Blink

Blink is a nuthatch. He was hatched in our shed, in the blue helmet. Two of his four siblings died outside of the nest, and two flew away. But Blink didn't fly well, and our chickens were trying to eat him. So Becky would bring him into the house to feed him and let him grow safely a few hours every day. She made his fancy bird cage.
One day Becky came inside with the news, "Blink's parents came and took him away." I asked her how it had happened and she answered, "His parents called to him, and because he's a nuthatch, he ran up the tree sideways."
So now we occasionally see Blink in the oak tree.
Meanwhile, a new nuthatch nest is down in the barn. In an ironic twist, this mother bird used a shed snakeskin as nesting material. So I always get a scare when I look in at the eggs.
As of today they hadn't hatched. I'll try to blog them soon.

Flowers from a Friend

Picked especially for me by my Amish friend Becky.

Surprise!

When I went to milk my goat late Friday night, I was surprised to find #6 cornered in the barn yard by a little white puppy. On closer inspection, I saw that this was no puppy, this was an unexpected goatling!
Everything had gone fine with her birth and #6 allowed me to get near her, a rare occurrence. Last time #6 delivered, she rejected the kids and had no milk, so I was concerned. But this time, she accepted her daughter and there's plenty of milk to spare.
Another improvement #6 has made to her personality is that unlike last time, this freshening we can milk her full teat without a fight. She just eats her grain and for the most part stands still while we milk.
Q-Tip the orphan lamb gets her extra milk.

Snake Art

If you're going to be inundated by black snakes, you might as well have snakes with a flare for fashion.

He's probably making the symbol for, "Come on everybody, there's eggs all 'round, and these people don't kill snakes!"

The three doelings from last year went to their new home today, leaving room for a garden- finally! Danny got it tilled tonight. Tomorrow I hope to get plants and seeds in, and mulch it with hay. If I were smart, I'd put soaker hoses along my rows before I mulch.

I'll update when I get around to photographing the progress on the garden.

I bush hogged tonight and the field smelled lovely. It was pretty, too, with the clear sky and a colorful sunset. And of course the freshly mown field itself was rewarding to look at.

JoJo Again

Sweet Summer Rain

It might take a while to upload. All the noise is rain pounding and thunder consistently rumbling around me.

For those of you who aren't here with us, now you can be here in spirit. Well, for a minute and eleven seconds, anyway.

We've been getting lots of storms this year. For the last two years, not so much.

This was actually taken at midnight. I lost track of time while watching "Get Smart" with the girls.

I thought the worst had passed at this point, but it picked up in intensity again after I took this. Now, at 1:30, it looks like Spinster's neighborhood is getting hammered.

Our power only flickered twice!

JoJo Mugging Me

There's nothing like a curious baby pony! She weighs less than 50 pounds, so I'm not worried about her trampling me.

JoJo Playing

I wanted to send pony videos as an email, but can't. So now we'll have pony videos on the blog for all to see!

Here she is running with the pack. I couldn't tell in the little viewfinder which creature was pony and which were dogs.

Cute Farm Babies

And an adorable little farm mother too.
JoJo is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Now that I've experienced a foal, I have the urge to breed mares. Of course I won't do this again on purpose, but wow, has a baby pony been a blast!
Milk Chocolate Chip also augments the farm experience for us. I've decided that he might stay brown after all. That would be exciting, since we've only had black so far.

Baa Ram Ewe

What are the foal and the ram talking about?

Sirius Black vs. Blacksnake

Sirius spent his morning harassing this poor blacksnake. I got a minute of video with the snake striking repeatedly at the cat. It'd be too long to upload, but I'm sure you can imagine the scenario.

Butterfly Becky

Eine Kleine Nachtmusic, Charlotte County Style

For readers who live in those peaceful and quiet big cities, here's a sample of springtime night music in the country.

The girls go out with flashlights every night to observe the frogs and toads in our yard.

Ice Princess

Here's a video of Gretchen doing her 3 turn at the rink.

Why an elderly woman of close to 38 years old feels the need to do a 3 turn on the ice, I don't pretend to understand.

Our Memorial Day Celebration

Our family had an enjoyable cook out with a bunch of friends from church last night.

The kids had a water battle with lots of uproarious giggling.

Then came the grand finale: fireworks from South of the Border. These were the real deal! Many neighbors called to check on the "gunfire" from our friend's house.

Here's an audible sample of Charlotte County good times.