Blast from the Past: Oakville

My hat is off to whom ever is restoring this vehicle. I will stop one morning and take pictures of the old jail house that is now a bed & breakfast. It's so peaceful on this hill in the morning. More time needs to be dedicated to the simplicity of quiet.

Thoughts from inside the coop......

What's in a face?

MY HEART!

Here is Zephyr this morning standing on the bumper of our farm truck looking out from Oakville.

There is nothing better than seeing our boys smile.

Ssssssh Don't Tell

Seems the warring factions in our 'free range' yard has called a truce. Don't tell, I busted the chickens and guinea fowl getting along. No more West Side Story face offs on the lawn or at the watering stations.

Double click to bring in the picture. The guineas would have bolted to have been discovered. LOL!

Now someone, go tell the rest of the world we need peace talks then bug hunting.

1st and Last Chore of My Day

I open and roll these 48 beauties 4 times a day to keep the embryos fluid inside the egg.

Last time we used the egg tray to turn the eggs but could not keep the temperature regulated because of filling the water reservoirs.

As you can see most of our eggs have a greenish blue tint to the shell because these were laid by Americana chickens. Other than Buff, Orphington hens, Americanas are the best layers year round for us. Believe it or not, I have train all of our Americanas to lay on two lawn chairs with a pillow in the seat on our back porch. For the most part, we do not have to hunt down their eggs.

So between March 16-20th, we should begin getting little peeps and chicks.

King has been dethroned:

On February 23rd, I wrote about Alpha having been injured and my giving him First Aid. Well his trusty followers as seen in the pictures from that day were not in fact awaiting the return of the king.

Instead, his second in command, Romeo decided to take the opportunity to become 'King' and fight injured Alpha for his rightful place. Now, I did try to keep the two Brahma Banty roosters from harming each other but, I learned my lesson.

Chickens need a fully established Pecking Order to maintain discipline. So, I left them to their own devices. Little did I know our first natural hatched chicken, Uno, son of Red Rocky had his own plans. Uno waited for Alpha and Romeo to fight out who would be 'King' and then he fought the winner, Romeo. Not only was Uno a savvy rooster but in the picture above is Romeo hiding from both Alpha and Uno.

Gotta love, depise, or respect male dominance at its best in the animal world. Males beating each other to bloody messes over the chance of a few mating opportunities. And this has to be Darwin's Theory of Survival of the fittest.

First part of story here: On Feb 23, 2009.
http://saenzmom.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html

Thoughts from inside the coop.....

Hubby's Favorite Woman ~:>

He loves the smell of the blooms of this Mountain Laurel in our front yard. A sure sign spring is around the corner is its heavely fragrance. I can't usually get close to this tree because of the bees. So he is the one who takes care of this lovely lady.
The blooms are so pretty with their shades of purples and creamy whites. In a few weeks, Ms. Laurel will be so heavy with bloom; her green leaves will just peek out like a slip from the bottom of a lady's dress.
Double click on the image and you will be able to 'almost' smell
the blooms.

Upturned Hand

Here is another of my favorite trees. This one is on the way to Beeville, and reminds me of an upturned hand. Next time, if I have my boots on I will have to take closeups. Do people take after nature or nature after people? In my opinion, we take after nature.

Double click to see it more clearly.