Vacation day - happy me!

So warm today that I am having to dunk the cats in water to soak them down and help them cool off. Too bad I don't work strictly from home, because I would gladly do it several times a day. Thankfully, the worst of the heat doesn't last more than a couple of hours, so they don't overheat badly. I always make sure there's plenty of water, and right now the fans and swamp cooler are going constantly to help keep things in better shape.

All the outside chores are done - did them while it was not too breezy and the heat of the day had settled some but before the bugs all came out for their evening snacking on me. Thank goodness for all the birds and bats around here!

Took some pictures today, too, along with getting some edited from a week or so ago at the end of all the rain we had for about a MONTH. Enjoy!

This was from the end of the rain in May. You know how I mention the shallow gully that crosses the road at the cow pasture, where the extra water from the pasture goes through to the seasonal creek? This is the water going into the creek.

This is where the water comes from the cow pasture and starts across the road. It looks like a lot, but it's pretty shallow - maybe an inch deep at the most. Mostly it just spread out this year due to a month of nearly unending rain.

The upstream side of the low-water bridge, near the area at the cow pasture where everybody parks when the road is unpassable (like the wintertime, unless you have 4x4 and tire chains and hopefully a winch just in case).

The downstream side of the seasonal creek at the low-water bridge. The creek here is about six feet deep all told. That it was this high was amazing. It so rarely gets this full, and usually is only about 2 feet deep. The county had to put the bridge in, by the by, because of all the elderly and disabled folks who live at the top of the mountain. It didn't used to be here about twenty years ago, and folks had to park at the bottom near the mailboxes and walk all the way up to the top (about three miles).

The first of the afghans is airing out, draped on the trailer in the yard. So on going out to burn the trash, I saw this little darling fanning itself on the afghan! I don't know what it is, but it is pretty.

Some of the daisies at the easement near where we park.

A different type of butterfly, sunning on one of the Black-Eyed Susans near the easement.

A patch of the Black-Eyed Susans near the easement.

The burn barrel smoldering up a storm as the trash caught fire good. Hubby and I keep the weeds well away from it, though we do need to clean up the cans from the old barrel in the back and take them to the scrappers. The black thing in front was the last of the trash to be burnt. I had to wait for the barrel to burn down to make room for it. In this weather, we keep the burn small, so the flames don't get above the top of the barrel. Takes a while to burn two weeks' worth of trash, let me tell you!