Hot & humid!

Another really hot and humid day…  Actual 4PM temp is 91° but the heat index is 101°, with a dewpoint of 73%.  Very uncomfortable, but not as bad as yesterday!  I just put out another shallow box filled with rocks and water for the birds, so there are three bird baths out there.  Remember those 80-some plastic storage boxes I used when I moved to the first farm??  This is one of them.  Fred wanted to sell them a couple years ago but I knew we’d use them eventually, and boy! Have we ever!  This “water box” may be big enough for the crows…  I think the bird at it in the photo is a female red-winged blackbird, but don’t quote me on that!  

We really want to put together some kind of mini-pond with circulating water, but are going to try to do it on a shoestring budget.  I keep thinking a small, rigid-sided kiddie pool could work as the container, and a simple pump shouldn’t be too pricey, right?  We could bury the pool a bit, so it wasn’t so high off the ground, or even just cut the sides down.  Wonder if we could do a controlled melt of the edge so it wouldn’t be too sharp… we do have a small propane torch…  Any ideas out there??

On Monday, a young man will be coming for some tutoring help before he takes a Calculus refresher course this fall.  This will be my first tutoring job!  He was steered to me by a mutual friend and sounds very highly motivated, so it should be a good experience.  I have no idea what to charge, but I think $25/hour sounds reasonable for private tutoring.  I’ll actually be preparing and delivering lessons, not just helping with specific homework problems, so it’s a bit more than just some college kid offering homework help.  I hope he’s okay with dogs and cats in the house!  Being a city kid, he may enjoy some time out in the country.  If it’s still this hot, though, we won’t be taking any breaks outside!

Just got word that our hay will be baled late this afternoon.  Oh joy.  That means an hour or so in the hot barn, “tossing” bales to Fred to stack.  Dusty, sweaty, hard on the back.  I’m too old for this!!