I Hate To Complain

I know I complain a bit about the -30 and worse weather we get in winter but this overpowering August heat we have had lately is just too much. It is making winter look pretty good right now. And the relentless hordes of ravenous mosquitos that make life outside miserable are just about the last straw. On the positive side, I hear that only a few of them carry the West Nile Virus!
I probably should not have done it but I shoveled out two bins of wheat yesterday in the 30 something (near 90) degree heat. I usually try to pick my jobs according to the conditions but this time it did not work out. Anyway, the grain is moved and I survived without heat stroke.
It must be the summer of bugs. We have more wasps than I can remember. Been stung twice already and I still haven't finished vacuuming the last of the wasps out of the eaves of the house. The nest I tried to destroy on  a grain bin last week appears to be under repair by the survivors. Time for another night raid.
The aforementioned mosquitos are thriving and multiplying thanks to high rainfall and heat.
Hordes of what appear to be cabbage butterflies are everywhere. I had to stop and clean off the tractor grille this afternoon as it was nearly covered by butterflies.
Time to get the swather out of the shed too as this intense heat will really push the canola ripening. Seems like mine usually goes from not quite ready to past ready in about 24 hours or less sometimes.

I put in a little time as a "turkey vulture wrangler" on Tuesday morning when the bird tagger came out to put wing tags on the young vultures in one of the old houses on my land. They were getting pretty big, just about ready to fly. Not hard to catch or hold but they are not the most attractive wildlife to have to handle.

You can read a little more details on tagging turkey vultures in Jared Clarke's blog