It’s been Hot and the Flies have Arrived

 

This past week the temps up here at 7,000ft have been in the upper 80’s and low 90’s. Thankfully that’s without any humidity, but without an A/C, we just keep all the blinds drawn, and the windows open for the breezes to blow through and to keep the blazing sun out.

It’s not too bad in the house, but the horses only have a few trees to stand under to get some shade, or they have the barn to go into to get out of the sun. But inside the barn is where the biting flies hang out during the day.

So the horses choose to stand under the trees for shade or just stand out in the sun and sweat it out, swishing their tails every so often to chase the flies away.

It sure is dry here, too. We could use some good rain. We’ve had a few sprinkles since last summer, but nothing to really soak the earth and help things grow. The grass has given up and anything still standing is dry, crunchy and parched. Dust clouds fly up with every step the horses take.

Bella: “What was that noise?”

Apache: “I don’t know. Where’d it come from?”

We are waiting desperately for our summer monsoons, which usually arrive in late July and stick around through August. When the monsoons arrive we can expect deeply soaking rain every afternoon for a half hour to an hour at least. Last year was not so good for the monsoons and we were only given a few deeply ground drenching rains.

Bella: “I don’t know what it was. I’m too hot to care. Let’s go up to the barn and check for some hay crumbs.”

Apache: “No. The biting black monsters are in the barn. Let’s stand here!”

I hope the refreshing, cleansing rains will come this summer. Everything will cool off and the earth will smell clean with the scents of sage, juniper, and pinon. I won’t be able to take deep enough breathes after a New Mexico Summertime Rain.

Bella: “Uh, ok, standing here underneath the blasting midday sun sounds good, too………do you have anything to eat?”