Well, more just chickens eating, but if you like claymation or Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run is a great movie. My "movies", on the other hand....not so great. Maybe Santa will bring me a real movie camera, but in the meantime, my tiny Sony cyber-shot is doing its very best.
When we first moved to our farm there were two ponds out back - the big pond and a tiny waterhole that the person doing our dirt work wanted to fill in as if it didn't matter to anyone. I knew different and took it under my "wing" and Saint Tim named it The Frog Pond, in honor of all the frogs who were quite happy to call it home and had for many years.
We raised the dam side, embraced the existing native plants and flowers and added more to the collection, installed a comfy bench and now it's one of my favorite spots on the farm.
The Frog Pond is not the only spot claimed by the frogs around here. It's been so hot and dry lately that the big pond has gotten so scummy that it's starting to rival its kid sister for frog habitat.
All the black dots? Frogs. Hundreds of frogs.
And look who we caught peeping in our window tonight!
We can't say for sure, but think it's a Cope's gray treefrog or Hyla chrysoscelis. We've had some interesting visitors to Equinox Farm, but he (or she) might just be our favorite....so far.
The Americauna pullets have started laying - beautiful blue/green eggs. The dark brown speckled eggs are the Welsommers and I don't know which chickens lay the light brown and which lay the off white eggs.
All I can tell you is there is going to be an Adventure Chicken meeting in the hen house tonight. While we love their fresh eggs, they need to stay on their side of the fence and out of the gardens!
1. Dump and scrub out horse water tank 2. Mow front field 3. Pick up downed limbs from yesterday 4. Clean up wind ravaged porch 5. Get more cookies for Sunshine 6. Give Boo a bath 7. Call contractor about a new sheep shed
8. OH GOOD GRIEF! - Give Buddy a hair cut!!!
I took this picture last night when I went up to put everyone to bed. I was trying to get a picture of Miss Ewenice and her boys all sleeping together behind the barn (they are still such a cute little family), but Buddy thought I was getting cookies instead of the camera and jumped up. I would say he jumped up and ruined everything, but how could you be mad at this face...even if you can't see it.
More porch sitting! We are so happy it's cooled off enough to eat dinner outside. Now if we could just figure out a way to eat dinner outside...alone.
Eli doesn't give you the time of day until you sit down to eat and then he just must sit on your lap. Iris, Weaslie (Miss Tilly) and Boo, while well mannered (mostly - right Weaslie?), stare holes through you trying to will a table scrap to magically hit the floor. Comby is good for awhile but then thinks things are too quiet and decides to pick on someone - which is funny when it's Weaslie (poor Weaslie). Brushy shows up and Iris has to pin him to the floor to wash his ears, but then Boo wanders over and gets too close and she has to snarl at him. Comby really gets into the mix then and slaps Claire Bear. Which scares Weaslie, so she tries to run away and runs into Iris. Claire Bear doesn't take any gruff from Comby and retaliates. Eli thinks maybe it's time to hit his porch roof condo and thecrazysheeplady loses her temper and runs everyone off the porch.
Saint Tim goes back in the house for more wine. Dinner continues. And as evening falls, we listen to the last of the summer cicadas and the birds wind things up for the night and watch the sheep emerge from the barn, saunter out to get a drink and then head out to graze in the cool of the evening.
