Picture Heavy Post

I was late getting home after church on Saturday evening, instead of 6:30, it was after 7 as I zoomed down 163rd street.  I saw this little guy sitting on the gate post, and this is the ONLY clear picture I got of him... because...

He flew into the woods, I guess he didn't like his picture being taken!  

You know fields are wet when geese are wading in them! 

Jester enjoyed a good roll in the clover yesterday. 

He's my happy boy. 

Can you even see Lilly in the pasture grass? 

Neither dog is going down there much now. 

I had to cut this grass about every ten days when we lived there, or it would be like this in no time. 

Trying to identify this bird. 

And this one.  It's not a female goldfinch. 

The iris show is almost over. 

There are more past bloom than blooming now. 

I only have two peonies out there. 

I'm going to have a couple here, and I'm trying to figure out where. 

On the way home, I saw five vultures swooping and swirling.  This one wanted the pole and knocked the other off. 

I did not go around the corner to see what was dying... but I prayed it was not the huge snapper I showed you yesterday. 

Clearly the king of the pole. 

Michelle asked if the hen Lilly got yesterday was okay...

She is.  Thank you! 

Yesterday afternoon, I put a small dish with water near the hen who has 

been setting for a month now.  I also poured some food down. 

This morning I came in and caught her like this. 

I watched as she drank over and over. 

For those of you who don't keep chickens, setting hens 

stop eating and drinking, and this one has gone OVER the length of time for those chicks to hatch. 

I am giving her a few more days and then the eggs go to the compost heap (I hate this part of chicken keeping).  

I poured a little scratch in the nest box after she went back in... but... 

I left fresh water and food for her.  I'm hoping she'll come off voluntarily. 

And my last (whew) picture for tonight... today's egg take. 

See the little fart egg on the right?  It was loaded... I could feel 

the heaviness.  I'll break it this week to 

see and take a picture of it. 

The food pantry will be getting eggs in numbers again this week! 

And the Rain Returns

I frequently take a gravel road over to the old house. 

I frequently see some guineas in a field along this road, in fact, numerous times 

during the winter I would see them popping about in the cornfield. 

I had to laugh when I saw them, they are just comical birds, 

but they are excellent watchdogs and tick-eaters. 

I could never keep them because they can't be contained and 

Lilly would have gotten them. 

Here they were this morning as we came along. 

So cute.  I really like guineas. 

They hung there for a few seconds and I slowed down. 

And then a head popped up behind them. 

Oh, if the sun had only been shining! 

All four crossed in front of me, and then the guineas took off running... into the gate of their home... 

And their big blue friend posed one more time before he followed them. 

Oh, the things you see. 

Our neighbors to the east moved last month, and sadly, the sale of their house fell through, so they, like us, are paying two mortgages.  Another neighbor is keeping their house cleaned up on the outside. 

These are some of the beautiful plantings on the west side of their house, that I can 

see from our patio. 

I have ONE iris this color, and I had actually forgotten all about it. 

It looks just as good with the pink peonies. 

My peonies are still not blooming at the old place. 

Here I am turned towards our patio.  There is the strip we had plowed in February, and 

then planted nothing on it.  

I rolled the two whiskey barrels out there yesterday and filled them, 

and today I planted a tomato in each.  We are going to put cloth down and then 

mulch that strip heavily and then plant it next year. 

I have to get the grass out along the fence, too, but I'll be working on that next week, as it's going to rain the next few days.  See the upturned black trough in the background on the right? 

It has a pot on it with a pepper plant in it. 

I trimmed this afternoon, and I trimmed all that high grass you see against the black trough. 

Someday I'll show you what is under it. 

There are still peppers and tomatoes in pots on our table, but I am 

starting to plant all the pots, and to sit out on the patio more and more. 

If I am quiet, the birds come down. 

My poor plants are about blown away. 

This afternoon, I planted two more pepper plants at the old house, and I'll try to get a picture in the next few days.  It was raining while I did it. 

I'm also planting pink and orange zinnias out there (not together!) and 

marigolds, but... it is going to rain for a few days.  I wanted to get the seeds in before it started. 

Oh, well. 

I found some balsam seeds from 2005 that I saved at the old house.  Just as an experiment, I'm going to plant them.  I love balsam. 

From where I can sit at the table, I can see the hummingbird feeder, and I 

am hoping to get good pictures this summer. 

I have still only seen two hummers, or maybe the same one, twice. 

Despite the rain,  I stopped to see the baby hawks.  You can 

just see the top of their heads... and mom or dad in the nest with them. 

I think they were pretty safe, though we are to have a good storm tonight. 

Mom and Dad will take care of them in their leafy bower. 

That's it for today!