Hornet hazard

Past few weeks have been quite calm and relaxing, we enjoyed the temperatures going down, but they didn't really go down a lot, it was still summer weather and too hot for us to continue digging at the project. The drought has been destroying the countries crops and flowers whole summer, and we only had a few drops f rain in a few weeks. Not enough to even consider the plants being watered. With all this heat and no rain, the hornets and wasps became dangerous. There were warnings in the news how it could be leathal if one stung a person in their lips or tongue, even if they weren't allergic.

Hornets

Maja got really scared of them this year, since we have so many fruit trees, which is where they start to feed once fruits are ripe. All of the sudden there were so many of them everywhere. Problem with hornets is, if they want to attack you, they will and if you try and get rid of them and you fail, they will gather their troops and come at you in huge numbers. They started attacking the bees and bumblebees, killing so many tiny insects also, horrible. So we built traps, plastic bottles with sugar water. They work! A day after we planted those traps and caught many in them, the bumble bees and other furry cute insects returned to gather pollen safely. We could never hurt animals, but these hornets really multiplied and present a real danger for both Maja and me. Their poison is so extreme since it's so hot, we could die from being stung by one. And that, that is just not something we want to play with. So traps it is, sadly.

We have our allergy testing on monday, which we are a little nervous about. Hopefully we will find out what I am allergic to, or atleast what I am not allergic too, since my problems need to be sorted, my poor ears every year suffer due to something. We will update with the results ofcourse hihi.

Heat record has been broken!

Slovenia has managed to break the 1950's record of 40,6 celsium. It was measured 40,8 today. Almost all cities were above 40 degrees and lets just say it like this, everyone knows one is not to put air conditioning in the car more or less then 8 degrees diffirence, but air conditioning doesn't go above 25 degrees haha. Icecreams melt really fast, everyone is feeling really unwell and me...well I am not warm while we are the vineyards at all, I swim and bathe and enjoy the water. So I am really grateful to my owner for bringing me up every evening so I can run and cool of.

Maja and I had fun today, we were driven up by a friend and once we got up there it was 40 celsium outside so we hid inside a bit, but I was so excited to swim that I barked at Maja's mom to take me to the water haha and then Maja and I went down to the garden, where it is shade and windy. So much fun down there, I am all wet and all I want to do is play wih apples that have fallen from the neighbours tree, those that I haven't eaten yet haha. The neighbour is really old and doesn't manage to cut the grass and trees in his orchard anymore, so the border with us is very weedy and wild trees have created a green curtain, which is perfect for our plants, those which we planted in the shade.

At the border, under the entrance pergola in the shade

"Shade" under our only flat peach hihi

40 degrees and bumblebees are still working hard, cuties

The damage from sun in the project, poor plants

Maja's favorite rose of them all

The scorching sun has done a lot of damage, the ground is so extremely dry that even with us watering the project everyday, we cannot prevent the drying of some plants, so far none had died yet but, it's bad. Tomorrow is supposed to be "judgement day", the weather will be extreme, hale, rain and winds are supposed to do a lot of damage, but cool the air as they pass us. So we are going up and protecting as much as we can. Atleast the heatwave is over. We made it thru the hottest day in the history of temperature measument of our country and we had fun. It's weird when it gets dark and the temperatures drop to 30 celsium and we think it's nice and cool haha. Emma and Tara don't even go outside during the day, mornings and evenings only, poor girls. Never in Maja's history has she ever seen that young trees needed to be watered, but this year, the heat took it's toll. But the tree that Mags planted when the previous doggy was alive, the pear which was his first tree, and will always remain his pear tree, is loving this watering and warmth.

Mags' first planted tree in May 2008

Third heatwave...

...and this time, slovenian towns are breaking their records. 5 records have already been raised from the early 1950s when the country was in such extreme heat waves as we are now. We almost broke the countrys 40,6 degrees celsium record but only managed to get to 40,3. That is all good and fun, apart from, the temperatures are so extreme we cannot breathe properly due to high levels of ozone in the air. Tonight as we are typing this it is only 23 degrees, making it a bit easier to exsist. Sleeping however is very problematic. They say thursday will be the hottest day of them all so far. It is announced to be 39 degrees, which makes it really easy to go over 40 degrees in a few hours. Days are pretty borring, we are hiding inside untill evening due to the health warnings from the goverment. So what do we do you might ask.

Our days look like this, we sleep if we can, then rest, then curse at the temperatures, then drink a lot, then at around 5pm, when the temperatures are supposed to go down, we order a cab and go to our project. Where we hide inside untill 7 pm and then go water the garden. Once its 8:30 pm we walk down to get home before it's dark. Then we finally eat something, before it's just too hot to even consider it. And begging for food is out of the question since humans in this heat only eat fruits and such. Maja makes me this cool dinners with probiotic yogurt, that was in the fridge, making it amazingly refreshing after such a day. I love yogurt. And then we wash me and we start the night with a fan turned on to the fullest haha. Not much happening.

The protective tent we built was amazing, untill the firday storms came which destroyed so many things, they bypassed us luckily, but towns in this country were damaged by hale and the crop fields...there is no more crop anymore. We only got extreme winds, hurricane winds!

We went outside and the entired town became white from the dust, we couldn't see 50 meters ahead and things were flying around. Parasol stands slamming down into the ground. Bags, trash and resturant signs falling and flying everywhere. While waiting fot the taxi we had to walk forward to stand still. Trees were falling and once we got up to the vineyards, even more crazy winds. Me, I am an adrenaline addict hehe, I loved it! Flower pots falling and trees bending down, I loved it. So much fun! All I wanted to do was play in the wind hehe.

But luckily not many of our plants got detroyed. A few sunflowers were bent to the ground, but surprisingly none broken or unrooted. We are protected by the forest down there, but seing those huge 30 meter trees getting blown with such force that they bend to the neighbour tree, that was scary.

It is august already and we are still waiting for a drop of rain after a really long - too long - dry season. We really need rain. The rest of the crops in this country, which wasn't destroyed by the hale is now dying due to scorch and drought. But we have a smaller garden to take care of and we flood it with water every evening. So our grass is green, but some flowers are dying due to the overheating. They say this friday the temperatures are supposed to fall for about 10 degrees and if it stays under 30, we are happy! All I do is throw myself into any water I can find and be wet as long as possible. Yesterday I had the medical shampoo bath and today, I managed to stay clean for 10 minutes before getting all wet and dirty once outside haha. Was to be expected my owner says hihi.

But some parts of our project is happy with this heat, our sunflower road is just breathtaking. The birds will have so much food this winter and our bumblebee, well they are not in any danger of being exstinct in our garden hehe.

Sunflower road

Our wild bumblebees yay

Rare moment of complete calmness

Too hot to play!

Apples....better then tennis balls!

Even fetching a stick in this heat is hard hehe.

But the animal kingdom is alive in this heat, hiding in shades and comming out at night. We were walking home the other night and we got stopped by one of the neighbours, who joked he had a new domestic animal. We wondered where the puppy or the kitten was. And he said it will come around the car any moment. And there she was. A peacock! A cute, huge, tail-less peacock girl was walking around and eating the bread he gave her. I never saw a bird that huge before, I wanted to get to it, to sniff it and to see what it was, but there was a gate. Even when I barked at her, she didn't run or move. I was told not to bark so I just observed. She was pretty! Never saw a peacock before in my life and apperently it belongs to one of the neighbours from far ahead the road haha, she just came thru the forest for a visit. We snapped a picture but it was almost dark and the flash didn't really reach her, but you'll get the idea of how big she was.

Bad picture of a really pretty peacock

But today, today I made my owner really proud of me. We were walking home, thru the forest and down the long road where pup Timi lives. And I am always off leash there, my owners clip me once we get down that road since two way traffic starts. But right below Timi's house I saw something. Maja didn't notice it until I ran after it. When she ran to me and got close, she saw it was a bird. Keep in mind I was bred to hunt birds, well my breed was, so it wouldn't be weird if I had grabbed the bird and killed it, but me being me...I ran close to her, she wasn't able to fly for some reason, might have been to young or hurt. I pressed my nose respectfully to her beak and she sang to me. Maja ran to us and I stepped back from the bird when she said to leave her alone. She was pretty, when she spoke her "mouth" became pink and huge! I was curious and playful but I didn't make her panicky. She turned around and ran away. While I watched! She sounded like my toys and I could have easily attacked her, most dogs would, you can't blame us for it, but me, I actually listened to my owner when she said in a calm voice "leave the bird to be". The fact Maja using the word "bird" could have been a trigger, since I really get annoyed by them some times when they are provoking me with their flying hehe. But no, I watched the cute toy like bird run away from me, I hope she is okay, but my owner, she was proud. I wouldn't harm anyone, and I proved it today and to my owner that means everything. She can now trust me even more with diffirent creatures in the nature. Don't get me wrong, I will still run after them and chase them if I see them, but hurt or kill. No. Which makes me really safe around other pets and creatures. Maja kept telling me she was proud and how loved I was, but me..hehe I was too focused on the pee dogs left before me to stop for those kisses. Untill we came to the crosswalk, there I sit and smooch my owner hihi.

And now, Liza is sleeping next to my face and she is enjoying the warmth while I hate this heat, hehe crazy cats! All I want is normal temperatures and the grass in the park to stop being brown and dry from the sun. Though sometimes I get icecream bits from my owner and that makes it worth having sunny days hehe.

We also celebrated a new edition to the family, a baby boy born to Mags sister, I haven't met him yet but I bet I will want to give him a kiss when I do. I am very good around babies, I always respect the baby strollers and when I am around them I never jump or disturb them. I was the only dog that Lucy (the black cocker spaniel from the park) allowed to be close to the stroller when her owners daughter was born, Lucy would let me even sleep next to it. Other dogs she chased off and barked at them, protecting the baby, but me, being such a loveball as I am, I never seemed like a threat, which I am not once you get to know me hehe. Such a lovely week! A babyboy, a peacock and a bird!