Happy 4th of July!

Well, everyone here has the day off from work. Anna and I got up early to ride before it got too hot to do anything. I let Anna warm SueBee up on the ground and a little on her back. I got up after that while Anna got up on Piper and we went for a short ride. I started sticking to the saddle ..but it was all good. The horses seemed to walk fine with their new shoes on and SueBee even gave me a short jog-trot. She was tense the whole time but she managed. You would have thought I asked her to jump a 6 foot high fence! (which her daughter would love to do).
Anna left to go to a friend's cabin to sunburn on a lake and Emma went with us to Owatonna for a few things. It was hot. Heat index of 104 degrees.
After chilling (literally) for a while, I went out to check water for all the animals. We had moved the ponies back in the big bottom pasture so they could have shade. When I got down to the horse water trough there was a bird floundering in the half filled container. I hurriedly climbed over and fished out the sodden bird. Here is a picture of what I fished out;

I looked up in my Peterson guide and I believe this is a young male American Kestrel. Here is a picture of an adult , also called a Sparrow Hawk. This is the most common falcon found in the U.S. and has been used in the sport of falconry.

Emma said we've had one before in the trough. I don't remember. That's why I blog now - to remember! Anyway, I took him down to the bottom pasture, away from the cats, and found a spot to place him. He was pretty stressed, probably exhausted, and cold from being in the water so long. I don't know if he'll make it but he's better off in the pasture then stressed in my house. Wild birds are delicate and don't take stress very well. It's definitely warm out so he should dry out quickly.

While I was in the pasture I decided to go visit my horse. They look quite peaceful grazing under the trees - until they get close and you see all the mosquitoes and flies on them!

 Above me a blue jay was calling. As I walked towards the gate a baby jay fluttered in front of me and hid in the long grass. I took a quick picture of him before his parent came down on top of me. I also hurried away because the horses were following me and I didn't want them to step on this baby.

Can't see much but those white stripes! The grackles keep the jays away from the feeders by the house but that is probably protecting the jay's babies as they leave the nest. The cats are rough on fledglings. 

Back by the house, the cicadas had started singing. That is the sound of summer. It also always makes me think of Texas and Seguin. The drone of those insects is such a lovely song - just like the sound of crickets or frogs. I looked and looked for the shed exoskeletons but didn't find any. However, I did find lots of small crabapples and also (wormy) green apples.

No cicadas on the ground today but just in case you don't remember what they look like - 

Looks like it's cooling off. Temperature outside is now 87 degrees but the humidity is still fairly high. It's been in the 70's percentage. Guess I'll try to make the most of this holiday and take a nap.....