Another blessed event!

So far these two are safe and sound.  Three more eggs...we'll see!

Full Moon Setting

Moon, inconstant moon.  It was full last night, casting long gray shadows across the grass. Encouraging the movement of nighttime critters.  Driving the dogs full barking mad.

Stealing my sleep.

This morning the moon gained slight advantage on me, so beautifully backlighting the barn.

Inconstant moon.

Beautiful (little) eggs!

A small egg appeared in the nest the other day. Perhaps a "fart egg"? Well, perhaps, but I think it's quite possible one of the young hens has begun to lay. Since three are Araucanas and one is a Golden Laced Wyandotte, I'm guessing it must be Dotty. Aren't the eggs just lovely?

Believe me, the salmonella outbreak in the commercial egg stream has shocked people into a new consideration of that old question "where does my food come from?" I have strong feelings about the way animals are treated in the commercial food business, but I don't often share them. It is gratifying to see so many folks recognizing that there just might be a problem out there. Just maybe, maybe you should be eating beautiful eggs from truly happy hens.

Like this little egg.

What big eyes you have!

I stepped outside to call Luke in tonight.  It was pitch black dark, so I waved my hand in front of the motion controlled light.  As I did, something hit me in the head.  Not like a leaf, like a bat -- the animal kind!

First I jumped, then I looked to see if I could see what had hit me.  And this is what I saw.

Over there on the wall...

A sticky-fingered frog!  Once I realized what it was, I was no longer concerned.  (Unless Barbara G. tells me it's some exotic poisonous frog, but I don't think she will!)  So since it was staying stuck to the wall, I took a few other photos...

This is my favorite, taken from above.  "My, what big eyes you have!"

It's just a little, green, sticky-fingered frog.

And Luke still hasn't come in!

(I am informed that this is Hyla versicolor, a gray tree frog.)

Morning has Broken, 5

Today the weather is due to break.  The humidity should drop.  In theory, at least, that will make a dent in the population of mosquitoes tormenting us.  Until then, I'll continue to smash them on the window glass.  You see the remains of one, probably my blood, on the photo above, shot through the sliding glass door.  At the moment I love smashed mosquito remains.

Stars in our Eyes!

A few months ago I entered one of my favorite photos of Oskar and Ulani in a competition for the Michigan-Ohio Briard Club's 2011 calendar.  Guess what?  We got the cover!  Don't they look great peering out at you?  For quite a while I used this photo as my computer desktop -- it looked like they were inside the box, looking out.

Want one?  They will soon be for sale on the MOBC website for $20 plus $2 s/h.  It's a fundraiser for the club and full of lots of lovely Briard photos.

Now I have to deal with dogs in the limelight.  Ulani already asked for an iPhone so that she can Twitter with her fans!  Honestly!

Oskar's Birthday Walk

A happy birthday boy out in the corn!

Guest poster: Oskar says "I'm 12!"

It's my birthday today -- August 6.  If you look at my birth certificate, it will say August 7.  But my sister Charlotte and I emerged first, on the near side of midnight.  The other eight came afterwards, dragging our "official birthdate" to the 7th.  It's my birthday today -- August 6 -- and I'm just going to stretch out in my chair and enjoy it.

On the occasion of my birthday -- on August 6 -- I enjoy taking a walk, well, anywhere really but I was going to say "down memory lane."  Join me for walkies!

Back in 1998 I flew on an airplane from Canada and came to live with Johanna.  Things were different then.  No digital cameras.  Johanna was a blond.  Still, all in all, life was good.

We lived in Chicago for a couple of years.  We got to go to puppy school so Johanna could learn to give me treats on command.  That was good.  Then we moved to a house with a big yard and when I chased squirrels I could really stretch my legs.  I liked that.  We had a nice neighbor named Billie who would give me the big bones by the boxful.  That was particularly good.

That was where we got chickens for the first time.  The best thing about chickens is they are treat dispensers.  You just follow along behind them and they leave treats to eat!  That was good!

One day Johanna went off in the car by herself.  When she came home we had Ulani.

After Ulani joined us, it was only a matter of time before we moved to Michigan.  Another new backyard, where Ulani learned to climb the fence.  I had a big adventure one night and went deer chasing, but when it got dark I came right home.  But again, Johanna decided we should move.

We ended up here at Busy Solitude Farm.  Now we've lived here five years.  That's the longest I've lived anywhere.  It's pretty good here.  Trucks and tractors and the yellow school bus drive by for me to chase.  Well, inside the fence I can chase, Johanna always says "no chasing trucks" when we're on walkies.  Sometimes there are rabbits to chase, but we do not have squirrels here.  I miss the squirrels.

We have chickens again, and ducks that make funny noises.  I like to stand outside the barn and listen to them.  Now we have our walks in straight lines -- straight away from the house, straight back.  It could get dull but there are always lots of new smells, and different weather, and sometimes people stop their cars and talk to us.  So that's pretty good, too.


And now I am 12 years old.  Most days I feel pretty good.  Sometimes my joints ache, and I take more naps than I used to.  But I still enjoy a good bone, and a car ride, and "brushiness" (even though I pretend to run away when the brush comes out!).  And though we don't wrestle like we used to, Ulani is decent company.


All in all, life is good.

Spot and the Pearl

No sign of the pearl, however, coincidentally Discovery.com published this story today.  Apparently eons ago Cleopatra bet Marc Antony that she could eat an outrageously expensive meal.  For the second course she had her servants bring her a glass of vinegar into which she dropped her pearl earring -- the largest pearl ever!  Once it dissolved, she drank the cocktail and won the bet.

A scientist at Montclair State University experimented to see if it could possibly be true, and the story tells of her results.

It does not bode well for my pearl!

Who'da Thunk?!

I went to the Wavelength Music Festival over the weekend.  It was a full day's worth of all kinds of music, put on by the local low-power, all-volunteer radio station, Radio Harbor Country (check them out here). 

Only moments after I arrived, someone said "Johanna, look over there!"  And look what I saw!  Who'da thunk that would EVER happen???