Underwater Pond Plants

Or maybe I should have titled this, “I Can See Clearly Now” . . .

Cause the rain was gone, and sometimes when it hasn’t rained for a while, the farm pond water gets nice and clear.  Then you can see all the plants that are growing underwater.

Of course, this time of year there are also a lot of fallen leaves in the pond.  There’s still some algae growing too.

I think it looks kind of pretty with the colored leaves floating on top, and then the green plants growing in the water underneath.

Unfortunately, most of the time the water isn’t clear enough to see down into the pond.  And even when it’s clear, you can only see around the edges, and not in the deeper water.

Maybe someday we’ll try stocking the pond with some fish, but for now it has a large population of frogs and turtles.

This clear vision of the underwater pond plants doesn’t usually last long, but I enjoy it when I can!

Last Night’s Sunset. . .

I took these pictures right after I finished chores last night.

I thought there was a couple of interesting cloud formations here:

And I liked the colors in last night’s sunset:

That’s our patch of woods to the left, and looking out over the back pasture.

Friday’s Farm Fotos

Another Friday, and I think I’ll share some of the pictures I took around the farm this week to make it another Friday’s Farm Foto’s Day!

This first one is of Samson, our male llama, out in the main pasture grazing.

All the animals seem to enjoy the medium length grasses in the main pasture, although the llamas like to browse the taller weeds along the fenceline too.

However, they don’t stay there all the time.  They have a routine, and part of the day the sheep and llamas and goat are in the back yard.  This particular picture is of one of our shyer Shetland sheep, Valrhona.

Of course, our farm collie, Toby, can be found in the backyard almost any time, along with some chickens, plus the peacocks and peahens in their pen.

The signs of fall are everywhere, but when the sun shines just right on some of the trees along the edges of the bottom pasture, the leaves glint and make it look like the trees are full of white blossoms. I did a double take the first time I saw it. After all, it’s not time for trees to be in bloom!

Except, of course, the camellia is still blooming. Some of the blossoms look pretty ragged, but I don’t think this Grandaddy Long Legs minds.

Did you know that these critters, also called harvestmen, aren’t really spiders?  They may look like one, but the biggest difference is that spiders have two body segments, whereas a Granddaddy Long Legs has an oval body that is only ONE segment. They also do not produce silk or a web, so turns out they are not true spiders.

The ferns back in the woods are still nice and green, but then, they stay pretty green all winter.

The creeks and sloughs are full of colored leaves that have fallen from the trees.

Meanwhile, when the sun warms things up, there’s usually at least one little turtle on the long floating in the pond.

However, they are still very shy, and don’t let people get very close before they plop back down into the water and disappear.

And while our lone wandering white rooster is still AWOL, it seems we may have missed a couple of younger chickens that are roosters.  I looked out our dining room window yesterday and saw at least two roosters fighting.

There was a third one nearby that acted like it might join the fray, but since it never did, I’m not sure if we have 2 or 3 young roosters running loose.

This morning I looked out to see a bunch of squirrels running up and down the fence posts.  This one peered inside a rotten post. . .

I think he’s wondering if he put any nuts in there.  Maybe I should tell him he’s looking in the wrong direction.

Cause there are some big nuts inside the house!

Friday’s Farm Fotos

It’s been a while since I posted some miscellaneous photos.  So here we are, a snapshot in time, pictures from today around the farm.

First I went out and fed the chickens.

It’s still kind of drizzly out.  We seem to be having a monsoon season here, and I must say, I’m getting a little tired of it.  The chickens don’t seem to pay much attention, however, nor do the guineas.  Here’s a couple of keets from two different age groups. . .

They’re starting to look more like adults, and a whole lot less like babies.

The mutant chimera chick was getting a share of the grain.  It’s still looks strange.

Noticeable in his absence, however, is the lone white rooster running around in the pastures.  We caught his compatriots a few nights back and put them in a pen by themselves.   He was roosting in a catalpa tree by the sheep shed with some other chickens.  The Farmer got hold of him, but did not KEEP hold of him and the rooster escaped.  I guess the rooster figures he doesn’t want anywhere near us in case we try catching him again!

Out in the main pasture I can see some of the trees in the neighbor’s yard have turned color.

The colder, rainy weather has brought down a lot of leaves.  Most of which are boring brown, like these in another neighbor’s driveway:

In spite of fall being here, there is still lots of green grass and grazing.  Keira and Cinnamon like to spend a big part of their day in the main pasture, munching up on the grass.  Samson is also out there, but doesn’t seem to worry about being so close by these days.  I’m hoping Keira is already carrying a cria.

The dogs were out playing this morning, but as soon as they saw me with the camera they stopped.  They were more interested in what I was doing.

Neffie is the white dog, our Maremma.  Toby is an American Working Farmcollie, though I think he’d rather play than work.

Walking back to the house I noticed there are still berries on the Tea Viburnum.

The camellia bush still has a lot of blooms and even buds, along with numerous visiting bees (or hornets or whatever they happen to bee).

And now I BEE-lieve that’s enough pictures for today!

Friday’s Farm Fotos

Just a few random pictures from around the farm…

More Roses!

There’s an old fashioned red rose bush blooming by one of the woven wire fences.  It was already here when we moved to the farm.

I have a hard time getting good, true-colored pictures of the color red.  The camera just doesn’t want to focus in correctly on it.

I planted a ‘Dr. W. Van Fleet’ rose beside one of the wooden fences we put up. 

It’s one of the few roses that will bloom in partial shade and is supposed to grow 15-20 feet.  I’m hoping it will cover a good bit of the fence.

Cinnamon On A Mower

Miss Cinnamon likes to climb all over The Farmer’s tractor.

She’s always finding some way to push the envelope – just *not quite* getting into trouble, but almost.

Shorn Sheep

About a week ago we sheared the sheep.  We are not very good at it and they look a little ragged.  I really, REALLY miss the young man we used to have shearing our sheep, but he moved onto to a different career.

Needless to say, the wool is worthless.  For one thing, there are way too many second cuts.  But it’s getting pretty warm here, and at least the sheep are cooler now.

A Blast From The Past

I finally figured out how to fix one of my cameras.  The shutter button popped off, and I had to buy a new one and install it.  When I got it out to fix it, I discovered there was a memory card still in it with some pictures from last fall. 

Here’s a half-grown guinea trying to decide if it wants to fly or not.  The adult wants the baby to fly up to the top of the pen to roost for the night.

Sometimes it takes a while for the keets to get brave enough to fly up onto the top of a building, then into the trees, but the sooner they do, the less chance they’ll fall prey to predators.

Peepers and Repeep

I rescued this hen from an abandoned nest.  A few chicks had already hatched, and the Mama Hen had already left with them.  I tried to get her to take the abandoned chick, but she wouldn’t do it.  Since she kept pecking at the chick, I raised it.

I named her Peepers because, well, she peeped a lot.  I mean a LOT!  At first I had her in a box inside the house, but I eventually moved her to a cage on the back porch because the incessant peeping was driving me crazy(ier)!

Now she has a little clone, and SHE gets to listen to the constant peeping!  I don’t think she minds though.

And there you have it, a random selection of pictures from the farm.  Have a great weekend!