I gave myself and Toby a Christmas present this morning, and went for a walk back through the woods. We hadn’t been back there since before The Farmer’s knee surgery, so it’s probably been about 3 weeks.

While The Farmer was in the hospital we had a lot of rain. Over a foot of rain in fact. It filled up the pond and flooded the bottom pasture and across the road below our driveway.

I looked to see if the flood waters had moved the tree that fell in the creek a month or two ago, and sure enough, it’s disappeared. And I do mean disappeared. I have no idea where it ended up! I couldn’t see it anywhere. I thought it would get caught in one of the bends of the creek, but the water was so high, there’s no telling where it floated off to.

At first, I thought this tree might be it…

However, when I got to looking closer, I noticed it has a line of barbed wire connecting the fallen tree to the upright tree beside it, so obviously it wasn’t the previously fallen tree from further up the creek.

This one isn’t actually in the creek, but just has part of the tree hanging out over it.

It rained so hard you can’t see where the tree broke off except for a patch of smooth, bare dirt.

There’s always a lot of trash that washes down the creek when it floods.

I thought it was interesting to see this plastic crate caught in some tree roots along the creek bank.

The water was much higher than usual, and muddy. That didn’t deter Toby from splashing out into the middle of the creek and goofing off.

“Aren’t you coming?”

I declined to follow him into the creek today. Considering I wasn’t wearing boots and how deep and fast the water was running, it would have been a very cold and very wet adventure!

On the way back home, we walked through a different area of woods than our usual route.  I noticed a lot of persimmons on the ground.

I was rather surprised to see so many.  The persimmon trees I’d seen earlier were already pretty bare of fruit.  However, when I looked around and spotted the persimmon tree nearby, I could see there was still fruit WAY UP in the top of the tree.

 That’s the trouble with fruit trees in the middle of a wooded area.  The trees grow way tall, and there’s no way you can get to the fruit.  I guess the birds and squirrels and raccoons and whatever other critters like such stuff can enjoy it however.

There’s certainly a good bit left for them to munch on!  With persimmons, hickory nuts, walnuts and acorns, there ought to be plenty of food available for wildlife able to reach it.

I was pretty tired by the time Toby and I made it back out.  Guess sitting around in the hospital with The Farmer kind of blew any conditioning I had.  We’ll have to get back in the habit of walking after chores each morning so I build up a little more stamina.

Walking in the woods is a pleasant way to get a little exercise!

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It’s been another busy week, and I’ve had to concentrate on work stuff almost 24/7 (except for a few hours sleep here and there). Because of that, I haven’t had much time to post on most of my more “personal” blogs.

So to catch up, here’s a few pictures from the past week. This first one is from last Saturday, when The Farmer was busy working on the peafowl pen. The chicken wire on top was getting old, and something tore big holes in it. I think that “something” was probably raccoons. They like to eat the dog food. In fact, I pretty much know to start looking for holes when I go to check the peafowl’s bowl of dogfood and every morning it’s totally empty. They don’t eat that much on their own!

You can see some of the big holes.  Obviously, The Farmer is standing in one. :-)  He decided instead of putting more wire there, he’d make a wood roof.  That will give the peafowl a little more shelter in that area, then they have the aviary to go into for lots of sunlight and fresh air.

Some of the peafowl like to search for even more sunshine, and run through the grass with nothing but their feathers on.  Then they tantalize their mother by standing just outside the aviary.

This, of course, puts the mother peahen in a fowl temper, since she can’t reach them to peck them into good behavior.  She clucks at them, and paces up and down on the other side, and they just continue to merrily run all around on the outside.  Some day they will get a rude shock when they can no longer fit through those 4-inch holes in the bottom wire panels of the aviary.

Toby and I continue to take a morning walk in the bottom pasture. Most of the time it’s a fairly short time, just walking once around all the trails. But there’s usually something interesting to see.

I’m not sure what kind of bug this is, but it was enjoying getting a drink from the dew on the weed.

Yesterday morning while walking in the pasture, I was thinking about writing on this blog and that I’d mention all the hummingbirds seem to have left, when I almost ran smack dab into one!  The little hummer was enjoying some nectar from jewel weeds (Impatiens capensis).  I don’t know which one of us was more surprised, but it didn’t stick around long enough for me to take a picture. (They rarely do!)

Then this morning when I was coming up on the front porch, there was another hummer checking out some of the wire bugs I have hanging along the top edge.  That one didn’t stay around long enough for a picture either.  I don’t think these are the regulars, but hummers on their way to points further south.

We’ve been enjoying some excellent weather this week with cool nights (down in the 50’s), and warmer days (up in the 80’s).  I love this kind of weather!  In the mornings, the llamas and Neffie (our Maremma LGD) like to stretch out in sun on the shorter grass in the main pasture. The Farmer keeps it mowed down so I don’t have to wade through wet weeds to get to the well house in the mornings (Thank You Farmer!). 

Keira was stretched out too, but every time I’d try to get close enough to take a picture, she’d sit up. I guess it must feel good to soak up the sunshine on a cool morning. 

While they’re soaking up the sunshine, the guineas are foraging for seeds and bugs. I think as they get older they get stupider. I say this because as you can see here….

… the half-grown keets still have enough sense to just fly up and go over a fence. The adults, however, run up and down the fence looking for a way through. It’s only about 4-foot tall, mind you, and these birds can fly to the tops of some very tall trees around here! They just seem to forget what phenomenal fliers they are when confronted with fences.

The chickens seem to use their brains a little more, and they like to do things with a little more flair. We still have one chicken sitting on eggs in her bright purple bucket. We knew there was also one of the hens sitting on a nest under The Farmer’s work shed.  She came out this week with four little chicks.

She’s taking them out to forage around today, so it won’t be long until they’re running around all over the place too!

I’ve always got a bunch of pictures and it’s hard to choose just a few, but I reckon that’s pretty much the highlights for this week.

Like I said, it’s been another busy week on the farm!

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Here we are, another week come and gone.  And since, as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said,  ”Art is long, and time is fleeting,” I guess it’s time to display some pictures (as close as I can come to art) from this past week of time down on the farm! 

Actually, it’s rather fowl around here these days.  There are two groups of guineas running around with keets.  The older group that started out with a couple dozen are now down to 9 half-grown keets.

The second group fared even worse.  They started out with 18 keets and now have 4.  Of course, the first group has 7 adults watching over their 9 keets, whereas the second group only has 2 adults looking after their 4 little ones.

Our Mama Peahen seems to be doing okay with her little peachicks.  Although I believe they think their mission in life is to give their mother a nervous breakdown.  (Hmmmm, sounds a lot like human kids, huh?)  They’re small enough to get through the fencing at the bottom of the aviary, and run around outside in the grass while the mother paces back and forth inside calling to them.  They ignore her until they’re good and ready to hop back over the bottom board and follow Mom around.  Like I said. reminds me of human kids!

Notice the cardinal in there with them?  I throw sunflower seeds on the ground for the peafowl, and the cardinals often come and help themselves.  We do seem to have a tendency to feed the wildlife around here, intentional or not!

We have the 4 surviving peachicks from the 10 that hatched in the incubators outside in their own pen for now.  I think one of them is going to be a peacock, which is good.  I only have one male peafowl right now, and he’s getting old.

This youngster fans those feathers and displays every time I give them fresh food and water.  He also has a propensity for pecking at me.  I hope that goes away!

Not all the hummingbirds have departed for points further south yet.  There’s at least 3 of them out there still fussing at each other.  They’re so territorial!

I like this picture because you can see her little tongue sticking out!  Ummm, that was good stuff!

The butterflies are enjoying the last days of summer also.  We still have several flitting around the butterfly bushes, enjoying the nectar.

It’s hard to get pictures of them sometimes, because like the hummingbirds, they don’t stay still very long!

Before you know it, they’re in flight again, and it’s hard to focus in and get a good shot!

Close by one of the butterfly bushes there’s another garden spider on the hunt.  This one has had HUGE success, having caught a cicada in her web.

Wow!  If you take into account her long legs, her prey is actually bigger than she is!  That ought to keep her pantry full for some time!

Thanks for visiting, and hope you enjoyed this weeks photos!

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It’s been a busy week on the farm, but I guess that’s pretty well normal!

The first group of keets has been reduced from 22 to 11. It doesn’t surprise me. The adults wander all over the farm, and don’t slow down just because babies with very short legs are trying to keep up. I’ve found keets peeping for their mama in the bottom pasture, the back pasture and the main pasture. I’ve found them in the back yard, the front yard, and by the driveway.

Mama guinea and her keets.

I don’t think these guineas will win any parenting awards. And there’s a second batch of keets now. This group had 18 keets, so if they lose half, guess we’ll end up with 20 more guineas. I think The Farmer is going to have to give up his “let’s see how many we can get” attitude and sell some.

We also have a few peachicks.  The hatch rate in the incubators isn’t too good.  We got 10 this year, but the first five died after we put them outside with some chicks. There are 4 outside now in a pen by themselves, and one in a brooder box that’s pretty sorry looking due to spraddled legs.

But the big news is…. TA DA! One of the peahens hatched out a couple of peachicks! This is the first time that’s happened. She had about half a dozen eggs under her. A few didn’t hatch, one was DOA, and two are running around after her now.

Mama Peahen fluffed up over her peachicks.

You can only see one of the peachicks here, but another is hiding underneath Mama Peahen.

We’ve had some pretty weather this week. Down by the pond we have not only blue dragonflies, but red ones.

What a handsome dragonfly!

All we need now is some white ones, and we could be quite patriotic!

There are also some pretty flowers nearby.

Flower in the bottom pasture.

There are lots of flowers blooming.  We even have a blooming idiot.

Idiot to the left, blooming to the right.

Toby may be a bit crazy, and without any herding instinct, but he’s sure good company.  As for the flower, that’s Sedum ‘Matrona’ blooming. It’s a big favorite of the bees around here. It’s usually covered with little bumblebees and lots of other insects.

The Farmer has been busy on various projects. He put the new door on the bathroom last weekend. Here he’s using the old one for a new project.

The Farmer and his wooden rocket.

Bet you can’t guess what it’s going to be!

And for the last picture in the Friday’s Farm Fotos group, here’s Redneck Samson, with his bit of grass hanging out of his mouth.

Redneck Llama

And that’s a glimpse of the past week here on the farm!

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After a summer of few keets, a nesting trio decided to show up their peers and produced a HUGE bunch of keets. I counted a couple of dozen running around that first day.

They sure were fun to watch running along after the adults, trying to keep up on those very short little legs!

Once they get in the grass, it’s impossible to see them. Once in a while a little head bobs up, or you can see the grass moving.

Other sights in the back 40 (actually, it’s probably more like 5), include our matron ewe, Coconut, lazing in the shade of the trees on a hot southern summer day.

Not far away, our female llama, Keira (aka Miss Crankypants), is also taking advantage of the shade. When your wool is black, it really soaks up the heat from the sun! At least she now has a lot less wool to soak up the warmth.

What are YOU lookin’ at???

Down in the bottom pasture, we’re not mowing this year, or allowing grazing. We’re just letting it grow wild.

We have more than enough pasture for the animals without it, so it’s good for growing wildflowers and butterfly grazing.

I love the nice bright red of these Cardinal Flowers. They like the bottom pasture as it has a spring keeping part of it wet.

Of course, the hummingbirds love the Cardinal Flowers too. Those tube-like flowers are just made for hummers to sip some yummy nectar.

There is also a lot of Ironweed with purple flowers, and Joe Pye Weed with lovely dusky pink flowers. The butterflies really go for these!

The Farmer mows walking paths through the weeds, so Toby and I enjoy checking things out in the mornings, and looking at spiderwebs glistening with dew, bees buzzing around the flowers, and butterflies flitting about.

It’s a nice, serene way to start the morning.

We usually end up at the pond. There are droves of dragonflies dancing through the air above the pond. They stop for a rest on a weed now and then.

They fly around so much they kind of beat their wings ragged!

Then it’s one last glimpse of serenity before going back to work.

“The Mirrormere”

If you’re a “Lord of the Rings” fan, you might recognize that reference. Anyway, the pond has lovely reflections, even though the water is way down due to drought conditions.

And that’s a glimpse of the past week here on the farm!

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Here we are, another Friday, and it’s been a BUSY week as usual! With school, work, farm and household chores, who has time for photography?

Okay, I confess, I just about always carry my camera with me when I go out to do morning chores. So here’s a few of this week’s snapshots from the farm.

I’d never seen such red wasps until I moved to the south. I think they blend in better with all the red soil, ha! (As opposed to Iowa or Canada, which both have some of the blackest soil I’ve ever seen!)

This is our male llama, Samson, before getting up in the morning. He has a couple of hitchhikers…

It’s bad enough they think the llama is their own personal roosting place, but then the rooster has just got to crow about it…

At least one of the sheep thinks he’s really baaaaad.

Later that afternoon he figured a nice fluffy sheep in the shade made a good roosting place.

Our female llama doesn’t care how many chickens sit on Samson or the sheep, as long as she gets her afternoon session in the sprinkler.

To really get the full effect of that picture, be sure to click on it so it enlarges and you can see the drops of water more clearly!

We have some new guinea babies running around the farm.

I’m not sure why it takes half a dozen adult guineas to take care of four little keets! Last year they were having 12-14 keets hatching at a time.

And lastly, I just know you’ve been wondering what I did with all the scrap wool I skirted off all those fleeces. Well, here’s your answer:

Bet you didn’t know we grow wool in our flowerbeds here in the south!

And there you have it, a glimpse of life this past week on the farm.

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Okay, so it’s a cute-sey way to spell “Photos”, but I happen to be a fan of alliteration. At any rate, just thought I’d show you a few pictures I’ve taken lately around the farm and hadn’t got around to posting yet.

First, we have a picture of our cat, Spot FenceWalker. He thinks he’s a dog. He and one of our “real” dogs, Toby, follow us around where ever we go outside. This is nice until I’m trying to take pictures, and my subject objects to having a cat and dog close by! In this picture, Spot was following me one night when I went out to check on the chicks.

And here’s a picture of the chicks I was checking on.

That’s a little pile of peachicks on the left with a couple of the younger chicks, and the older chicks huddled up in another pile under the volunteer sunflower.

Sometimes I find chickens in unlikely places. I often look out a window to see them perched on the other critters.

The ewe with the horns is Valrhona, and the one with the Buff Orpington hen perched on her is Papaya.

Other pretty things we can see from our windows include Goldfinches enjoying snacking on seeds and bugs around these tall blue wildflowers. (Anyone know what those flowers are called?)

We can’t have a bunch of pictures without one of The Farmer doing what he loves best… playing Firebug.

We seem to accumulate boxes and feedbags, so they need to be burned every so often before the feed room in crammed full of them.

The Farmer’s faithful companion likes to trot softly and carry a BIG stick.

The minute one of us goes out the door, it doesn’t matter what Toby is doing, he rushes to grab as big a stick as he can find, cause after all, then we might play with him, right?

And on final reflection, we have a heron who visited our pond this morning. We happened to catch him there when The Farmer went out to work this morning, and knowing how I love pictures, he waited for me to grab my camera and take some before heading on down to the car and scaring the heron away. (Thanks Farmer!)

I’m not sure whether the heron was there to grab some breakfast or admire its’ reflection, but it was a nice surprise to see it..

And there you have it, my collection of “Friday’s Fotos”. Hope you enjoyed them!

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