Sleepovers, Flowers and Storms

For the first time in years, Neighbor Mary spent the night away from home. Actually, it's the second time. The first time she left home, she went to Russia and came home with two fabulous kids! But, I digress! Last night, she and her human crew flew to Baltimore to see an Oriole's baseball game. With so many babes to care for, I wound up with a couple of cages in my garage!

The peacock is on the perch and two guineas are snuggled in the corner. Even with temperatures in the upper 90's, we had to keep the heat lamps on the babies. They like temperatures of 100 degrees.

Also along for the sleepover were two baby ducks. One had been grabbed by a hawk and has stitches in her hind end. The other one has a hurt foot. They are good company for each other while they recuperate! I love filling up their water bowl and watching them gulp and splash in it!

Riley Dog wasn't thrilled with sharing his space with lowly birds. He fell out in the liriope and pouted for a while.

It was dusk when I headed out with my camera and got some pretty shots of blooms in the yard. This is a butterfly bush that volunteered. All of the ones I dug holes for, fertilized and watered have died! I'll take volunteers!

Bee balm keeps Neighbor Dave's bees happy! I guess they had all gone to bed by the time I got out for a photo shoot!

Doesn't everyone love yellow daisies? Are there any flowers that look happier than these?

Look at the close up and tell me it doesn't chase away a bad mood!

The red is getting ready to bust out of this flower. I'll take another photo in a few days. For the life of me, I can't remember what this one is called. If anyone knows, please leave me a comment. A full-bloom photo might be more helpful in identifying!

We have had some beautiful storms lately. The photo above shows the storm rolling in this afternoon. We got a nice rain that cooled the temperatures off quite a bit. I love the light rays shining through the clouds.

This one is from a storm last week. The sky was the prettiest shade of purple in the midst of it all.

Do you like storms?

They're Growing!

Across the street...

When they aren't sleeping, their eyes are open!
Did you ever wonder what a baby peacock looks like?

And, the ducks are getting duckier!

(We need to schedule a manicure for Neighbor Mary!)

Springtime Brings...

BABIES!

Just because my house is lacking little ones doesn't mean my neighbors don't have any!

Neighbor Terri has 12 new baby chicks. They came in the mail last Thursday. Since there was so much extra space in the box, the chicken company worries that the babies will get cold. So what's a chicken company to do? Toss in a bunch of basic boys to keep the others warm!

The gray ones were paid for and the yellow ones are body heat!

The breed I have are cochins. These cuties are silkies.

When they grow up, they'll look like this!

Here's a close up of a freebie! Anybody want a pile of damn-cute roosters?

Yesterday, Neighbor Mary called for help getting a duck and her babies out of the well house. She had nested in a pile of insulation with a butt-load of eggs. All but two hatched!

Looking down on the crew, it doesn't look like too many.

But get Mama out of the picture and you see 19 babies! Are they not the cutest things!

They were relocated to the chicken tractor. Mama had to be coaxed off the roof of Mary's house....twice!

But once she was caught and back with the babies, they all seemed to be happy! I wonder how much trouble I would be in if I brought home a few baby ducks?

I know the answer...A WHOLE DAMN LOT!!

Daisy the Goat has her own house. She can't decide if this is better than her spot in the garage and only goes in her house when put there by Farmer Mary!

These baby bunnies are just 6 days old. Their eyes aren't open yet, but those babies can hop! I had to hold on so tight, I thought I might squish them!

Yep, I miss Melvin, but with all the babies in the 'hood, I will get my snuggle fix!

Good Guys Don't Always Wear White

This morning, I decided to take several bags of squished hot dog rolls over to my neighbor's livestock crew. You know the saying, "No good deed goes unpunished?" Well I got my punishment this morning!

The animals always get excited when they see me coming with a trash bag because they know it's leftovers. About 100 ducks and chickens, two llamas, a sheep, a pony and two emus started pushing their heads through the fence and shoving others away so they will be first.

I broke apart the first bag and started handing them out. One of the emus, the black llama and the pony were the hungriest. Did you know an emu can swallow a whole hot dog bun in one gulp? However, I did discover that hamburger buns stick to the roof of their mouths with bun hanging out on either side. Have you ever had to wrestle the head of an emu to pry the bun loose? I have.

I love buns!

So, the big guys were getting their buns whole while I shredded buns for the littler birds. Finally, the white llama and a sheep came over for food. One bun to the sheep...yum! yum! One handed to the white llama and bad attitude all over both of us. She leaned her head forward, rared back and let it fly. Llama spit in my hair and on my shirt. Thank heavens I hadn't had my shower yet or I really would have thrown a hissy fit! Instead, I rared back and pelted her with hot dog buns. I think she won!

The good llama (I'm afraid the white one will spit on my camera!)

I am thankful that it is spit llamas sling instead of something that rhymes with spit! I'm off to the shower!

Just Ducky!

Yesterday, I picked Will up from a friend's house. On the way back home, just before crossing the bridge over Falls Lake, we saw something moving across the street in front of us. I thought it was a big old swamp turtle and started to slow down. As we got closer, I realized it was a Mama Duck and about 8 babies. We stopped until they safely crossed and disappeared into the tall grass. Happy swimming!