We’re Having A Heat Wave and it Sucks.

Like all of the Southwestern US and most of Europe, my little ranchito in Chatsworth is baking hot right now. It went from it being Chamber of Commerce weather, slightly overcast and 71 degrees, to sizzling sun and 105 degrees overnight. I am not exaggerating. I wish I was.

But, and this is  just one of the many, many reasons, I am grateful that I live in Los Angeles and not Phoenix, it does cool off at night. Usually summer evenings temperatures drop to a delightful 65 to 68. This gives us all a chance to recover from the daytime sizzles.

That’s not happening much right now. It gets cooler, but only to the mid to high 70s.
It isn’t much, but I’ll take it.

Obviously, this nasty heat has changed my life. I suddenly feel deep kinship with vampires. I try to do everything very early in the morning or after the sun goes down. If I can avoid the sun, I do.

But because I have far too many animals, that isn’t entirely possible.

Keeping them comfortable takes a lot of time and creates a fair amount of anxiety. I worry about the dogs, the cat, the horses and even the Mourning Dove that is currently on her THIRD nest of the season on a beam over my patio.

Sigh.

I have three Great Danes. Danes are gorgeous, sweet and delightfully loyal. They aren’t, however, always smart. For instance, they tend sunbathe when it’s far too hot to do so.

Pen, the Dane puppy is not only completely black, but she is a Velcro dog. Where I go, she goes. Even when it is steaming hot outside.

Thankfully, I’ve discovered that her adoration does have its limits. It is when the thermometer hits 98 degrees. She still goes out with me every time I do barn chores, but by the time I’ve cleaned the first stall (and during the summer I muck out three times a day so we are talking about five minutes) Pen has disappeared. She dives through the dog door that was designed for a miniature Schnauzer like her tail is on fire. It just may feel that way to her.

Jasper is also a fan of the sun. and loves his pool. He spends a fair amount of time soaking in it, looking like a spotted alligator. When he has had enough, he runs to the patio where he stands around looking pathetic until I come over and open the door for him.

Ruckus doesn’t even pretend to hang out with me in the heat. She stays in the house as much as possible. My bed has a permanent Ruckus dent right under the ceiling fan.

So I’m not too concerned about the dogs. Or even Tilly the cat. She hasn’t even gone out to her catio for over a week.

In contrast, I’m constantly worried about the horses. Lucy is in her late 20s and Talen is in his late teens. He also has cancer. Both of them tend to colic when there are dramatic weather changes. Or when it is hot for extended periods of time.

Like now.

You know that old saying, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink?” It’s true.

But since hydration does help to keep colic at bay, I do my best.

I feed the horses breakfast at 6:30. They get their supplements, including electrolytes, in a bucket of bran soaked with water and topped with carrots. I also keep water buckets in the aisle because horses don’t like hot water and the water trough is in the sun.

They also have fans that go on around 7:30am. There is an industrial standing fan for the aisle and three smaller ones hanging from the stall rafters.

Hanging them was a whole lot of fun. Not.

I hate heights and I don’t have a tall ladder. That means that rigging the fans involves a lot of wobbling and hanging on while tying stuff up and yanking zip ties tight while creative cursing.

If you don’t hear from me in the late spring or early winter, there’s a good chance I fell off a ladder in a stall. There are worse ways to go.

While the horses eat their lunch, I top off the horse trough to keep the water cool. Of course they eat in the covered aisle in front of the fans.

I hose them every day off before their dinner, which Talen resents and Lucy appreciates.  This is important because evening seems to be their witching hour for colic. One of them – they kindly take turns being sick – starts to get a tummy ache and they plop down in the paddock with their mouths twitching. They might roll if they really want to freak me out.

So I dig out some Banemine which helps for minor colic. It tastes extremely bitter, but Lucy is so good about meds that I can get it down her throat without a halter. Talen is more difficult, which is how I know what it tastes like. If I’m lucky, they are better in about an hour. If not, I call my vet.

So far this year I’ve been lucky.

If all is good, around 8:30 I go back out to take off their masks, fill the buckets and trough and turn off the fans. They get some carrots. So do the ponies next door. Call me a sucker, but they whinny plaintively when they hear my horses getting snacks.

Normally it’s a lot cooler by then, and the dogs LOVE carrots, so suddenly the Danes appear, all begging for their snack.

By midnight I can usually open the house windows, turn off the AC and put on the ceiling fans. That keeps it cool enough that we can all catch a few zzzzs before we start the whole process all over.

According to my weather app, it’s going to be miserable for at least another week. At least I don’t live in Phoenix.

P.S. I do put out water for the Mourning Doves every day.