Finally

I don't know why, but the Goldfinches have not been around very much this year. And it really seems colder this year than last year. Last year I had lots of Goldfinches and House finches at this sunflower seed feeder. This year, maybe twice. I caught a little chickadee at this feeder.

The Goldfinches were at the thistle seed feeder. I just love them; they are so cute.

They just flutter around. It is pretty hard to take a picture of them.

A Few Flowers

Several days ago I took some pictures of flowers that are trying to bloom. It is just a few. Except for my Camellia, and it is time for it to bloom. But guess what, here comes the freeze.

I might see if I can cover the bush since it is not very large yet. I still has lots of blooms on it and I want them all to bloom. There!

My Forsythia had about four blooms on it. Hopefully the rest of the buds will be okay and bloom out later.

These are a few Rosemary blooms. My Rosemary is getting quite large. It only had about three branches that had bloomed, but they are cute.

My Rosemary is getting large. It is almost about five feet by five feet. I have had it for awhile. I don't use very much Rosemary, but when you cut a few stems and bring them in the house; smells so wonderful.

Down at Norma's

Everyday, around noonish, I go to my friends house to let their little dogs out while they are at work. They have just moved to the country and I am really glad they are in the neighborhood. Anyway, while I was there today, I took more pictures. There is a log across the branch and only a few of the dogs use it. Chili is the one, but now Taz has got into it also.

Chili went down to the branch to see what is going on. You know it has been a little warmer now, there might be a frog hopping around.

Chili decided she would see what is over on the other side of the fence.

These are my brothers horses. They are on the other side of the branch. They are neighing at me trying to tell me to get over there and feed them.

This is Sweetie. I know you have seen the little Belk dogs on my blog. Sweetie and Taz are the only ones that were down the hill when I was taking pictures.

Taz and Sweetie are slowly making there way back up the hill to the house.

And from the back porch, the view. Isn't it pretty? You know Skylar is not going to leave the horses until I'm ready to go. She is that little speck at the horse up the hill.

Frisbee Time Again

You've got to watch it. They do a better job of catching the Frisbee than I do. She has her eye on it.

Then you've got to bring it back so we can start all over again.
I finally caught her and Skylar in the air. I've been trying for the longest to get the jump right. If you will notice, Chili catches the Frisbee on the back side. Every once in a while, when she is just barely getting to the Frisbee, she will catch the front.

This wasn't the perfect jump, but better than I usually get. You know, that is the best part of catching; the jumping.

Sissy doesn't play catch. She just likes to run around and bark. That's okay, gives me a little break.

Increasing Production

For a little while anyway. We have had about a week of pretty warm weather, so the chickens are laying more. I had six eggs yesterday. This is Gigi. She laid her first egg, Wednesday I think.

This is it. For a first time egg, it is pretty big and it is blue green. So now three of my Americanas lay blue green eggs. The Easter eggs.

I put golf balls in the nest to help encourage them to lay there. These nest are in the hen house but there are two nest in the shed. Only because the hens want them there.
I still have three not laying. These are two of the pullets. They are Americaunas also. The other pullet is a Rhode Island Red.

This is one of my Golden Laced Wyandottes. She is setting in the shed. She started setting last week on golf balls. Then the Barred Rock laid a couple of eggs in her nest. I know it was the Barred Rock because I caught her in the nest with Lacy. Since this is her first time to set, I decided we would just go with the two eggs she has now. Hope she has little hens.

Bath Time

I know it wasn't Saturday and this shouldn't have been happening. Sissy is giving a good shake to get rid of the water. Actually, I did get rid of most of the water with a towel.

Now clean the face real good.

Go outside and wallow a little more. That is until I made her come back in the house. No wallowing outside right after the bath. Give it an hour anyway.

Chili just wants to play after the bath. She barks to let me know. She is a noisy little critter. Skylar is the only one that lucked out of the bath. Since the bath was yesterday, I don't remember why.

Uncooperative Fish

I still had the spitter on when I went out to feed my fish and try to get some pictures of them. Since the lily pads have died away, they hide under some foliage in the bottom. As soon as I turned off the spitter, so I could get better pictures, it went and hid again. I thought, alright, I'll just go gather eggs and come back and get a few shots.

Not going to happen. This picture with two of them was a good as I got.

While I was waiting for the fish to come up, Chili was zipping around the pond trying to find frogs. Then she noticed the fish food. So she thought she would lap up a few.

Or bob for a few.

I don't know what Sissy was trying to do. She would go from one dead Mexican Heather to the next one and stick her head in it. Maybe her face itched and she thought that would be a good scratcher.

I got five eggs today. I was so excited. I have only gotten one or two lately. But four yesterday and five today.

After the Freeze

Ah, sunshine. This chicken likes sunflower seeds. For some reason I don't have the Goldfinches like I did last year. I have seen some around, but not like last year.

This chicken wants a birds eye view, I think. I don't know why she thought she needed up there. Do you see her?

This is a picture of a bud from my Camilla. I'm surprised the twelve degree weather didn't get them. Hopefully, they will make it to bloom.

What Fun

Tuesday and Wednesday Oscar stayed out all day. This was taken yesterday. It was still pretty cold (in the forties) but Oscar refused to come in. It has been so cold here and the little dogs don't have much hair, so they can't stand the cold. But since the sun is shining. That is okay.

Today was so nice. I think our high was around sixty-two. We did take advantage of it, too. Played and hung around in the sunshine.

Chili was playing Frisbee and Oscar came along to get it. Chili would growl at Oscar and then both would walk off. Then I retrieve; several times.

Saturday is suppose to bring rain back so we have one more play day. We hope. I hope everyone else is having wonderful weather also.

One More Frosty Morning

These are pictures I took Sunday morning. My pond has got a little flow from the smaller pond and that is it. You can still see that there are layers to the freeze, since I had the spitter going to cause that.

I got a picture of the large gold fish. He is hanging under the foliage. I saw one of the other fish also, so I hope they are okay.

Poppet and Suki are pretty frisky this morning also. I'm sure they would rather it be a little warmer. But hey, that is the way it goes. Life makes us tough, right?

Poppet, says I see you with that camera.

Ah, sunshine is finally up. We need a little to warm up. They are pretty far away and still see the camera. Or at least they look like they do.

Frosty Mornings

Saturday and Sunday mornings were really frosty. It looks like a light snow, but it is just frost. Skylar is bringing the ball back. It is never too cold (or anything else extreme) to play. Skylar had wanted out at three am and was waiting for me to come out a seven. Can you just imagine; thirteen degrees and she is just fine.

Sissy is really furry also. She doesn't want outside in the middle of the night, though.

Poppet and Suki are trying to find a few sprigs of grass. Not very successful is my guess. I broke the ice out of the water trough and carried buckets of water out for them. I have two water troughs, one at the barn and one on the other side of the fence near the house.

Sklyar is just waiting to see if maybe they want to run. She can out wait them.

I left my spitter going Friday night. It pulled a lot out of the pond. The water is ca couple of inches below the ice. I did disconnect the spitter so not to loose more water.