It's been one of those afternoons...

1) Eggs

Aack!  There are three duck eggs in the barn:  Smudge is starting on her third brood of the year.  I'd hoped that she was calling it quits for the remainder of the year, but she's got nothing but motherhood on her little duck brain. 

I've been doing some internet research.  I learned that if I take all the eggs, she'll just lay more (and probably move her nest).  Instead, after she's done laying her entire clutch of eggs, but before she starts setting on them, I'll shake all but two of them very hard.  This will destroy the insides before they ever become viable.  If she has two that have life in them, she'll continue setting for 45 days and hatch those ones out.  So we'll have two more ducklings as opposed to twelve.

Certainly not a final solution, but it will have to do in the short term. 





2) Snake

I had the sprinkler on in the area behind the chicken run, softening up some dead thistles that I wanted to pull.  I turned off the water and was looking at a broken plastic pot that had some old pine needles in it.  There, coiled neatly in the middle, was a perfect little jewel of a snake.  A California racer to be exact -- glossy olive-brown scales, head raised and bright little eye fixed right on me. He'd been sitting in his pot, enjoying the shower and was glistening with water drops. And I didn't have the camera.  I DIDN'T HAVE THE CAMERA!  I dashed into the house to grab it but it was nowhere to be found.  Not by my computer.  Not in the kitchen.  Not in my office.  So out I went again, down to the orchard to see if I'd left it there.  On the way, I checked in on the snake to see if it was still there.  Yes, it was -- it seemed to be smiling in an understanding way and never moved.  So I ran down to the orchard garden and pitter-patted all up and down the paths, looking for that blasted camera.  Nothing.  I went back to check the pot for the snake, and there it was, still exquisitely posing with that Mona Lisa smile on its mouth.  I tried the house one last time.  And there it was, on the floor under the dining room table.  Right where, I'm certain, Arby the cat had knocked it.  Back outside, victorious, camera at last in hand and...the snake was gone.  Naturally. 

Well, here is a picture of the pot.  You will have to imagine the snake in it.






3) The Well

I did too much watering without giving the well sufficient time to recharge, so the pumps switched off.   I turned the kitchen tap to wash my hands and nothing came out.  I hadn't done anything with the well since last year and wasn't feeling confident about remembering what switches to flip or exactly what to do.  So I decided to wait for Bruce.








When Bruce got home, after only one audible sigh, he got everything down at the well squared away.



Cornelius sharing his expertise with Bruce



He had the various dogs, cats and a helpful horse right there to lend their assistance.  And the beer helped.




Ahh, the sound of the pump humming along and the wonderful splashing of water from inside the tank.  I climbed up on the ladder, unscrewed the cover of the tank and took a look inside. 

Now that's a pretty sight!