Sunny-Day Selle Scenes

It's almost mid-August.  Bill and I noted this morning that darkness at both ends of the day suddenly seems noticeable.  Flower blooms are shrinking, flies are frustrating critters and humans, lawns are turning crispy, and pastures are drying up.  Horses have been dealing with the elements associated with a drastic change from wet days to dry, hot weather.  Before pasture, there's preparation:  Heather gets sunscreen to keep her painful alsike clover poisoning from spreading, Lefty gets anti-itch spray to protect his hide from being scratched or rubbed raw, all horses wear face masks during the day to prevent the nuisance of clingy, irritating flies.  Nothing protects them from those nasty huge horse flies. When I see a horse flying as fast as possible to the safety of a shed, I know the pests are attacking.  Still, there's plenty of beauty to behold, especially in the morning before heat takes over:  pumpkin plants spreading over the manure pile, little girls with fragrant sweet peas, pretty garden scenes. Mid-August is also sunflower time, and sunflowers always call for camera time as do many other morning scenes here in lovely Selle at the Lovestead.