This past Thursday, Boston was under a heat advisory. It was muggy and temps reached into the 90s. It was sweltering, and yet in September, you know it won’t last, and so the heat feels like a bit of a last hurrah. It was miserable, and yet even the animals seemed to tolerate it better than the oven that was midsummer.

Tomatoes (finally touched by blight) kept the hens refreshed.

Instead of staying cool in the shade, they brazenly took dust baths in the sun. (I love this photo – old Twinkydink and young Owly are companionably sharing the prime space.)

Phoebe stayed comfortable stretched out on the concrete floor of the coop.

I gave the goats an armful of water celery. It’s in bloom, but it remains crisp. The aroma is sharp and herbal, quite bracing and cooling.

The Beast and her minions were delighted with the heat. They continue to be fed through the fall, but I keep an eye on the pond temperature. When it gets below 60 degrees F, I switch to an easy to digest feed. Below 50 and I stop feeding altogether. Over the winter, the fish slowly swim in the deep, near the rock, their bellies empty. But for now, they eat with gusto. The heron has not been by, as can be seen by the quantity of gold flashing in the water. This has been a very good year for the Beast.

But, last night, we slept with the windows open and blankets on the bed. The air is crisp. We’re going apple picking.

Twiggy has been laying steadily for weeks, and the blue egg girls, Owly and Beatrix, have each, the last two weeks, been contributing eggs to the basket. Nancy Drew has started to lay lay small brown eggs, but I don’t always find them. I fear that she’s reaching around and eating her eggs as she lays them. But that’s another story that I’ll tell when I have all of the facts. Veronica is a Cuckoo Marans, a slow to mature breed. She’s plump and active but shows no interest whatsoever in the nesting boxes.

Misty, like Veronica, has shown no interest in laying, but all of a sudden, in the past few days, she looks so different, that I checked the calendar. She (and all of the Literary Ladies) have just reached 24 weeks of age. That’s egg laying age. Misty is a Blue Andalusian, a breed that lays white eggs. How do you know? Look at the color of her earlobes! Iridescent pearly white.

And her comb! In the past week it’s grown so huge that it’s flopped over. It rivals Twiggy’s for fashion drama.

Misty looks beautiful standing on the stump.

But I think she’d be more beautiful in the nesting boxes.

Just to the outside of the Little Barn pen are flower pots and ferns. There is also one very welcome resident. Do you see it?

During the day, this toad rests in a depression in the cool earth. At night it comes out to eat. Now that the HenCam broadcasts in the dark, many of you have seen it hopping in the chicken run after the ladies have gone to bed.

According to this site, 88% of the toad’s diet are invertebrates that are classified as agricultural pests, including slugs and wasps. Good toad!

Although wild animals often have short lives, and this amphibian is no exception, a toad can live a long, long time, up to 40 years. The hefty toad in residence near the barn is obviously well-fed and mature. I hope to see it’s handsome face for years to come.