Today’s Tree In Creek Pictures

The water is down, and the tree is now long wise in the creek instead of across it.

Toby helped me check things out, but he wasn’t brave enough to jump in the water today!

The top of the tree is still spanning the width of the creek bed, but another bout of high water will break off a lot of those branches as they dry out and get brittle.

It’s still cloudy today and looks like we could get more rain. I guess that would be good, as we’re still way behind on rainfall averages. It just plays havoc with my work cause of the “rain pain”. Such is life!

Of Forest Paths And Dog Phobias

Every morning, rain or shine, hot or cold, the critters need fed. So every morning except Saturday, when The Farmer does the chores, I’m outside taking care of critters.

Since I’m already in my outside-doesn’t-matter-if-they-get-dirty clothes, that’s a good time for a walk too. The Farmer keeps paths mowed in the bottom pasture, and Toby and I go round them at least once every morning.

But I missed going in the woods like I did in the winter and early spring. A couple weeks ago I told The Farmer about trying to go in the woods, but the growth was so dense, it was just too much hassle, so I gave it up.

Fast forward to the next Saturday. The Cave Geek and I were inside working on something. It was a nice fall day, so we had the doors open. We kept hearing this noise. Cave Geek thought it was a shop vac. The people next door have been doing some remodeling so that wasn’t unreasonable. I thought it sounded like a weed eater.

Later when I went out to check on what The Farmer was up to, I discovered we were both wrong. The sound we were hearing was our riding lawnmower stopping and starting way out in the woods, cause The Farmer was mowing a path for me.

How sweet is that? I merely mentioned I missed being able to walk in the woods, and he came up with a way so I could do it again. It’s really cool. Kind of reminds me of a state park or something. All we need is little signs here and there. 🙂

Now, I enjoy walking in the woods and so does Toby, but the dog has a MAJOR phobia about electric fences. He won’t cross one, he doesn’t want you to carry him over one, he doesn’t want to come within light years of one.

My favorite theory is one day he indulged in his favorite hobby and hiked his leg to leave his mark, this time on the electric fence. I think perhaps some rather sensitive parts got zapped, and thereafter there was NO WAY he was getting close to the electric fence.

Since the path into the woods started at a spot where the electric fence going around the bottom stood, he wouldn’t go into the woods with me. Never mind that The Farmer took down the fence there, he knew there used to be an electric fence in that spot and he didn’t want anything to do with it.

That was the first day.

The second day he finally realized the fence really and truly was no longer there, and by the time I came back he was sitting just inside the woods waiting for me.

On the third day he followed me right into the woods and kept close.

By the fourth day he’d decided this was a lot of fun, and before I even got to the woods he was bounding ahead of me and running around in the underbrush.

Now when I head for our walking area, he’s way ahead of me and goes toward the woods.  Today he discovered it’s great fun to wade around in the creek.

I doubt he’s over his phobia, but one thing is sure and certain, he’s discovered there’s no fence barring his entry into the woods now, and he’s loving it!

Friday’s Farm Fotos

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!

Trash Talk

Yesterday morning when I first came to consciousness, the first thing that made an impression was all the barking. Lots of barking. LOUD barking. Continual barking. So my first waking thought was, “What in the world is that crazy dog barking at?”

There was no thunder. He’s a great fan of barking at thunder. It’s his number one reason for barking. He jumps way up and seems to think if he can just jump high enough and bark loud enough, some day he’s going to catch that thunder.

Have I mentioned we have a tendency more for the weird than the wonderful around here?

Anyway, once I got myself moving, I went outside to see what was prompting all the barking. There were no cats. No squirrels. No stray dogs. No stray people. There was nothing I could see out of the ordinary except… trash.

Yes, the neighbors who hardly ever show up – you remember them, they’re the ones with this sign on their door –

– these neighbors had been home and put some trash by the side of the road for pick-up yesterday morning.  Now hopefully they’re more skilled at remodeling than they are at spelling.  They must have been working on a bathroom as there were several empty boxes from a fan, a bathroom vanity, and other stuff setting by their mailbox, along with a big trash can.

It was something new, something different, something strange.  And whatever it was, Toby didn’t think it should be there.

However, he’s prone to trash talk-barking from afar, and not so keen on getting up close and in-your-face personal.  When The Farmer took our trash out to the road, Toby and I went along. 

He wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of getting up close to that strange stuff.  Nope, he didn’t want anything to do with it, but I finally coaxed him up close enough to see it wasn’t moving.  He decided to give it a sniff.

He was very cautious checking out these unexpected things by the road.  After sniffing over all the boxes, he gave the garbage can a once over too.

He decided perhaps these items weren’t going to attack anyone after all.

Our other “dog”, Spot, remained unconvinced, arching his back and bushing his tail at the menacing pile of trash.  He didn’t care for its sudden appearance either.

When all was said and done, Toby gave up his trash talk-barking and expressed his opinion in a different manner. He walked right up to the bushes beside the trash, and…

Please to excuse the blurry photo. By this time I was laughing so hard I couldn’t hold the camera still.  I’m thinking the neighbors should be thankful there wasn’t a puddle by and on their trash can.  They’ll never know how much commotion their suddenly appearing pile of trash caused.

But if they put some more out by the road next week, I hope Toby remembers it’s safe and doesn’t wake me up with more of that trash talk-barking!

Friday’s Farm Fotos

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.

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.

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.

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

There are also some pretty flowers nearby.

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

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.

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.

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