A Sunday here at home

I thought I would share a typical Sunday in the summer out here at my home. Being that the temps have been in the 100's for most of the summer, it seems like most of us come to life in the morning hours, then hibernate for the day until the temperature drops below 100 in the evening. These photos were taken around 8:30 am today:

Scott and Evan check on the water level at the tank in the lower pasture.

Hummingbird at the esperanza.

Hummingbirds at one of the feeders.

A doe and a buck at the barn.

Butterfly, a purple-spotted or a pipevine swallowtail, at the esperanza bush.

Indira, my peahen, sits on the car that I should have parked in the garage just for the very reason that she usually likes to perch there.

My peachick, who is quickly growing up.

Then, as I said, not much happens during the heat of the day. I cleaned up a bit outside, cleaned the chicken coop, etc. and felt absolutely awful, like I'd run a 10K or something, and wanted to throw-up. It's just so damned hot!

By 7pm, the activity starts back up and I captured a few more pics of the residents out here in my backyard. Here they are enjoying the evening hours:

These two photos are of Buddy, Minnie Pearl, Almond, then Prime Time and Paleface.

The hummers come back out to get some dinner at the feeders.

Evan helps water the plants.

Then, it's time to go inside, cool off a bit, get ready for bed and start a new day...Monday.....

A couple of notable passings in the backyard

A couple of my favorite animals past away this past week.

My very elderly longhorn, Honeycake, finally went to sleep and didn't wake up. She was a lovely and sweet cow. Very pretty and a truly wonderful and strong mother to all of her calves. In fact, she had her last calf this past winter. She lived a really long life, approx. 30 yrs. give or take. I am glad that she didn't suffer. She was up and walking around, eating, drinking, using the bathroom, just being a cow, all the way to the end.

Then, one of my favorite chickens, a little white bantam I call Ballerina didn't come in to roost the other night and hasn't been seen since. I'm guessing it was a hawk, but I don't know for sure. She was incredibly sweet and one of the few that would always let me pick her up.

I really miss her.

We had a batch of chicks earlier in the month and three of them are hers, so I am hoping that maybe one will look like her and have her temperament.

Everybody is trying to get by in the heat this summer.

Well, we have made several heat and drought records this year. Fifty-something days of over 100+ degree heat. Very tired of the heat.

Oh well.

It seems that everybody is hot and thirsty. I took a pic of a frog this morning around 10am that was hanging out at one of the chicken waterers. Neither the chickens nor the dogs paid him any mind. I guess everybody understands we all need to just get through the summer.

This past week an Orb Spider has made her web right outside my desk window so I can sit and stare at her anytime I want. Right now I am watching her re-spin her web. It's really fascinating. She is about 4 inches long from end-of-leg to end-of-leg. Her web is well over a yard by a yard wide. I think Orb's are truly beautiful spiders -- this is coming from someone who is definitely NOT a "spider person". We have a lot of different types of spiders out here. Like I said, she's been here for the past week and she is working so diligently on this web that I hope she catches something...

Fern's new baby

Fern gave birth yesterday! Here's a pic of her with her new baby!

Flower and Felix don't appear to mind the new addition.

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly

Today I got a picture of a red-spotted purple butterfly. It's a very pretty butterfly. The top of his wings are black and blue and the undersides have red spots, hence the name. I also saw a monarch and took a picture of him.

My sister, brother and new sister-in-law are coming over tomorrow. I am going to make them some homemade agnolotti. I'm looking forward to it.

Evan took a few real steps yesterday. At one point, he took 8 steps without holding onto anything. I'm so excited for him.

Giant Swallowtail

I saw a beautiful Giant Swallowtail butterfly in the hummingbird garden today. I still want to get a photo of a Black Swallowtail that's been hanging around, too.

My rooster wandered into the front garden yesterday. I snapped a pic of him crowing. It looks like it takes a lot of energy to crow. His little neck has to contort into an elongated position that does not look comfortable. I'm continuing to feed the chickens sweet corn puffs as a treat. Evan still won't eat them but he does enjoy the strawberry apple flavor puffs.

He and Scott are on the swing holding the chickens' can of puffs.

Good Rains Bring Out the Wildlife

We had a great thunderstorm last night, so that made for an interesting morning. After I fed Evan I was washing dishes and saw something catch my eye out the kitchen window. There she was, a feral pig rooting around near the barn. I got my camera and went out to take a few shots. There were 7 pigs of various sizes out there. Unfortunately, they're quick and I couldn't get a shot of them all together. The one picture I was hoping to get didn't turn out--it's all fuzzy, but I'll put it up anyway b/c a momma pig is looking right at me and she looks kinda spooky with those little glowing eyes.

I came inside and went back to the dishes when I saw Mr. Turkey hanging around with the cows and donkeys. So, I grabbed my camera and went back outside and took a few pictures of him. We usually start out with about a dozen baby turkeys and then we have just one or two that hang around toward the end of the season.

I love our wildlife.

I also got a couple of pictures of the cows. Anabelle had her first calf about a week ago and she's really cute. She's the little brown and white one. In one of the pictures, she's checking out one of the older calves. Primetime, our bull, is in the foreground.

Barn Swallows and Feral Pigs

The feral pigs have come through the property again. This makes 4 times, that I know of, this year. Usually, they just come through once or twice. They are destructive little beasts! They come through during the night plowing up the ground looking for grubs and things. They are really strong. Our soil is very rocky and after they're done with it the ground looks like someone on a tractor came through and tilled the soil. It's wild.

The first image is a pig footprint. It's pretty big. Then, the second is Nina standing in one of the areas that they dug up. That was green grass the day before.

Also, I checked the Barn Swallows' nest and there were no Cowbird eggs--yay!

I've decided 9 month-old Evan is more like a lizard than a baby. He crawls so fast it's not funny. He darts around, pauses for a moment and takes in the lay of the land, then darts off again--just like a little lizard. It's very cute.

He's also cruising a lot more. That's when he stands up holding onto something like a chair and walks along grabbing onto other pieces of furniture or baby fences and makes his way around. I bought him a little walking toy. He stands up and pushes it, walking along with it -- amazing.

His baby teeth are growing in. He got his 2 lower teeth at the same time and they peek out when he smiles. Overall, he seems to be doing extremely well, but boy, does he have a personality. He's starting to throw little fits when he doesn't get his way. Not so cute...

Not too much else to report. I've got to write quickly b/c Evan does not like it when I'm on the computer. He prefers my attention be focused on him. Eventually, he'll learn the cruel truth that the world does not revolve around him but I won't let him in on that ugly secret yet.

We took him to Dallas for a wedding. One of Scott's cousins got married and they had the ceremony and the reception at her parents' house. It was very family oriented, everybody brought their kids, so it was nice. It was Evan's first trip to Dallas. The wedding was on Saturday and Sunday was Mother's Day. We decided to stay overnight and went to a Mother's Day brunch at Del Frisco's, one of Scott's favorite restaurants in Dallas. This, of course, was my first mother's day where I got to be on the receiving end. Very cool.