The Heat Is ON

I hope everyone was ok with the hot weather as I was fine and like it even hotter, when you have been in the Australian Outback in the height of summer, working the UK isn’t particularly hot even during record breaking temperatures and remember it is all relative. In actual fact it isn’t because our cool springs never stopped running into our large pond which meant our electricity turbines never stopped so we had the power constantly to provide 2Kw to each village property and we did have some strange occurrences. Most of the village kids were in the pond swimming and our swans and ducks thought it was great as they were constantly splashed with cold water and the kid were cool and this was an indication of the heat when they got out of the pond and got really hot and other issues were our tarmac roads melting and hot houses.
Fear not because I also have a water bowser with a PTO powered pump which is towed by the tractor and this was pressed into service and filled with the nice cool spring water and it wasn’t in the bowser for long as we went around the village spraying the roads which cooled and solidified the tarmac and once this was achieved we sprayed all the houses to cool them and their grounds down and it worked.

Interestingly our local fire engine was drawing water from the mains and this was warm so they asked if they could draw from our lake as it was much cooler and they were dousing fields and brush areas to prevent them from overheating and igniting and one side of our road is covered in brush which was like tinder so they sprayed it with nice cold water. Meanwhile they were getting numerous reports of small fires breaking out and we suspected many of these were deliberate so we doused the woods and fields as it is harvesting time and many fields had straw laid in them and any ignition would soon see it spread and destroy lots of crops so damping was the only viable option.

Our animals thought it was great as it was too hot for anything and particularly cats and the birds took full advantage and this year’s blackbird fledglings thought it was great and one is so tame she comes up to my feet and begins gently pecking my toes to let me know she is there. We have a whole community of sparrows and despite their alleged decline we have more than ever and our blue tits have had a bumper breeding season as have the long tailed tits and we have a woodpecker come in to raid the fat balls and seeders and thy are quite tame. On the ground we have two large bowls and one is copper and the other terracotta and all the birds drink from them and may bath in them and find this is a nice way of cooling down and running onto the top lawn to get more lumps of bread and seed to eat before running back to the bowls to have a drink. We now have dragonflies coming and all the honey and bumble bees can be seen congregating on the edges of the bowls to have a drink before disappearing off and returning later to have another drink, meanwhile the honey bees congregate under our outside tap and I turn it on and let it drip and the bees are on the path, drinking.

I also own some ground which I rent out as allotments and the food bank have a double plot and they called out an SOS and said the water was shut off so it was off to the allotments with another full bowser and we lust sprayed the lot and drowned it in water so plenty would soak into the ground. As we returned to refill the plot holders ensured we could access their water butts and their numerous IPC containers which are the large plastic containers in their wire cages and when we returned they were all filled with water so they had enough for a couple of days.

We had a retired council employee make a visit and say he had gone back to help the council water vulnerable areas and asked if there was any way we could speed up the process as their pick up’s had special IPC containers on the bed and it was taking about 3 hours to return to the depot and refill their containers and back to where wanted watering so I said yes. I asked if one pick up could double stack so the empty was on top and he said yes and they did. I used the teleporter and lifting straps to lift it off the truck and after they removed the top I dunked it in the pond and empty to full in less than 1 minute, screw the lid on and lift back onto their truck and remove the lifting straps and off they go with another 2 tonnes of water to wet vulnerable areas. Meanwhile the empty was dunked and filled so it was an empty off and a full one on the next vehicles and using the teleporter meant I could use the headframe to push them under the water as they have some buoyancy when empty. John the retired council employee is a regular visitor and didn’t believe it when I sat down and one of the swans sat on my knee with her head on my shoulder and was gobsmacked when I told her to give me a kiss and she did; and he got it on video as his wife wouldn’t believe him.

With the ground wet and it being much cooler most of the village slung hammocks and slept outside and thought it was much better as it was cooler and nicer so outside sleeping the order of the day now.

Don't forget to leave water out for the animals.