It’s ok. It’s just one word. Workaround. Seems to be a word in everyone’s life as of late. Yes? It’s a good thing that we’re flexible (scoff), I mean as a people in general. Most of us, when hit with continued problems brought on by – say – a nasty pandemic, have been able to find ways to work around the issues and continue doing what we need to. What we need to for family, for work, for outreach, etc. That’s the workaround.

Thankfully, we get a great deal of experience coming up with workarounds almost everyday here on the farm. Lately it seems, our biggest workarounds come with the weather. As you know, we keep a weather eye open because in planning the day or week the weather plays huge factor. We need to know if it’s going to be windy or rainy, or just too dang hot for the projects that Sue wants to get done. Our workarounds, as far as weather consist of the following.

Too hot: I don’t know about where you live, but where we are the temps have been over 100° for many days running. We’re not as hot as Tucson or Phoenix, but when it’s 105°, that’s just too dang hot. On those days, we try to get whatever chores or projects done before 9 am. Last week, by 9 am we were in the 90°s almost every day. It was so consistently hot that our biggest project was keeping the fruit trees, gardens, roses, potted tree nursery watered enough. Sometimes we would water in the morning and by noon it looked like it’d been weeks since our plants had seen a drop. 9 seems to be the time of day that we need to get done and be back inside to re-hydrate ourselves.

Too cold: This one doesn’t come up very often around here – not at all lately. But too cold is much easier to deal with than too hot. Layers. That’s what you need on the too cold days. Oh, and to watch out for ice. That one gets me all the time. More often than not I end up on my butt. Layers work well for combating cold.

Too windy: You know I whine about the wind all the time, but the truth is – each year we get more and more used to it. Sometimes we just can’t wait for there to be no wind what so ever, so you forge ahead with whatever it is you’re doing. Sometimes you can find a sheltered place to complete the project, so you do it. Most of the time, however, we just have to switch days or even switch projects. Yesterday after we did the basic watering, we thought we could finish the roof over the chicken coop’s front porch, but the minute Sue mentioned that, the wind picked up and in about 30 minutes, was gusting over 40 mph. Whatever. So, we switched projects and went out to the little coop at the Goat Boys’ place and created natural perches for the banties that will be moving over there in the next couple of weeks. While we were over there we also measured for a couple ventilation windows. Sue will make a frame for those and we’ll put them in on another day, maybe a windy day.

Monsoon: This is really my favorite weather phenomenon to try to work around. Just because storms during the monsoon season are simply phenomenal. Monsoons can be tricky. If they are right over you, there could be a huge downpour or giant hail stones or both, all accompanied by lightning and deafening thunder. If there is lightning close by, the only option is to stay inside. Sometimes Sue has trouble with that part, she definitely more daring than I am. Most advisories say that if you hear thunder near you, you are in striking distance of lightning. So, I don’t like to chase chickens to try to get them to go in, or walk across the fields during chores until the storm has passed by a ways. “When thunder roars, go indoors.”  Do not go on the porch, do not lay down on concrete floors, do not even lean on concrete walls, stay away from windows, etc., etc. People have been struck by lightening from storms centered as far as 10 miles away.  So, when the Monsoons come, any projects just stop or go indoors. Or we watch from the house and marvel at how much rain can come in such a short time.

Those are our workarounds. Sometimes we have perfect days and we can do whatever the heck we’ve had planned. Those are great days! Postcard days. We enjoy sharing those with you, too, either her or in person. If you ever want to visit, give us some heads up and we’ll be happy to give you the dime tour.
Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!