What'cha Doin??

Some days I'd be hard pressed to explain if someone were to ask what I was doing.  Yesterday was a good example.  Coming back up the hill from the barn, I usually stop at the driveway to catch my breath, bent over, arms braced on my legs.  Not much to see in that position, but then I noticed that the long straw(?) in the middle of this photo was twitching.  The small red ant at the right end (click on the picture to enlarge) wanted that straw out of the way and it was going to happen come hell or high water.  Comparatively speaking, it was like a man trying to move a telephone pole by himself.  That ant pulled, pushed, lifted, and dragged that straw until I thought he'd get a hernia.  I must have stayed there watching this epic struggle for a good five minutes.  "What'cha doin'?"  "Oh, just watching an ant."  "Uh huh."

Rhonda and Raymond are reaching the adolescent stage.  They don't stay babies long and, like their human counterparts, they don't want to mind their mama anymore.  Raymond snuck out of the nursery at nap time, talked Ronda into coming with him, and they played tag until Stump caught them at it.  They gave her some sass before coming to her side.  They grow up so fast.  "What'cha doin'?"  "Oh, just watching the squirrels."  "Uh huh."

I don't even have to go outside to watch squirrels.  From my chair in the living room, I could see Robert, Bobby, and a group of cousins raid every potted plant on the deck.  "Hey, come try a taste of this one!"  They provide a lot of amusement, but I wish they weren't so destructive.

In the afternoon, Bess and I watched birds flutter and splash in the spray from the sprinkler.  Bluejays and woodpeckers took turns with the dinky birds in the birdbath.  They just had the best darned time.  I didn't see it, but last week Camille told me she'd seen a vulture taking a dip in the goats' water trough.  I knew they drank from it; I didn't know they bathed in it, too.  (Eeeuw.)

I didn't get a lot done yesterday.  I was busy watching.  Uh huh.