Through the Looking Glass

This beauty is Venus' Looking-glass, Triodanis perfoliata, growing wild in my bed of kale. I am fortunate that 95% of my weeds are wildflowers. That way, when I fall behind at the task of weeding, the garden still looks lovely, and the pollinators don't mind a bit.

I haven't seen one in a few years because of the drought. This one took advantage of our drip irrigation. We realized last night (when the mosquitoes were biting, and we could have used it for protection) that we haven't seen any Horsemint in a couple years. It must be, like us, waiting for the rain.

We saw our first backyard firefly of the year last night. In wetter years the lawn is an illuminated carpet of them. Sometimes they get caught between our bedroom window and screen, keeping me awake with their magnified blinking. I wonder what it's like to be a beacon for your potential spouse...and what is the other looking for in that light?

Third Coop Wall Goes Up

This past weekend Farmer Rick framed the third wall of the new chicken coop. See how handy the floor comes in for this purpose?

Our friend Don came over to help. He said he brought over his strong back and weak mind, but it's obvious he knows a whole lot about building things and we appreciate his suggestions. Like how to actually attach the walls once they are built (a small detail left out of our reference book).

Here's a detail of how two walls are joined. Basically the top plate of one wall must overlap the other for a bond.

Oops! This recycled window had a little crack, but after a carpentry snafu it got some bigger cracks, all on one side. The argon gas--if there was any--was long gone. Don has lent us his heat gun to soften the caulk so we can get the pieces off, and hopefully have another glass side cut for us to install with windshield sealant.

Farmer Rick can now say blood, sweat, and tears have gone into building the chicken coop.

Here's where it will go once it is repaired.

It's starting to feel like a real nice space. (It would make a great little art studio!) How about a chicken and arts complex?

Sunday Stills: Black and White

I've decided to join the Sunday Stills photography challenge. This week's challenge was to shoot subjects from previous challenges in black and white. Since I haven't submitted before, I looked back and chose the subject of water as my first subject. Many of these could fall under other categories as well.

This is a partially submerged log in the middle of the river, and the black dots are little water skimmers of some sort. I liked all the textures together. It has a calm feeling about it. I guess this one would fall under lines and water.


This is a photo of a parasitic plant called Dodder, which is taking over the Water Willow flowers growing in the river. It looks like bright yellow spaghetti. This one would fall under macro, lines, reflections, and water. I wish more of the plant was in focus.

Here's a Water Willow blossom floating in the river. This would be flowers, water, macro, reflections. It was a challenge to shoot because it was moving with the flow of the river. It took several shots to get the flower in focus.

Here a variety of aquatic plants and the Dodder are being pushed downstream by the flow of the river. This one would be plants, water, reflections, movement, and maybe even lines.

Here's a couple of Swallowtail butterflies frolicking on the Water Willow flowers. It's much too burnt out to be good. This is what happens when I don't get up early enough to shoot and there's too much light reflecting off the water. I photograph a lot of butterflies and since I don't own any major lenses, I've learned to focus on a group of flowers and sit and wait for them to come to me.


This one is nice, but not framed very well. Wish it were in better focus, too.


Lastly, this is Elvis-o my new Silver Laced Polish cockerel in a rusty old farm chair. It was my intention to shoot a lot of animals of husbandry shots today as my second subject, but the animals weren't very cooperative!

Hope you enjoy them!

New Office Assistant Needed

Look very carefully and you will see

why I am behind in paperwork. *

*This also explains the fur in my invoices.
Only self-starters need to apply.

A Little Help From Our Friends

Our friends JP and Don came over to help Farmer Rick raise and join the first two walls...pretty exciting! I am thinking we should move into it and just let the chickens have the old farmhouse. At the rate construction is moving on this thing, the chickens will soon be spilling out of the bathroom and living with us anyway.

This sure looks a lot bigger than it did on paper! --Farmer Rick

Here's a view from the creek.

This morning, one of them was crowing at six weeks of age! Our current roosters didn't crow until they were at least 4 months old. I am hoping this isn't an indication the breeding program will begin before I want it to!

Some Tuesday Farm Photos

You may be getting tired of all my chicken posts, so for a break today I've taken some pretty pics around the farm.

Here's a native Lantana, Lantana horrida, blossom about to open. The bright orange reminds me--the Hooded Oriole and his gal have shown up at the feeder for the second year in a row. They are so bold to clack clack at me from atop the seed feeder in front of my computer when they are out of sugar water. Service please!

I saw a Painted Bunting and an Easter Bronze-headed Cowbird (they have scary red eyes!) at the this feeder yesterday. Too bad I had to shoot through a screen.



And some interesting insects on a Yucca constricta blooming in the prairie. I love how architectural this bug looks. It was very shy and kept moving around to avoid the camera lens. I wonder how it's shape, especially the leg protrusions, help it perform its daily tasks?

Sunlight through a "Bright Lights" Swiss Chard leaf in the garden, reminds me of the delicious meals of it we will soon be having.

Multiple Choice Test For You!

Can you guess what's in these packages that have been sitting on my porch for months now?

a. Vestiges of an American institution doomed by inept customer service
b. Scorpion housing and fodder for target practice
c. Parts that don't fit my Sears dishwasher, never picked up as promised
d. A and C
e. A great source of personal frustration
f. B and E
g. All of the above