Let's Use Up Some Pictures

The hens have been very busy re-arranging my flower pots. 

Forcing me to resort to this!!!

I have forks in some pots, spoons in the others. 

They can't settle now!

That doesn't mean I am not still finding eggs in other odd 

places, I heard cackling from the sheep barn this morning, so 

will be checking in there.... and I found two in a zinnia bed yesterday. 

Here is your blogger at Island Creek Schoolhouse last week 

for class for a tour. 

It was MIGHTY warm that day, notice my unbuttoned collar.   I had 

windows and the back door open, but my dress was soaked at the end of the tours. 

I have to admit I was glad to change back into shorts and a shirt, how did they ever do it? 

I try to be there early, so it was very peaceful that morning... for a while. 

African Violets are blooming like crazy on my east-facing 

kitchen window sill.  We had actually had a tiny bit of rain the night before. 

The six Gold Comet babies love to nest together in their feed bowl at night. 

I might have bought a few more plants at a 50% off sale. 

Two weeks ago, I started giving this to Lilly, who has a torn ACL and is not a candidate for surgery, due to her age and weight.  At the end of April, I had actually made an appointment for her 

euthanization, but decided to try to make her comfortable and give her a few more months. 

My gosh.  

She is now limping only slightly, bearing weight on that leg, has enough 

pep that I literally have to keep an eye on where she is when she is 

outside, because she is going after Singleton, who gets out daily. 

The other morning she CAUGHT a chick.  (she dropped it on command, and it lived) 

The following video is from the hen house, she could not even get up the five steps into it a few weeks ago.  She actually caught a mouse as soon as I stopped taking, but dropped it as she got back out to the yard. 

I thought you might enjoy seeing pictures from the game camera. 

A very pregnant raccoon has been coming to eat nightly. I thought she 

was already nursing, but I am not so sure. 

This was taken the night before last, she looks pretty pooped out. 

While I have the standing feeder out in the pasture, I leave some at the front of the 

hen house for Harley to find.  

Petey eats in the pasture feeder every night, 

so does the Tabby cat, and also Rusty and Spooky. 

Here let me say that I was feeding up to four sacks of 

cat food weekly, there were so many wildings eating it. 

I use maybe one a week now, MAYBE. 

I do still feed some wet food. 

I am studying how to cut back on my wild bird feeding, it is by far the most expensive feed I buy.  There is a huge portion uneaten, and I am studying it daily to see what IS being eaten. 

I cut the pasture on Tuesday. 

Every time I drove under a mulberry tree, I had to stop to eat. 

Here are the Cayuga ducklings at 5 weeks.  I have them in a separate cage now. 

However, I am dying to put them with the teenagers.

The Gold Comets at five weeks. 

These chicks are some of the most excitable I have EVER handled. 

I can't explain to you all how badly the hen yard is smelling because of the 

baby ducks being confined there. 

IF you have a chance to raise ducklings DON'T.  I 

have always had adult ducks... these confined babies are 

just almost beyond tolerating, cute as they are.  They are poop machines and I am PRAYING my neighbors cannot smell them. 

No one wants to be near them, let alone me.  I have to change their 

water four times a day... UGH. 

And, here, just to prove that I really DO drive Thunder, 

I am coming in the gate, with a load of paint and a piece of siding for the haybarn.  Grandson Chris took this picture. 

And just as an aside, every single time I tried to load a picture of the 

DUCK HELL HOLE in my hen yard, it would not load.  I tried at least seven times. 

Interesting!