Well, let’s see, what is there to update…
We had another heifer born a month later, to the Long Horn cow.
And then another born to the other Piney Hill on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend.
The same weekend Sister and family moved back to town, off of the ranch 
It’s been a VERY _VERY_ *VERY* hot and dry summer. It’s been the worst I’ve seen since we moved out to this state 10 years ago. The grass is yellow and crunchy, the heat has been miserable, it’s very sad. We’ve had to take to buying hay from other farmers for the livestock already – and that is NOT a good thing. We need to be stocking up for the winter, not buying hay in the summer.
Otherwise, all of the animals seem to be doing well.
My garden, ravaged by bugs this year, is on a bit of a hiatus. There are still some things growing, some well, some struggling, but I have yet to plant anything for Fall. It’s very sad. But unfortunately a cross of bad headaches and a mess out there have prevented me from moving forward on things. I’m thinking that I really need a greenhouse for the plants that the chickens will eat. The other vegetables the chickens will do well to eat the bugs off of, so that they can survive, even thrive (both chickens and vegetables, I suppose).
We took 1 of the bulls and 1 of the year-old heifers (longhorn), as well as 4 sheep to the butcher and filled up everyone’s freezers for now. This is all good, well a little bit sad, but mostly it’s good.
I’ve finally gotten back into the swing with knitting. I’m afraid I may have lost my ‘mojo’ because of my vision I figured out that it’s very difficult for me to focus back and forth from up-close things, like knitting, to peoples faces or the t.v. or anything else. And then I realized that the up-close items are kind of blurry. So I tried _his_ reading glasses, hung on the tip of my nose, looking over them for things that aren’t up-close, and voila! I can see much better! After this discovery, on a whim, on my birthday, I popped into a local optometrist and found they had a no show and he saw me right then and there. He said it’s an age thing – and that I only need 1.0 reading glasses at this point. Yay. Me. Not. Getting older SUCKS!
I purchased myself some reading glasses of my own and I have been knitting MUCH more ever since. My bestest-knitting-friend-ever (seriously!) sent me a gift certificate for “Elann”:http://www.elann.com and we’ve both purchased the yarn and are knitting along together (from afar) the “Metro”:http://www.twistcollective.com/collection/index.php/component/content/article/83-fall-2010-patterns/712-cynthia sweater from “Twist Collective.”:http://www.twistcollective.com Loving it!
I may knit a whole sweater in less than a month! And the weather is still hot! Go figure!
I did take a break from my sweater this past weekend to knit a dishcloth, a hat and a scarf for wedding gifts. The _Outlaws_ had a 50th anniversary celebration where they renewed their vows. It was nice. I finally was able to meet Lisa, their daughter, who is now officially initiated in as extended family 
Anyhoo, I’m back.