From The Driveway

You just never know what you might see traveling up and down our driveway. 

This morning it was a turkey hen and 6-7 poults.  

We also have a somewhat tame deer that hangs around.  

 And this red tailed hawk was nice enough to stay still while I took this picture.  

Airlie Garden Visit

Since Sadie has such a love of flowers, Virginia thought it would be nice to take her to a botanical garden.  There was one about an hour from where we stay at the beach.  I went with Emily to it several years ago and throughly enjoyed it.  That time there was a gnome exhibit.  That visit can be seen HERE. 

This time there was a bee theme exhibit.  It was a little rainy and overcast so we were not missing anything at the beach.

Sadie was vey excited about the flowers.

She even recognized that these pink phlox were like what I have at home.  

But her favorite part was the butterfly house.

We go a family photo for them.

There was some interesting Spanish moss on the ground.

We got to see some turtles in the lake.

And there were lots of  photo ops.  

But then it started to rain again which was fine because I think we had reached the end of Sadie’s and Allie’s attention span.  We went to The Boathouse for a great lunch.  They had shrimp and grits, my favorite.  When we got back the sun finally came out and we were able to get in some more beach time. 

Sadly, we will have to leave tomorrow. 

 

The Beach

Day care is closed all next week. Virginia asked if I could help babysit.  Sure! Let’s go to the beach. The big problem was Joe had to stay home to babysit the farms. 

I came yesterday because Virginia and Mike were going to leave at 3 am the next day.  I didn’t really want to do that. 

So I had one afternoon to myself. 

Then look who arrived this morning!

They are loving the water.  Allie wasn’t a fan of the sand at first but she soon got over that.

They have played in the water, picked up shells, and made a sandcastle.  

Sadie is now inside coloring with C while Allie is taking a nap. 

I think the sun is past its peak so we can head back out soon.

They have had a great time so far.

We will see if it continues.

 

Birds, Goats, Rabbits

Someone found an injured bird and brought it to the clinic today.

The other doctor was looking at it and thought it was a woodpecker.  I said there was no red on its head so, no it couldn’t be a woodpecker.  Ok, maybe a female or juvenile woodpecker wouldn’t have red but still, it didn’t look like a woodpecker. 

It was a Kingfisher.  

It had a piece of fishing line tangled around its leg and wing.  Nothing was broken. The Good Samaritan took it black to release it near where it was found. 

This was the little piece of fishing line with a tangled feather.  

As for the goats, we were moving them to another field and I noticed one of the kids limping.  It had a broken rear leg. (That bend is not supposed to be there) I have no idea what happened to it.  But is was one of the kids that I supplemented with a bottle for a few weeks after it was born because it had injured a front leg.  

So it is much tamer than any other random goat kid we might have.  He will live in the dog pen and barn for a couple of weeks while he recuperates with a splint on.  

Then coming back from the barn, not one, not two, but three rabbits were in the yard.  

Anyone like rabbit meat and want to come get some?  

 

Couponing #86

It has been a minute since I last posted a couponing scenario.  I usually just use the couponing to get what I was buying anyway cheaper. Then the couponing items are free. But this week the deal was too good to pass up.  

So I did a deal just to get the lowest out of pocket amount. 

20 cents plus tax. Nothing I really needed. But who could say no to saving $35 and only spend 20 cents. 

 

Calf Weaning

We tried to get an early start today. We were weaning the calves at our other farm and hauling them over here.

We headed out at 6:30 and 60 degrees. 

As usual, Joe had the cattle in position to get them right into the barn lot. 

We sorted out the cows, then the cull cows, then replacement heifers.  That left 4 trailer loads of calves to bring back to the house.  Back and forth, back and forth…finally finished at 2:00 when it was 90 degrees.  Maybe we should have tried for an earlier start.

 

Wildflower Walk

Otoelene and I headed out yesterday morning. 

It wasn’t terribly early but it was still coolish.

I think Otoelene’s favorite flower of the day was the chicory.  In the morning the blooms are a beautiful blue. By the afternoon they are gone. Horses find the plant quite tasty. 

We rode by some pretty, wild black eyed Susan’s. 

They were much nicer than what is in my flower garden. Last year I threatened to dig them up but they had a good year and bloomed well. This year they were back to being all black center and no pretty petals.  So this year I am taking at least half of them out. 

I saw some bell flowers. 

And this leather flower vine. It’s a member of the clematis family. 

Apparently, this moth mullein is an invasive species from North Africa. 

I have always liked the name of this flower, viper’s bug loss. 

I never really thought about a wild version of bee balm being right here.  Maybe I will see about moving some to my flower garden. 

And not a flower but I thought I would leave you with a smile. 

 

A Ball, A Hanger And Some Nails

I attempted another Pinterest project.  I had been wanting to make it for a long time but couldn’t figure out the type of ball to use. 

I finically decided on a rubber bouncy ball. 

I needed a hanger to use as a stake.

And a lot of nails.

No it is not Sputnik.

With a little paint and proper placement they will be year round alliums. I didn’t have any purple paint so I tried one with blue. I think purple will look better so I will just wait to paint the others. At least the rabbits won’t be able to eat them. Now I need some more bouncy balls.