Once again I have not blogged in a while.  We have been busy with keeping livestock watered and hay cut and baled before the heat and dry conditions shrivel it to nothing.  The afternoon temperatures have been in the high nineties to the low 100's.  One day it was 109 degrees with a thiry MPH wind with humidity at 10%.  Doesn't take long for the country to look like a desert.

We sit on pins and needles hoping that nothing starts a fire.  There were at least 4 major fires in the Black Hills last week.  Also one burning by Broadus, MT that has charred 400 square miles.  Plus the Colorado fires.  We have not seen the Black Hills for over a week due to smoke.  We live only 40 miles away and can normally see Bear Butte and Terry peak every day.

Tammy took this picture from the house and is the sun at sundown.  Note all the smoke.

On an equally depressing note our haying has been going  and we are about done cutting and baling.  Many fields are yielding one bale for every two acres.  This would be about 500# of hay for one acre.  Last year many fields yielded two ton per acre and more.  Several fields that 20 acre field  have only 10 or 11 bales on the whole field.  One good thing, Tammy has been bringing noon lunch to the field and the grand kids come along.  They love to bring their Dad and grandpa "picnic".

They learn about cactus.  Not to step on any.  And that grass stubble is not good to walk bare foot on.
It was about 103 the day this picture was taken, so every one was looking for shade.

The calves and the lambs and their mothers are not faring well with this extended hot spell.  Lambs are starting to look droughty and the calves could look fresher.  Their grass is drying up and is just crumbling under their hooves when they walk.  We have to ride the pipelines every day to make sure the floats that shut water off when the tanks are full are working. Our deep well has been is pumping 24,000 to 26,000 gallons a day every day.  On July 3 I think some one moved cows and put more cows on the pipeline because it jumped to over 30,000 gallons that day.  Then the fourth was cooler and today was cooler so not as much was pumped.

Just saw some lightning so better eat supper and get ready to fight fire.  I have a fifteen gallon sprayer on the four-wheeler.  So I can get where I need to be fast, just can't go too far.