Tuesday, July 3, 2007

3 July 2007

I had to post another picture of the barn swallows, click on the pic to see the larger version and you will see that there are clearly 5. The one on the left is the least mature so I hope it will make it. I can't believe how quickly these little birds have changed in a matter of days. The parents are trying to entice them to take the first plunge. They fly up to the nest but just far away from them so that they have to reach out to see if there is food or not, then the parent bird will swoop away in the hope that one will follow. They sing and chirp at them the whole time, they really are pretty to listen to, like a canary. I have a feeling that within the next 24 hours they will be leaving the nest. The babies in the other barn are a bit further away from being ready but the nest is full so I wouldnt be surprised if there were 5 there too.

Here is brat baby saying hello to his big sister. They have the same mother.
I missed a wonderful opportunity this morning, I am so bumbed out about it. I went to town to deposit a check and stopped at the mail boxes at the end of our drive. Behind the boxes is a wooded area and we often have deer which come in and out of it. A few weeks ago there was a deer standing stock still beind a felled tree about 20 feet from me when I got out to open the box. It didnt move while I watched it and I went back to the truck without disturbing it. I didnt have my camera. Well today the same thing happened again, the only difference and what makes it even more heart breaking is that after seeing her I noticed a movement 20 feet to my right and there on the edge of the trees in the sunshine was a fawn, still with the spots on it (a little Bambi!!!!). It was totally unaware of me and was rustling around in the grass, eating bits of it. Guess what, I didnt have my camera with me AGAIN!!!!! I watched it for a while and left quietly kicking myself for missing the opportunity which I probably wont get again. It has joined the collection of images etched in my mind that I missed capturing with my camera.

It was pretty warm again today, still no more rain, hopefully we will get more soon. The guy who supplies us with hay has increased his prices from $3 a bale to $4 a bale and the next cutting may be even more, although that bit of rain we had saved the crops to a degree and the hay, it is going to be awesome alfalfa so hopefully it will be worth what it costs. The ground is still covered in deep cracks, we have clay predominantly around here which is dreadful, slippery and mushy when it is wet and hard as a rock when it is dry.

Well guys that is about it for today. Happy 4th of July to all my American blogger friends. see y'all tomorrow. (((((Hugs))))))

Lori
xx

4 comments:

Rising Rainbow said...

Shame on you! Two days in a row! LOL We're funny creatures, aren't we, so sure we know what's waiting for us.

Do Taxes and his sister have the same dads? I don't remember what you said. He's sure getting big, but so is Andy. Time flies so fast.

For a camera I'm thinking I need to go up from a point and shoot but still need something simple that I can learn on but still have the opportunity to take good moving pics of the horses. Is there such a thing. Any thoughts you might have would be appreciated.

Dave has to work tomorrow so it's business as usual here. I think I really need a day off but can't seem to get anyone else interested so guess I'll work on clipping for my open house.

Hope you have a good fourth.

Anonymous said...

Well darn. I try to carry my camera or one of them (I usually have the wrong lens on the camera I take) with me wherever I go. I hope you can think of it in the future.

I like the horse pictures very much.

Happy 4th. by the way.

Sorry about hay prices. Here, it has been super dry but the hay is in rolls (don't know what they call it) and it looks really good.

I remember, when I was a kid, during WWII that I used to help farmers pitch hay on a hay wagon. Loose hay. One man on the wagon. The horses pulled it and stopped when told. We use hay forks to pitch the hay onto the wagon and the man on the wagon moved it around and when we got done, we were holding the pitchfork of hay high over our heads and he would take it off and put it on top.

Then we all went to the barn and drove into the barn and on the floor stopped. Then one of us would grab the rope and let the hayfork fall onto the wagon. It was a heavy old thing and when it fell it went in all the way. The when you pulled on the rope the bottom of the tines on the hay fork flipped out to grab the load of hay. That was pulled by rope and pulley up to the top of the roof where a track was and then the load rolled on the track to the haymow. And the man yanked the rope and the hay fell into the hay mow and somebody was there with a hay fork to move it around. We filled whole hay mows like that. What a lot of work.

Then, we got to help with "baled" hay and those things got to weighing 80 pounds and were hard to life and throw up on a wagon.

Later in life they began to pull an elevator behind the wahon and we only had to put the hay on that.

Now, fortunately, I have no clue how they get those rolls anywhere but I have seen them up at barns so I assume they put one roll or two on a tracktor and take them to the barn.

Sorry for this long comment. Hope it is ok.

Abraham Lincoln
My Blog
the robins

Anna said...

Hope that you had a Happy 4th!

Great shots. I am loving going through what I have missed being away!

Take care Lori!

Lulu said...

I'm glad your baby birds are doing better than mine.... I found 3 that fell from their nest in the horse barn yesterday. The fall to the cement was too much... :(

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