Summer With The Menagerie

How are you all faring in this heat - well those of you who live in Australia that is?  It's predicted to top 45 degrees Celsius here today (that's 113 degrees Fahrenheit for those who haven't converted to metric).  We've had more than a week of very hot days here and caring for the residents of Spring Rock is very time consuming I can tell you.  I spend most hot days catering to the various needs of the menagerie, trying to keep them as comfortable as possible.  

I have draped 90% shade cloth over the aviary for Hedwig and Hermes.  They are also kept cool with a honey bucket filled with frozen water, once the ice melts I swap it out for another bucket  (these mini buckets take up a good deal of room in the freezer).  At first Hedwig objected to me putting the little bucket up where she and Hermes perch and threatened to knock it onto the cage floor, just to show me she wasn't in favour of anything new in her aviary.  She made her objections felt rather loudly until she moved in to throw the bucket off her feed bin where she was sitting.  It didn't take long for her to realise just how good it felt to cuddle up to a bucket of ice.  I could see her debating which course to follow - continue to object because this was something new in the aviary and Hedwig is decidedly anti new things, or accept the ice bucket and enjoy the coolness.  She now makes room for the buckets when I change them over.

Hedwig and Hermes enjoying munching on a stalk of mint in the shade provided by the shadecloth.

Brown snakes are also a consideration in summer on Spring Rock - not that I provide relief from the heat for them of course.  Graeme has found them drinking water out of our fish pond, up in the chook yard and, much more commonly, in the aviary.  All but two of our dams are dry and most of the dams in the district are also dry so finding water at snake level is getting to be a challenge for the snakes in the area.  The water is in a trough on the ground in the aviary because we have Snowball and Cinders, two silky roosters, in residence there as well as the galahs.  There are also a few mouse holes leading into the aviary - despite our efforts to get rid of them - which also attract the snakes who don't mind finding a snack as well as a drink when they visit.  Thankfully the visiting snakes have never shown any interest in the roosters, who assume the characteristics of fluffy statues while the snake moves around the aviary floor.  Galahs have a special "There's A Snake!!  There's A Snake!!" warning screech they use for no other purpose, so we always know when one visits.  Graeme puts on his heavy duty gum boots, grabs our snake deterrer and goes into battle.  So far this year we've had five snakes visit the aviary, two visit the fish pond and one up near the chook yard. It keeps me on my toes when I'm out and about tending to hot members of the outside animal population.

I've always admired the self sufficiency or my four gold fish.  They go about their days requiring very little attention and keeping the pond mosquito wriggler free, but in this heat the fish pond needs constant topping up with precious tank water.  We placed the pond in the shade of a Kurrajong tree and added a spreading waterlily plant but, unless the snakes are drinking an awful lot of water, evaporation is still causing the pond water level to dip dramatically on a daily basis.  The four resident fish look a bit panicked if I don't keep the water topped up and the pump spaying oxygenated water back into the pond each day.

Venus, now a fully integrated member of the menagerie, needs to be brought inside over and over again.   She's one of those cats that believe the other side of a closed door is the best place to be, so I keep having to check that she's inside and if she's not I call her in to enjoy the air cooler.  The other three cats are self caring and find the coolest spot that isn't in the kitchen, which is usually inhabited by the puppies.  As the cats all feel these cooler spots around the house are on the floor somewhere I have to be careful not to step on a recumbent cat as I go about my daily chores.

 Venus lying so there is maximum tummy exposure to the cool air coming out of our air cooler duct.

 Nefertiti thinking, "It's far too hot.  Mum needs to turn down the sun."

Tristan, who has become an old, dignified man, lying within range of the cool air but not too close to Venus.

Another favourite spot for Venus is on my computer desk batting at my hand as I move the mouse around when using the computer - slows me down a bit, I can tell you.

The chooks and drakes have the best spot on the farm on hot days, but I need to keep the water up to them and try to convince them all that under the big pine tree is cooler than out and about in the yard.  If I let them out they'd all go and scratch around and most likely give themselves heat stroke.  So I listen to their complaints but keep the gate firmly shut.

The puppies of course are inside - sporting their new bibs and lying on the kitchen floor under an air cooler duct.  Aslan, in an effort to gain maximum coolness lies on the tiles with his tongue lolling out soaking up the cool.  Cleo is usually found in a very unladylike pose on her back with all four legs splayed wide allowing maximum tummy exposure to the cool air.  Both puppies manage to take up most of the kitchen floor and navigating between the refrigerator and kitchen sink is always fraught with danger.  Asking one or other of them to move out of the way is often counterproductive.  Cleo will roll over when asked, but she keeps her legs out straight and often manages to collect my legs on the way.  If I'm not near the kitchen counter or close enough to some other well grounded object I'm likely to be felled like a tree that's just met a chainsaw.  If I land on Cleo things get even more fraught.  As I've mentioned before, Cleo believes her head should always be at a lower level than mine so if I fall to the floor she is galvanised into action to get her head under mine.  This is somewhat counterproductive to my getting up off the floor.  

Aslan and Cleo enjoying the air cooler duct directly above Cleo's head.

Aslan is inclined to wander over at times like this and, in typical Saint Bernard fashion, offer to help.  These offers are accompanied by long strings of drool as he puts his face up close to mine to see if there is anything he can do in this situation.  There isn't, but he always asks.

The ferrets haven't been outside in weeks.  It's either a case of too hot or too much smoke from the various catastrophic bushfires raging through the east coast of Australia - or both.  The ferrets have their four tiered palace in the family room, filled with hammocks, tunnels, lots of water and food and towelling sleeping bags these days so inside in the cage isn't as bad as it sounds.  They also get to socialise with the puppies and with me when I'm in the kitchen so life is interesting enough for them.   

Freya and Eris in their ferret palace.

Thankfully I don't have to make cooling down provisions for Edna The Echidna who has visited my garden four times that we know of.  Cleo objects strongly and barks her head off until I go outside and lock her and Aslan up so the poor little spiky creature doesn't get a migraine.  I have been wondering why she keeps coming back to my yard - it couldn't be just to destroy another area of my garden surely?  Two days ago I discovered that she's building a burrow along our house yard back fence.  Graeme has fortified it against the puppies, but that won't stop Cleo barking if she notices Edna is at home.  I can see many disturbed nights while Edna is in residence.  She has chosen a spot right near where large black ants gather around the Kurrajong tree collecting sap so she's well provided with food.  Hopefully she will raise lots of little puggles in her burrow.  I now count her as part of the menagerie, despite Graeme's objections. 

Edna's new home along my garden's back fence.  It's a work in progress at the moment but she's working away diligently and is should be finished soon.

So, that's how I spend my summer days.  Most of the menagerie seem to hold me responsible for whatever type of weather we are having.  None of them like the heat and as it's my fault it's so hot, it is obviously up to me to see to each and every pet's needs cooling down wise.  No wonder I feel exhausted at the end of a summer's day.