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.

More Pictures from Evan's Birthday

Max is such a little sweetie.

Scott's old friend, Layne, and Scott.

Ed and Jenny.

Ed, Steph and Mom.

Evan turns 3 years old

We celebrated Evan's birthday with a very small family get-together. Work and an incredibly hot summer made the thought of throwing a bigger party a little too much to handle right now.

Evan had a great time with his cousin, Max, and his aunts, uncle and Nana. Just the right amount of presents and birthday cake, too.

Peafowl

OK, I am working full-time again and I absolutely do not have the brain capacity to manage a blog and everything else.

That said, what's going on with me? Well, I have been trying to build my peafowl flock but it's just not in the cards.

Indira, my peahen, still wanders around, but my peacock has been killed and my peachicks have ended up as snake food, save for one little guy. I started with 5 chicks and I only have one left. The snakes have been feasting on my chicks.

Rat snakes seem to be the predominant species around here, although I've seen indigo and coral here from time to time.

This morning, I checked on my last 2 peacock chicks around 6 am and by 7 am, when I was ready to leave for work, a rat snake had killed and half eaten one of the chicks. The shovel made swift work of said rat snake.

I am sooooooo pissed. I am trying to figure out what to do, but, seriously, I have never had this much trouble with snakes before!

Lord knows I've raised plenty of chicks around here, but this is the first time I've had the snakes come out and kill them so aggressively! I wonder if it's the drought that's finally driving them to do this.

Anyway, I am really mad.

Pottery

I enjoy pottery. I enjoy pottery that I know someone made with their own 2 hands. My neighbor is an artist, print making is her specialty. This is the second year that she and I and another friend have gone to the annual "Art of the Pot" here in Austin, where artists display their wares and demonstrate their craft. It is a lot of fun.

Below are some of last year's finds:

Just the bird cups and the elephant at the front of this photo.