As with the majority of the country, we have not been able to escape the heat here in Riverton. It makes watering the fields a bit more challenging. I think the water just soaks right in to the soil. We have only had about a half day of rain. But the grass is growing. Below are two photos from the same spot in the fields.

A little over a month later…

Brad and Joanne did come back to Riverton to cut the grass hay, and had a record number of bales. Not only did they fill up their hay barn, but they have an “overflow” area. The horses will be well fed this winter.

At the beginning of June, I bought two tomato plants (Early Girl variety) and planted them in large containers. They had been growing well, with many blossoms on the plants. They were getting a bit stressed with the hot weather, so I had been watering them twice a day.

Unfortunately, one morning I went to water my plants and noticed there was a bite taken out of every single tomato on both plants!

As we were walking out in the fields later that morning, we think we discovered the “tomato snatchers!”

I left the plants out, and by the next morning, the half eaten tomatoes were all gone.

There are all sorts of birds around the property. One that we have to watch out for are the Killdeer birds. They are decreasing in population, which is not surprising since they lay their eggs on ground in gravel. Since the driveway is gravel, we have to be on the lookout for nests. The telltale sign is they really start squawking and ruffle their feathers when you get near their nest. I was able to find two nests, thanks to their ear piercing squawking! I blocked off their nest areas, so we would not accidentally run them over. I was cutting the grass when I realized there was a nest nearby. Here is my bird sanctuary blockade!

This is the nest inside this safe space. There are four speckled eggs right in the middle.

We discovered another nest right near an area that we drive the ATV on. Again, if it wasn’t for the squawking, we would not have noticed it.

Here’s the nest for this one. It had two eggs.

I’m happy to report that all the birds have hatched. The nest with two eggs, actually had 4 birds, so there must have been 2 eggs somewhere else in the area that I blocked off. We were unable to get pictures of the baby birds. The parents were not happy that we were around, so we just left them alone. After two days, they started flying around, and left the area of their nests.

Speaking of birds, we were eating dinner and we noticed something odd walking around our RV. It looked like a chicken with a long tail. I took some photos out the window, and sent them to Brad. He replied it’s a pheasant chicken. I have seen pheasants, and I have seen chickens, but not a combo. We didn’t have any idea there was such a thing!

My photo is not the best as it was taken out the RV window. The pheasant chickens went on to have babies, and now there are about eight little ones roaming around. I have been trying to get pictures, but they are very elusive.

And speaking of oddities, there are lots of pickup trucks in Wyoming. But I did a triple take when we were at the grocery store in town, and I saw a Tesla Cybertruck. I was not expecting to see one of these here in Wyoming. It had Wyoming plates, so it was not just someone passing through the area. It is very “unique” looking. If you look closely, there is one giant windshield wiper on the front window. I don’t think the local WarMart will have a replacement blade! I’m not sure how this will do in the winter.

Even though it’s mid-September, we are still having temperatures in the upper 80’s here in Riverton. Hard to believe the season will be winding down soon. The company that regulates the water canal will be shutting off access to the water at the end of the month. At that point, we will begin flushing out the pipes, taking them apart and storing them for the winter. We hope everyone is doing well and staying safe from all this crazy weather.

Quote for the day:

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – Les Brown