This evenings wildlife

Hawk silhouetted by the setting sun.

~

Does, Does and more Does...


and even more does!
We also saw a grey fox but it was too dark for photos and while we were swimming we were serenaded by a pack of coyotes! Busy evening for the wildlife!

Michael's buck...

Yes we hunt but not for antlers but for meat, so it doesn't really matter if it's an 8 pointer or a spike. It's been years since I've gone, in fact I have never gone deer hunting since I moved to Texas. To me it's just too hot down here and I'd rather take photos. But Fred goes out, not that he gets anything but he goes out, lol. Well Michael has decided he wants to hunt. We bought him a youth sized rifle for deer hunting, he shot it once and didn't like it. It kicked and scared him. I don't know if he'll be going deer hunting this year or not. Until he practices some more with his rifle he won't be going. But this summer he spotted this spike, it's a yearling, and he says it's his! Fred laughs and can't figure out why Michael doesn't go after a better buck, but Michael is persistent and Fred is fine with it.

This spike may not make it to hunting season though. He is really scrawny and doesn't look good. The drought is taking it's tole and the deer need food! I feel for him as he is pretty much skin and bones!

Then on the way down our driveway I had several Feral hogs run out in front of me. I managed a quick photo of this one. We've seen them up at the house at night, they are eating the grain the horse spills on the ground. Since our new hog trap is not working I need to work on the old one and haven't done it yet. I was hoping we'd get a shot at them but no luck so far. I will not shoot at them at night, not with a horse and cows in the pasture and not knowing where they are...but I do know they need to go bye bye as they are making a terrible mess around here!

Stinky situation...

Uh Oh...Sometimes when I'm out in the pasture I do get in some situations I'd rather not be in...This is one of those situations. There were 4 juvenile skunks and thank goodness they saw me and decided to travel in a different direction...and I was praying that they didn't decide to leave me a gift of perfume too, ugh!

Sunset!

Robert Andrew the newest Grandson...

Cindy with her son.

Trey with his son

Getting Robert ready to go home.

Grandpa meets his new grandson

He knows his Momma's voice and was looking right at her!

Grandma with her new Grandson, he's precious!

Welcome to the World...

Robert Andrew

Yesterday Fred's son, Trey and wife Cindy had their son...he's a sweetie!

I needed a good laugh this morning and loved this...

An old farmer wrote to his son in prison. "This year I won't be able to plant potatoes because I can't dig the field, I know if you were here you would help me."


The son wrote back, "Dad, don't even think of digging the field because that's where I buried the guns."

Police read the letter & the very next day the whole field was dug by police looking for guns but nothing was found.

The next day the son wrote again, "Now plant your potatoes, Dad; it's the best I could do from here!

A wee bit of a break...maybe?

Just wanted y'all to know I may be posting less here on my blog for a week or two. A lot of things are happening for us right now and I don't know what I'll be doing in the next couple of weeks. My Father in law has been fighting Liver cancer for the past 2+ years. Lately he has not been doing well and has had several bad episodes in the past two weeks. Today MD Anderson sent him home and Hospice will be coming sometime this week. It's only a matter of time and it's so sad. We all knew this time would come but it is still a shock. I really feel for Michael because he loves his grandfather so much and now he won't have him anymore. I'm thankful for all the photos I've taken and will definitely be making a photo album for Michael. So glad Michael had this time with his grandfather and has some wonderful memories.

A young hens...

First egg, not to shabby for her first try! Give her a month and she'll be laying larger ones! We have 6 young hens and I can't wait to see what color eggs we'll be getting.

Ta Daaaaaaa!!

It's pretty much done...I just need to put the chicken netting around the bottom and one of the young hens laid her first egg in it this afternoon. That's what I call perfect timing!

The side flap is to make cleaning it out easier and the end flap (pictured above) is where we can get the eggs out of the laying boxes.



I made the laying boxes out of scrap lumber and they look as if they'll work perfectly. Michael can't wait to decorate the outside of it, I'm kind of partial to the plain white myself. But I told him I would help him come up with a design! I did have a bit of a problem tonight. I put the chicken's pvc pipe pen over it hoping they would go in there, it didn't happen. So Michael and I were out there after dark rounding up the hens. I managed to get them all in the coop and shut in tight for the night. I'm hoping they'll figure it out soon as chasing chickens after dark is not one of my favorite things to do but then chickens have a brain the size of a pea so this may take a few nights, ekk!
The best part was I was able to move the coop by myself, yeah!! I love that!

Our weekend was spent...

Putting this beast together...

A new tractor coop for this years chicks/chickens.

The chicks we bought this spring are fix'in to start laying. My old coop, which is pretty much the same as above, is not large enough for the soon to be laying hens. So we had to build them their own coop. We spent all weekend working on it and the construction part is pretty much done. Actually I was painting it until I ran out of paint. I bought an oil based barn paint to use, nasty stuff! I tried some on the floor this morning and it still hasn't dried! So I switched and starting using the Exterior satin paint I had bought for the front door and WoW so much better but I didn't have enough, grr...So we are off to buy some more. I need to do some other tweeks to it too, latches, eye-hooks, laying boxes, netting, roof vent, etc...But I like it! We used 1/4 inch plywood, instead of 1/2, like we used on the other coop. And it is so much lighter. I should be able to move this coop around by myself, woohoo! Of course the 1/4 plywood is a lot more pliable and seems to warp a wee bit more but I think latches on the door flaps should work. It's been a busy weekend but productive and I can't wait to put the new hens in it!