Heat Wave=Hot Sheep

Maya and her lamb 

We're having a heat wave in Maine...first one since 1999 apparently (although all summer it felt as though we were having one in my opinion). The sheep are uncomfortable and panting up a storm, and I've kept a small fan going in their barn to provide some sort of artificial breeze for them. Keeping them hydrated with cool, fresh water and leaving one barn door closed to provide more shade is about all I can do - hoping they can regulate their body temperatures and get through today and tomorrow. If we make five days in a row over 90 degrees, it would be the first time since 1993 (when I did not have sheep).  I worry about them in this heat; hard to imagine that there will be days ahead when I keep them in the barn because it's below zero. Maine weather. They say if you don't like it to wait a minute.
With the exception of Bob in 1991, we have not had a big hurricane really hit Maine since 1978, and so everyone is watching Earl pretty closely as it heads up the coast. With the water temperature so warm this summer, the potential for the storm to slide right up into Maine is pretty good according to some weather watchers, so we'll just have to wait and see what Mother Nature has in store. I remember walking with my Dad during the hurricane in '78. He tied a big rope around his waist and then around me and off we went to walk along Goose Rocks Beach. The ocean was almost a reddish color, I remember - churning, not really waves. It was wild, and I remember feeling so excited to be doing something so dangerous...walking in a hurricane.  I loved it, and it's a memory that comes back to me often and always brings with it the same feelings of nostalgia and adventure.