Faces: Some Old, Some New

The chickens get let out first thing every morning.  Pellets are in a hanging bucket in the coop.  Scratch gets thrown down in their yard; keeps them busy and they ingest sand as well as the oyster shell for their craws.  When I don't need to save milk, the little kids get a bowlful on my way back to the house.  Going in to give them a slurp yesterday I found Gunther, a relative of Gary's.  He had burrowed up for grain and was just hanging out in the hole, head not quite above ground, beady eyes squinting in the light.  The hens came running for their milk, but avoided stomping on Gunther's head.  Gophers must have such poor eyesight.  It took Gunther a while to realize I was there, or maybe he just didn't care.  I said good morning and went on my way, but it was nice to see a new face.

Ground squirrels have been noticeably absent down in the barn, but they're making up for it in spades now.  They're bouncing all over the pen in large numbers and I've been hearing the chirp of the lookouts.  In the big room, Crook showed up yesterday, bent tail and all.  Like mice, the squirrels have to have some distinguishable characteristics before they get a name.

There are five or six very gravid mice who come for breakfast.  I found that the gestation period is about three weeks, so there should be new faces pretty soon.  Without predation, mice can live up to three years.  Mini-squint continues to make an appearance; he's a pretty tough little guy who doesn't take guff from the others.

The first, and so far only, iris popped into bloom yesterday in the rock garden.  To my surprise, a sixth peony plant has also come up.

Birds come and birds go.  Just now large numbers of mourning doves are visiting, bringing their sad calls.  Soon they'll be replaced by the bigger ringneck doves.

My guilt had reached critical mass, spurring me to finish the tax stuff and get it in the mail yesterday, along with a long-overdue package.  It's apparent my motto is "Never do today what you can put off 'til tomorrow."

It's been heating up pretty good lately, certainly enough to pop a sweat down in the barn.  The process of opening windows has begun in the house.  Of course, now we're promised cooler weather this week.  I'm not complaining!  A bit of cloud cover makes for a pretty sunset.

.A familiar face is coming for early dinner tonight.  Arden and I are going to make pizzas.  I'm sure pizza is one of the four food groups necessary for good health.

It was a good day.