It's HAWT and there are Waspsps, Fire Alarms and "Ninja Vanishing" to be dealt with...

Well goings on around the Kelley Homestead have not been empty of adventure but I really haven't had time to sit and stamp out a blog post to be honest, until now.

We sit in the middle of one of the hottest weeks in New England since we've arrived. I'm hearing that these are record temperatures for these parts. As we were out running errands today, indeed it was hot, my car thermometer registered 88 degrees. I told my daughter, "...you know what? Although it is definitely hot here, it is not as brutal as the Texas heat we are more accustomed to." Once I had that realization the rest of the day was quite tolerable.

With the high temps, my pasture water tub was not cutting it. I found myself having to hike up the hill to the upper pasture to check it way too many times in the day so I asked my hubby if I could pick up a larger water trough. He agreed and I picked one up along with another mineral lick. There is one down in the lower paddocks and one in each stall but I had not put one up in the upper pasture where the horses spend most of their time. The flies are a nightmare! I had to poll the local horse people to find out what is in their arsenal. These flies are not anything like we have seen back in Texas. They are all different sizes and they are not very friendly. Poor horses, poor us when we are out there with the horses too! I picked up an ointment for the horses, it seems to be helping. It isn't perfect but it has gotten the fly activity down to a dull roar. The horses are appreciating their new water trough too. The lip on this one is big enough to install my automatic waterer too, if only I could remember where I put it. Somewhere clever I know. We had to leave our big waterers and other niceties back in Texas, there just was not enough room to haul it up here.

New Trough and Mineral Block

Justice having breakfast on the veranda

Sky having breakfast on the veranda

Sky approves of the new arrangements.

I wish the tub could stay this clean with little effort. Oy!

The boys headed out to graze

Next to the flies, the wasps have been a annoyance. They have nests EVERYWHERE so we've painfully discovered. My daughter and I were trying to find clever ways to give the dogs "outside time" without fences. We have been finding advantageous places to put tie-outs. It's not my favorite method, but it does give them some chill time outdoors to soak up some Vitamin D. Anyhow, I find that if I "high-tie" the dogs, there is less of chance that they'll tangle or get hung up on things. So I opted to tie them from the upper level deck. I sent my daughter up to anchor the tie out and we found a DOZEN wasp nests all over the deck. We had NO idea. We had seen wasps flying around, but did not know this is where they had so many nests. They were above the hot tub so my husband came and destroyed all the nests just in time for our 4th of July BBQ where the kids were able to cheerfully "swim" in the hot tub. About a week later my husband, Jason, was up behind the barn moving a trailer and had the unfortunate discovery of a huge wasp nest. He did not know they were there until five had stung him! Good thing he is not allergic. A few days later my husband was mowing the lawn and my daughter was walking around the barn area with her little dog Chase, our Pomeranian, following her. Suddenly he began to yelp and limp. She investigated but found nothing. She carried him back to the house to me to "fix" him. I knew he had been stung by something as there was no blood, but also no obvious swelling. My daughter then noted she had seen some angry wasps because we did not have wasp spray and as my husband was coming across nests he was just knocking them down and stepping on them. So this was likely one of those disenfranchised wasps wanting to take out their frustration on whomever was available. Chase was this sad victim. I treated Chase with some Nature's Sunshine ALJ and gave him a Baby Aspirin. We brought him inside to rest and he was so uncomfortable that he would squeak and the other dogs were rushing into his "bubble" so I told my daughter to put him in his kennel so he could have his space back and could lean against the wall in his kennel to take pressure off his leg. Within 20 minutes, my husband came in the basement and wondered why he was in his kennel. He let him out and Chase was perfectly fine! Hooray! Yesterday I went to lay out on the back deck, taking advantage of this wonderful sun, I know soon we'll all be bundled up, so why not take advantage while we can. Well we had a fly invasion in the house earlier in the day. Timmy, our orange Tabby cat, saved me from a savage, blood thirsty fly that was dead set on biting me because I tried to whack him good with my hairbrush in the bathroom. Timmy was able to apprehend the villainous fly, he then killed it and ate it. To reward him my daughter brought Timmy out on a leash, out on the deck where I was laying out. Timmy found a shady spot and went and sat in it. Suddenly there were two wasps swarming him! Timmy's a "special kitty" we call him "puppy kitty" (he's one of two puppy kitties in our household) and at times he lacks common sense. Anyhow he went after the wasp, but I instructed my daughter to quickly take the cat and herself and get in the house. Shortly after, I had to grab my towel and run inside myself because the wasps were NOT happy to have anyone near their nest. I waited a few minutes and then came back out and they left me be. I phoned my hubby and asked him to PLEASE pick up some MORE wasp spray. He came home with two bottles and went around spraying every nest.

This is the trailer my hubby moved that had a huge wasp nest under.

 Today, much to my elation, my hubby decided to fire up the grill to make some steaks! Yum! We sat outside and sipped homemade iced coffee. At one point my hubby went in the house to get some supplies from the kitchen and he left the door open for just a minute and some smoke found it's way in the house. He shut the door and immediately the fire alarm in the house went off. The fire alarm stresses out certain canine members of our household. My daughter was able to get most of them settled but our Pomeranian, Chase, decided he could not handle the noise and he opted to come outside on the deck with me and my husband. My husband told him to "go out and potty," so he sadly went off the deck. I was watching Chase because he has a BAD HABIT of doing what we humorously (but it's not funny really) refer to as "Ninja-Vanish." He'll be standing there, and then he'll simply disappear and he is hard to find. Sometimes we will see him, but he thinks we don't see him, so he'll stand really still and hope we don't notice him. His quarry he seeks is usually a hot fresh pile of horse poo, or a stinky, nasty, smelly dead frog, then he rolls in it and returns home stinky and smelly for starters. Well I saw him quite a distance away from me and doing his "Ninja-Vanish-stare" which is the stare he does just prior to "Ninja-Vanishing." I gave him the benefit of the doubt because it did look like he was looking for a spot to go to potty. I looked away for ONE SECOND and I looked back and he was GONE! I called and called him from my seat on the deck and he did not return. Sometimes, he'll come barreling back, but not this time. He was GONE! He had done his infamous "Ninja-Vanish." I happened to have one of my Aussies out with me, Ronen. My husband went down and looked around for Chase but he was no where to be found!

A good example of what Chase's "Ninja-Vanish" face looks like.

My husband returned to tend his steaks, so I grabbed my trusty Aussie, Ronen and unleashed my LGD Natsar who had just been tied for the evening in the barn. We headed out to look for Chase. I first covered the "usual terrain" calling very positively because if Chase thinks you are upset he will try all-the-more to hide-out and lay-low. We went down the trail, around the arena, I called for Chase and listened carefully. Well I didn't think Ronen was paying attention, he usually just likes to hunt for Chipmunks and Snakes, but he heard me calling Chase. My dogs all know their names individually because I use them specifically when I call them into doors and what not. I'll say "just <insert name>" and they will step up. Pretty cool, smart puppies! Anyhow, I'm sitting there calling and calling Chase, but there is no Chase. I whisper a little prayer and say "Abba, you know where he is, help us find him." I imagined the worst-case scenario, maybe when I wasn't looking a coyote snatched him? If it killed him quick enough there would be no noise. I thought, maybe a bob-cat? I worried for the naughty boy! So we rounded up over the arena hill and back down the upper pasture. We came on down, me using my eyes and little did I know but my Ronen was using his noggin and his keen hunting nose. Ronen usually gets fussed at for going into the horse pen/pasture because he always thinks he needs to fetch me some horses. Horses don't fetch well, so to avoid confusion (Ronen doesn't like to take "no" for an answer and will force the issue if left unchecked) I just ask that he not enter the pasture without ME. Well he listens pretty good in situations like this, but this time he ducked under the fence and I saw his nose to the ground with purpose. He was running straight up to... CHASE! :D I was so happy to see that naughty little blonde dog! He was sad, he stood there... ashamed. His tail hanging and sad that he had been found. I did not chastise the boy (although he certainly deserved it) instead I PRAISED Ronen for a job well done. He totally found him for us! Then I called Chase very enthusiastically. He picked his silly tail back up (he carries his tail over his back, but hangs it when he's upset or sad) and bolted over to me, equally as enthusiastic to know "I was not sore" with him. He got to me and I pet him all up, then Ronen, and called everyone back down to head back to the house. Dinner was almost done.

Pretty much how the kitchen looked to me!

Back at the house, the dishes were piled to the ceiling, ok... well they were close to the ceiling. My daughter was on hour four of DS Marathon so I insisted she take a break and unload, then reload the dishwasher while I watched the dogs on the deck with her Papa. I was recovering from my hike, and hubby was watching his steak. Anyway, this is my daughter's usual chore. So she went to work. While we were outside, Ronen went and stood by the deck looking over into the barn, taking in the sights and smells (no doubt thinking of his next hunt) when suddenly he yelped and jumped out of the way. He looked down and chomped and killed two wasps that were stinging him! It was that same nest of wasps that Timmy had discovered the day before. This time my hubby had his can of wasp spray ready. He sprayed and killed two more wasps that crawled out from between the boards. This nest in particular is a difficult one to reach because it is tucked and hidden well. While my hubby dispatched the wasps I sprang into action to treat Ronen. I gave him the same protocol as I had given Chase a few days back. Nature's Sunshine ALJ drops and he got two Baby Aspirin (Chase only got one the other day because he's much smaller). Ronen was sore for about 20 minutes. He is now sleeping like a babe. The steaks were awesome! All is good on the Kelley Homestead now! Yah bless! <3 Until next time!

Yum!