July stayed hot and dry. Gregory kept working away at the ditch hay and John worked as much summerfallow as he could.
I was able to keep the main floor of the house a pleasant temperature as long as I did all the cooking on the barbecue, but the upstairs, where we sleep, would get very warm and it was hard for the kids to sleep.
We were watering the garden and the fruit trees because it was so dry and so Gregory rigged up an air conditioning system for us. He took the hose running from the well into the house through a truck oil cooler that fit above the furnace filter, and used the furnace fan to blow cool air throughout the house. Then the hose going out of the house was used to water the garden and fruit trees. It worked very well!
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During the beginning of August, we had a big cooldown. It was just in time for the yearly visit from the aunties! Lacey and Michelle are my best friends from the States. We went to school together and Michelle is Joseph’s godmother and Lacey is James’ godmother. Every year they come up to visit us. They arrived Aug. 4 and they were able to stay until the 10th.
While the aunties were here, we did lots of baking, cooking, picking berries and, of course, playing. They helped the boys put a new roof on their little wishing well and Michelle showed Joseph how to knit. Joseph insisted they try some of the carrots from his garden, so the boys took their little dump truck and harvested a few of the carrots that Joseph planted and weeded on his own.
Whenever the boys were in the house, they were after Auntie Lacey to read to them. They brought her book after book to read, but she didn’t mind.
On Aug. 6, we left the aunties to babysit, moved some of the cows to a new pasture, pulled two of our bulls out and brought them home. When we got home Joseph told us we could go do more work because they were having fun.
On the eighth, Dan Mitchell brought his spreader and excavator to clean our corrals. The boys were excited to help so, in the corral ahead of Dan, they helped pick up any strings, sticks or rocks so they would not go through the spreader. The main corrals had not been cleaned for three years, so it took a little time to get through it all and John’s field is grateful for the fertilizer.
On the 10th we had breakfast with Michelle and Lacey, then bid them goodbye and safe travels. Gregory then went to cut some hay at Landis while John was swathing our sainfoin. We were hoping to harvest the sainfoin for seed, but after the long dry hot spell we lost most of the seeds. Gregory decided instead to bale it for feed. It’s not the best feed, being that it’s a bit too dry, but it will be something. We are trying to finish up the last of the baling at Landis and very soon it will be time for the mad scramble to get ready for harvest.
