Sultry, steamy, sticky. We have been having the hottest weather of the year so far these past few days. The world has taken on a toasted yellow hue, baking under the August sun. We don't generally have too many days like this in the summer in Maine so, depending on our heat tolerance, we manage, enjoy or suffer through, knowing it won't last (and feeling for all the people around the country and the world for whom heat like this can be the norm)
I don't think it's any coincidence that the Old Farmer's Almanac released its upcoming winter predictions this week, calling for an extra cold and snowy winter. As if to say to many of us, "Remember last winter? Soak it up, kid."
So I try hard to appreciate the heat, even though it's not my favorite and makes me lethargic and every task feel insurmountable. I know what lies ahead and I also know that most of the days until winter will be beautiful late-summer and autumn Maine days.
The first weekend in August marked the completion of our first year living here on the farm. The past year has been one of discovery, of falling in love with this place, and feeling wonder at our fortune in getting to live here.
The past few weeks have been full of visitors and preparing for a gathering of family and friends, held this past weekend. It was Incredibly fun to see so many of the people we love and enjoy spending time with. Seems we got pranked at the end of the night, with someone tipping over the portapotty (gross) and the same pranksters, we assume, dropping off an unwanted rooster under cover of night. It was a surreal experience finding this rooster perched on the edge of the beer keg out in the woodshed. At first I thought someone had left us a stuffed chicken toy, until it blinked.
The rooster spent his first night locked in our old privy at the back of the woodshed so we've named him Mr. Perkins, from an old Bert & I skit as told by our friends, which includes the line, "It's your privy, Mr. Perkins".
We're not sure if we're going to keep him but even if we do, we'd need to keep him separate from the hens for a few weeks in case he's carrying any illnesses. So for now he's free-ranging around the property, admiring the girls from the other side of the electric fence, and helping out by eating bugs around the yard. In the next few weeks we plan to expand the chicken coop so that there's room for more than our current 10 layers. By the time we finish, hopefully we'll know whether we're keeping Mr. Perkins.
Stay cool out there and enjoy these last weeks of summer.