Poppy Time

Another scorching day. Not sure what the temperature is, maybe the upper 80's. Too hot. I'm spending the afternoon making glazes. Sheep and ducks are hanging out in the shade. Tomorrow cools back down to the seventies and everyone in this family will be happy about that. The heat seems to make the poppies and roses happy though.

Peony poppies!

Darlow's Enigma in full bloom

Poppies

A coneflower

Bonica heavy with flowers

A Bonica bouquet

A yarrow

Roses and Sick Sheep

It's rose time. I snapped a few pictures before the battery died on the camera.

Climber that is more mounding than climbing

Darlow's Enigma and ceanothus

Peony

Iris

Peony poppy

Roses at front of house

Sick Sheep

Boots took sick last Wednesday. He was lagging behind the others, sleeping a lot, had diarrhea and a fever of 106. Gave him a shot of oxytetracycline. His temperature was back to normal by Friday and he was eating non-stop again. He'd lost quite a bit of weight in just a few days. Don't know what caused it and none of the other sheep have gotten sick. Waiting for results of fecal to see if parasites are somehow involved. I didn't think we'd be getting into doctoring so soon, but so it goes. So glad these veterinary antibiotics are available OTC as I saved $100+ on a house call by doing it myself.

Updated on sheep

Fecal results show no significant parasite load. All is well, and no idea what caused Boots' infection.

Herding Practice

I managed to snap a few pictures of Hattie working the sheep! They all get an animal cracker when it's over.

Garden Pics

I don't really have anything to write about. Just want to post some garden pics. I've been busy with yard maintenance, animal care, herding with Hattie and a little pottery stuff. I made a bunch of French toast to freeze using a dozen duck eggs. Four eggs a day really adds up and we can't eat them all ourselves even with the dogs sharing one every day. 

The ducks come up onto the back porch every afternoon and tap their bills on the door until we bring them tomatoes. We are now trained to do that. Sometimes I sneak outside and call them from the garden just to watch them take a flying leap off the porch. They're bred to have undersized wings and cannot really fly so getting a little airborne like this is pretty exciting for them, especially if there's a strong wind to help.

Hattie with the big bulb

Clematis

Ceanothus in bloom, Darlow's Enigma starting to bloom and irises

Black iris

Tag and Hooper's flowers

Blue (?) iris

Fruit starting to grow on the tomatoes

Finally successful in keeping the rats out of the veggies!