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!
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.
