying him pelleted feed, though, and now he's doing much better, fat and sassy. While I had him penned so I could feed him, Dusty was in the pasture. When the green grass came up, he foundered. He's doing better, though the summer-hard ground keeps him limping.
I have no idea if I'll find the inspiration to blog much. I haven't moved on to Instagram or Twitter. I do read Facebook, or at least I did until election season started. Right now checking Facebook is like peeking through the small windows in an insane asylum. I don't like seeing people I love in the throes of political insanity.
