Farm Happenings: Shoes, Sheep, and Hay

My Sweetie, in front of his dream machine at a recent tractor show.

(And no, it's not his tractor..... yet, he says.)

It's been wet, hot, humid, and busy around the farm lately.... veggies are growing fast (thanks to some sheep poop fertilizer) and the weather has been very summer-like which is also making the grass grow like crazy. My main chore around here lately is fly control in the barns and chicken coops... it's been a full-time job just trying to keep everything sprayed daily and I've already gone through 5 different fly traps in the last couple of weeks. The flies seem to be worse than usual this year... maybe because of the damp ground and humidity.

It was a sad day last week when my favorite barn shoes, my Muck boots, finally gave out and left me with wet feet one soggy morning... I knew this day would come, but had been trying to make them last as long as I could. These were my mud and poop resistant, toe protectors against sheep hoof tramplings, and all around great chore shoe, so I was really lost for a few days. I even wore an old pair of hiking boots until they wore a lovely blister on my heel, then they too went the way of the buffalo. (In the garbage can with the muck boots.)

On a trip to Tractor Supply this past weekend, I've found some summer replacements until I can save up enough money to buy some more Mucksters for winter.

What do ya think?

They are waterproof and really comfortable and cool, even though they're lined inside... and best of all, they're covered in cute little Ladybugs! *squeal*

This picture was taken before their inaugural trip to the barn... needless to say they are not this clean anymore. But a good spraying with the water hose and they'll be good as new!

Update on Miss Lucy: she is doing very well and is ready to be put back in the big lot with the rest of the woolies! *Yay!*

She has put on some weight, gained most of her strength back, and it seems we have finally cleared her hoof problems up. Thanks for all your concern and well wishes over the past few months.

By the way, here are her twins, Pepper and Polly, who are now 4 months old... can you believe it? (That's Polly with the grass hanging out of her mouth.)

Hubby started playing with his new equipment cutting the first field of hay last week and barely got it up before the rains came Friday.... he still has more that needed to be cut already but the weather has just not cooperated. I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked to, but I will next time for sure. Here he is using the square baler....

All the equipment worked great and Hubby did an excellent job for a first-timer! It's lots of hard work putting up hay but it will be so great to not have to worry about buying any or running out this winter. Even better, Hubby has already sold most of this cutting, so the extra money was an added bonus!

I'm off to visit with all my bloggy friends now- Happy Friday, everybody!