Mom woke me up today when she called, which was good, because I stayed up. Managed to talk to Henry, do all the morning chores, change sprinklers, and fix lunch for everyone. Mom stopped by to have lunch with us, then went off for cleaning & etc. As Henry was busy with Jules, me and Mer went to Laurance Lake to cool off... It was about 95 I think today in the shade of the porch. The lake was "busy" -- as in, there were other people visible. We floated around but the wind kept coming up and pushing us north. And funny thing how you're hot enough to jump into a pool of ice water when you're at home, and then suddenly you're perfectly cool just with your feet in the water once you arrive at your destination. Mer and I gave up on actually swimming without the floaties.

The chicks were hot again. It's kind of disturbing really to watch them. They all plop down and pant, and about every two minutes one of them poos, which you know, you can hear... I don't know if I could handle raising chickens.

The hummingbirds face off at the feeders on the porch. One bossy hummingbird will have established his perch at one feeder, and if another bird comes he'll hover on over and they'll stand off like cowboys in westerns. The newcomer inevitably backs down first, and sometimes they seem to do a little air gymnastic circle around each other before flying off. Each feeder has three perches, hypothetically seating 6 hummingbirds total. But I doubt two hummingbirds can eat in those close quarters without feeling the need to chase each other.

Merrie and I have agreed to spend as much time as possible out of the house.