Triumph . . .

Me and my 2004 Triumph Bonneville T100

No, I could not resist.  After posting the pic of me on my new bike on facebook, I could not pass up one more opportunity for people to comment on my complete and utter awesomeness.  I apologize in advance.

Bats, we got 'em . . .

Before I get a collective 'ewwwwww' from everyone, let me say that bats are not blood-sucking rodents that attack cows and people and grow up to have teenagers swooning over their washed out and pale good looks.  Those are Hollywood Bats.  What we have are what we have been hoping to  attract them into our barn all summer.  Here's the deal.

15 feet up - here batty , batty

A couple of photos of the bat house we installed that is designed to hold 50 bats or more (I know! jam-packed!) and we're reeeeaalllly hoping they take up residence.  Please, please, please.

From the Bat Conservancy website in Austin, Texas (where people gather every evening at the Congress Avenue Bridge to watch the bats), bats will eat an unbelievable amount of mosquitos, garden and farm insects every day.  A good thing around the farmette.  

Bats are NOT birds - they are little flying mammals and give live birth to one little pup a year that weighs nearly what they weigh - imagine that, moms.  Take a moment and ponder.

Cute bat : what we have

For the bug thing alone, we've been hoping for bats to take up residence in the barn and a few nights ago, we were putting some things into the old stable portion of the barn when a bat flew in, made a couple of laps around the  light, a few laps around us and off he flew!  We were so excited that we were nearly giddy!

By the way, do you have any idea how hard it is to find cute pictures of real bats?  Completely unphotogenic.

No worries - we don't have nearly this many

Trying hard not to complain . . .

The depths of the drought are worse for the farmers than they are for me but, like most people here in the rural Midwest, we've given up on beautiful grass and lush plantings for 2012.  Unless, of course, you are willing to risk a dry well and most would rather sacrifice the green for the ability to take a shower or a drink once in a while.  Easy trade.

The possibility of sounding depressed is imminent but I must share some photos of the Bowes Farmette from this 4th week of temps over 100 and no rain since mid-June.  Bear with me, please.

with rain in May

without rain - August

with rain earlier in the summer

When you hear of the drought being hard on farmers, believe it.  It's bad.  Corn is damaged beyond even silage with low to no moisture content so this doesn't just affect your plump cob of sweet corn.  It means that cattle will have little to feed on, produce fewer calves which, in turn, affects milk production.  The list goes on.  Soybeans - same.

without rain - August

Sometimes blogging is for no reason than to chronicle everyday life and this is one of those times.  We can't be pink sunshine and happy rainbow thoughts day in and day out as life has a way of intruding.  Rain.  Pray for rain.