Gone swimmin'.....

 

After a hot morning of spring henhouse cleaning, I decided a dip in the swimming hole was in order.  If you've ever cleaned a chicken coop, you know what an icky job it is -- dusty, dirty, stinky, and chokey.  I do think the chickens appreciated my mad cleaning skills.   So instead of taking a shower, I went to the swimming hole first and it was splendid!  I rode my bike up the dirt trail and guess who else was thinking about swimming? 

 The horses were all gathered on the bank trying to keep the flies away.  They were very curious about me, but they didn't decide to join me for a swim.

 For pond swimming, you must first get past the muddy bank and the squishy mud that is on the bottom of the pond.  I really don't mind it a bit, but some go swimming with tennies or those water shoes.   I don't like the extra weight of shoes when I swim.  The water was the perfect temperature!  

Refreshing, but not a bit too cold.

I did the side stroke and the back stroke.

 

This is Tex.  He needed a drink.

 

This is the *beach* where you can lie down in the sun on your beach towel or you can stand in the breeze and dry off.  I had to let my feet dry before slipping on my Birks to ride home.

By the time I got home, I was mostly dry and getting hot again.  

We reached 102 degrees today.  The hottest day of the year so far.  

At home the peonies are finally blooming (they are late) and so are the poppies.

And the straw flowers in my barrel are opening nicely too.

 The prairie roses are blooming on the bank.

 And the scarlet globemallows (they look orange to me) are blooming along our roadside.

 The sweet clover is abundant and so fragrant.  

The bees love it.

 

And lastly the alfalfa is beginning to set blooms.  The alfalfa, as well as the crested wheatgrass you see in this picture, make up the majority of our hay crop.  Big, round bales of hay are laying next to our house and out in the fields.  It smells so good!