The Innocence

 I recently changed my Facebook header to this photo of my herd. It had comments about the beauty and the peacefulness.

They were peaceful, indeed, after being total brats! Most days I walk the herd out to their 3 acre fenced in pasture. However, on this particular day, the brat in the center, Ms. Cerra Elizabeth, took off toward the big 40 ac hayfield! Ty, who was already in the 3 acre went nuts because she didn't follow him. Cheyenne followed Cerra and then the threesome were off on their merry escape to magnificent knee high alfalfa!

It was a long walk out to get them and they are all ok with me getting a halter on the leader, Mr. Ty. 

Home, sweet home back on the Three, and no, the grass isn't as thick here, but there is plenty for all. 

Cowabunga Floribunda!

Our glorious summer blooms are coming to a close but I took a lot of photos to carry their memory through the winter months ahead of us.

Casa Blanca

                      

Business on the Etsy shop has been very manageable this summer. Orders still trickle in to keep me busy during most of the week, but I've had many three day weekends! It's a super treat to get projects done. The outbuildings were repaired and painted. 

I painted all the interior rooms in the house! Now I've moved on to pressure washing. I started with the horse trailer which was an obscenely filthy mess. Years of being parked out on the pasture the algae and lichens did a good job of trying to claim it.

It took six hours but I got it done inside and out. Clean and fresh and ready to take Ty up to the vet to have his teeth checked out. Next is to check out the lights and tire pressure. I haven't taken a road trip with precious equine cargo for a long time. 

High Water

 It just keeps raining! Which has put every green leaf on overdrive. Lots of grass to cut, weeds to pull and one of my newer projects.....harvesting hay off the horse pasture!

It grew so fast and so high, the horses didn't even have a chance to keep it down. Nor would I want them to. Too much sweetness for Ms Cerra with her tender feet. She has to have a grazing muzzle on to keep her consumption down and to keep her weight in check. 

My JD tractor has a 60" belly mower that can cut a big swath which I run a couple of lengths of the pasture. I then mow back the other way to put the clippings into a row that is easy to pick up. Just like a pioneer (kinda) out there scying grass by hand! Great for the waistline. 

UPDATE ON THE BIRD NEST... It was not bluebirds, it was the Purple Finch which has tried nesting now two times under our porch roof. Each nest had five eggs and they were all drilled into by some predator. Most likely predator bees. 

The Poppa Cardinal has been presenting the three fledglings to the bird feeder. They are now taking on color and are pretty active in their movements.  He is showing them where the food is, how to get it and how to crack seeds open. They are having none of it! Daddy! Daddy! Feed me! Me first! Peep peep peep and lots of activity with that enterprise. Mommy is off constructing her new nest and probably enjoying having a quiet place to settle into for a bit of rest before the next batch arrives. 

Thank you, God! I love nature!

Can't Believe It!

 I no sooner said adios to the cardinals when I saw a bird flying out of my aged fern that was hanging near the cardinals nest.

It's been flying away before when I left the house and I always thought it was just the lady cardinal, but Noooooo! It's a lady BLUEBIRD. Now mind you. We have 30 bluebird houses that Don constructed and installed in areas near and far. They are cleaned out every spring by yours truly. So why on earth is this bluebird lady taking over an old straggly Boston fern? No idea, but she is welcome and it will give me lots of entertainment keeping track of this new brood. Five tiny blue eggs. Lots more spying to do! I've done more posting in the past few days that the past few months.

Lots of wildlife activity going on these days. Down by the creek we have been watching deer set up in beds along the edge. Today the spyglasses were put on them and they are young bucks! The velvety antlers are about the same length of their ears. These two have been resting along side the creek in canary grass that is almost taller than their heads. They plop down and take turns popping out every once in a while seemingly just to see what is going on around them.

The Fledge!

The fledglings, minus one who had already flown the nest. They are grey with little white marks under their eyes. Good camouflage. 

It only took 24 hours and the youngsters were at the edge of the nest, flexing their wings, doing deep knee bends, flutter, flutter. I watched the first one fly off the nest and was received by papa across the driveway. The other two took lots of time deciding. Ma was chirping wildly at them since morning and I finally decided I needed to do other things. Awhile later and the nest was deserted and quiet was restored.

The adults will be keeping the kids secluded in their hidden places while the little feathers come in. They really can fly yet (no tail feathers have come in) but can have bursts of instinctive flight. Since I've been researching cardinals I know they won't be setting another set of eggs in this nest. They start all over. In fact, mommy is probably out there getting ready to construct a new nest while pa takes care of the young'uns. It was a lovely day for the testing of the wings!

The Nest, the Bunny and the Cat

 Of all places... on top of the porch lantern. It started as a couple of spindly weed branches and I thought it was something the winds blew in. It continued to grow and precious dry leaves were added. Still no idea who was constructing this squatters lodge. As the days passed the construction crew finally showed up. Cardinals! I have never seen a cardinal nest anywhere let alone where we were going to be able to observe up close and personal. As the days passed I got curious and got the step ladder and a mirror out to see if there were any eggs. Three! Paler blue than a robin with little brown specs. Ma and Pa took turns incubating the nest and over the coming days I noticed they weren't on the nest as much. They were too busy finding meals for the babies! One by one, little noggins were eventually poking up in anticipation of their next meal. It's been a week now and they are definitely getting bigger. I can see them preening their feathers and bobbing around. 

There was huge ruckus on that side of the yard today. It finally dawned on me that Reba had escaped earlier. The cardinals were on loud chirp high alert, and purple finches came to the aid as well. I stepped outside to find Reba lounging on the patio. Near her, wedged by the edge of the house was a palm sized baby rabbit! Totally alive and keeping Reba company while sending everyone else into a tizzy. I picked up the poor thing and of course, like all rabbits will do, it screamed bloody murder. I turned to take it to the woods after getting the cat inside. Here was Mommy Rabbit a few feet away! I walked toward her and of course she ran to the woods, stopped and waited for me to catch up. She darted into the under brush and I left the baby bun close to cover. I'm sure she will be back and I'll check in later as well. 

There is more to come with this story and I hope it has a happy ending as well. The fledge!

Pole Cat

Reba DEMANDS to go out most days. She follows me and Win out to the barn for her morning escape. On this day she decide to climb the old tv dish pole....which is pretty tall! There she was perched atop and gave me her best vulture interpretation. Very impressive m'lady!