Turning up the heat...

...and then turning it up again. Yesterday was fairly oven-like but today when the outside thermometers (we have 3) competed for the highest score and the one on the mini weather station won at 52C things have really got out of hand.

It is very possible "real" farmers would laugh at us, but when all the troughs are within walking distance - or, in this heat, staggering distance - why not do what you can to make life more bearable for the critters? We emptied all the ice in the freezer into the troughs to make them drinkable. The ice was gone in less time than it takes to say "My eyes are melting", but it did lower the water temperature by several degrees.

It was enough to keep the fish alive, certainly. There are several goldfish and some brownfish (goldfish that haven't... well.. turned gold) in the troughs eating all the mosquito larvae and trying not to be kookaburra food. That is what they are there for. Eating the mozzies that is, not being bird dinners. We never feed the fish. They thrive quite happily on all the innocent young of various bugs and flying creatures that lay their eggs in the troughs and would otherwise spread disease, bite everything that values it's skin and be a general nuisance.

More of the same is forecast for tomorrow, Total Fire Bans, heat, mozzies and sun. The freezer has been stocked with heavy-duty ice cubes freezing in an assortment of plastic cups, lunchboxes and bowls. They should last a little longer in the troughs. Elrond the blind sheep has learnt to lick the ice like a popsicle so he can play with these floating mini-icebergs and hopefully feel a little less stressed.