You could not pay me enough to get out of the tractor in the fields I’m cleaning this week. These fields are in the river bottom and are recently reclaimed timber land. The young timber sprouts and weeds are taking over and it’s an uphill battle trying to get grass to grow. Now that the ground is good and dry, I can get in there with the brush hog, clean up the weeds/saplings, and hopefully give the grass a chance to grow where it has been shaded out.
Can you spot the snake in the above photo? We have plenty of snakes in the state. Well, really it’s only half a snake. I’m not sure what happened to the head, and that’s why there’s not a close up photo. I wasn’t stepping foot out. I counted 6 of these during the day, some pretty large. And that’s only the ones I saw. Who knows how many escaped without being seen!
The weeds and saplings are literally half way up the cab of the 4-wheeldrive tractor. Not exactly a place ya want to get stranded. Imagine all the water used that could be going toward growing grass…
Snakes are not my only battle this week. Yesterday’s heat index was 115* at 6 p.m. Today is supposed to surpass 120*. Literally boiling down here. The tractor is having trouble staying cool in the heat. This is as low as the gauge would go all day, there were a few times I had to stop and let er cool down. I think my Deere is trying to tell me it’s just too hot to be working out here.
The cows are affected by heat stress as well. Most of em spend their days in ponds and creeks. Guess I spooked these cows from their day at the spa.
With the entire state of Arkansas under a “Heat Warning” this week and records being set daily, I really don’t see a break in the action. Here’s to a hot August and an even hotter tractor ride if this a/c gives out on me!
