fawn

 

Meanwhile, back at the house...this is either Pixel or Gizmo resting comfortably INSIDE one of the fenced-off flower beds. The picture was taken through one of my not-exactly-sparkling kitchen windows. the little varmint was in there yesterday too but I was unable to get a picture. Doereen is napping on the front lawn so the other fawn is probably near by too.

Verna & Atha's Big Day Out

 

 

 

I opened the chicken pen door a little bit ago and watched the girls mosey out. I was so afraid that Roostie would immediately um, hug them, but he knew his job was to teach them how to scratch for food and he took to the task immediately...sent leaves just a'flyin', he did. But what's this? I just peeked out to see the girls hovering around their pen door and Roostie is up here by the house! Has he gotten so frustrated by their lack of enthusiasm that he has quit as their teacher? Oh my. The drama.

the dumb clucks

 

Actually, I'm beginning to feel a glimmer of hope. Last night Verna put herself to bed and Atha wasn't hard to catch. This morning they pecked, (actually pecked!) at some melon and tonight they both put themselves to bed. I think as soon as I get my errands run in the morning that I will open the gate and let them out into the BIG world....and hope that Roostie doesn't totally spoil their Big Adventure. Heck, maybe they'll like his attention. who knows.

sea life?

 

Look! Sea lions! No, Walrus! Oh, they are slugs. That reminds me, anybody got any tame ducks needing a new home?

The Old Hens

 

May I introduce you to Atha (red) and Verna (blond)? They came to live with us the night before last and hopefully their little chicken brains are processing the fact that this is The Safe Place to go into every evening. The plan is to let them roam "free range" to gorge on snails and other delicacies during the daylight hours. This may be a joke as they not only seem to be ancient girls but also refugees from a factory-type egg operation. They don't really know how to act like chickens! I've seen only a little scratching in the pile of leaf mold that they are currently living upon. Mostly they just stand around, staring at each other or sometimes watching Roostie as he struts around their pen bragging on what a Big Stud Rooster his little Bantam body is really. Why, these sweet old spinsters are most certainly virgins...do I dare let them out for rapeage and pillage? (I know. Spellcheck wasn't impressed either)
The girls were named after two ladies who lived in this neighborhood back in the 40's and 50's, Atha O'Brian and Verna Loveall. I was just a little chick myself but found them to both be very sweet "old ladies" (meaning that they were probably in their 30's at that time.) They will be allowed out into the Big World this coming Friday. We shall see what happens.

Tithonia

 
Deer resistant? It does not appear so! DOEreen dined heartily on it today. She has also eaten the hairy, scratchy leaves of a gourd vine as well as totally wiping out my fenced-in-but-not-well-enough potato vines.

might as well feed them my daisy dollars

 


But how cute is this? There are two. (babies, that is) This is Doereen and the larger of the twins. The twins are still being stashed in different places in the yard. They are about 8 days old.

explosions of color

Goodness, I wasn't sure this Painted Lady would ever stay still long enough on the Verbena bonariensis to be captured in pixels. (That is a Painted Lady, is it not?)











Chicory is something I have tried to grow for at least ten years without success so this was a Grande Surprise in the Not-so-Secret-Garden this weekend. Of course I can't remember if I bought it at a native plant sale, or scattered it from a native plants seed packet...or if it just blew in on its own, but its here now and I love it!








Neighbor Karen hosted the 4th of July Feast and Fireworks again this year. We all ate too much, drank a lot (but not THAT much) and enjoyed Brett's fireworks display. It was an amazingly cool 4th for Sacramento. Last weekend we had 108°. We didn't make it much past 90° this weekend.

When we donned our 3-D glasses, this is how the fireworks looked. All we were missing were the "special brownies"!
Obviously, the camera's "eye" saw the same thing when I made it "wear" the glasses. Cool psychedelics, Man.
I spent most of today eating the week's worth of leftovers that I brought home last night. WHY do I do this to myself?