brief update

J & A's wedding came off very smoothly. It was lovely, well attended, and fun. They were really laid-back about the whole process, which makes everything better, and they are now off on a honeymoon. Our "not-technically-family reunion" had lower numbers than in past years, but was good fun, nevertheless.

I am so tired (from exertion--decorating/undecorating the wedding, the reunion,attending the fair,etc., stress and getting up at 3:00 am this morning to take MFG to where he met his car-pool ride for work) that I am doing very slow, but reasonably steady trudging along on getting the house, vehicles and routines back into some semblance of order. Today is the day that LargeCousin's mom gets to take the largekins to the fair while I take SmallDaughter to therapy. They had their showmanship contest today. I think they will do fairly well, considering this is their first year.

However, the heat has been brutal this year, so we love any clouds that happen to pass over the fairgrounds. Since Sunday, 4 pigs, 8 chickens and a steer have died from heat related problems. Thankfully, none of ours. It seems to me that the laying hens and dual purpose (meat & egg) birds are much hardier than the "just for meat" birds--which are really suffering. They are so big they can't move around much, and just look miserable.

My largekins had "barn duty" yesterday afternoon (every exibitor has to sign up to help clean the barn). They did a good job, but they really enjoyed getting to check for eggs. Our hens still aren't laying, but they could start anytime.