A morning tour of the hobbyfarm...

 I grabbed the camera and headed outside after a morning cup of coffee.  This morning is GLORIOUS!!!!!! so I thought I'd see what the lens could capture...

Since there's nothing to show in the garden yet, I didn't bother heading that way.

First stop was by the rain gauge.  Yes, folks, WE HAVE HAD LOTS OF RAIN this past week.  We haven't emptied the gauge lately, so over the past week (or so?), we have around 3" of precipitation.  I just wish we could have had the garden in before much of this rain came.  Ah well.....

Directly to the left of the rock pile (where the rain gauge hangs out), the chickens were enjoying a breakfast of crumbs that Paul had just tossed over the deck ledge.  Two roosters and five hens here.  Our clutch is MUCH smaller than in years past :(  We lost quite a few to predators last fall.   We do have ONE more hen, but she wasn't to be found this morning;  off protector her two lil' chicks that happened to hatch a couple of weeks ago!  YAY RED MAMMA!  You'll be adding two more to our lil' clutch :)

Further along my journey, there was NO mistaking the squawking rukus of our ducks!!!  They came waddling right up to me as I neared.  We have four Peking and three Mallards, and all of them are reaching the stage of losing their baby fluff and growing feathers.

Squawk, squawk, squawk!  MY GOODNESS!

So, when I peeked into their covered section (hinged open here), it was NO WONDER!  They were out of water.  AGAIN!  Let me tell ya folks... if you have never had ducks before....HOLY MOLY!  They go through water so stinkin' fast!  Fear not, their waterer was filled to the brim.  I'm sure it'll be empty in an hour :)

Here's a panned out view of the duck pen Paul and Candace worked on the other day.  It'll eventually be a "tractor-style" contraption that will be moved throughout the yard ever-so-often.  For now, the ducks (and us) are simply happy to be out in the sunshine.

Right next to our duck pen is our lil' piggy area.  FOUR of them this year.  Already tamed to come a'running when they hear us coming, the runt of the bunch was the first to get his (her?) nose out for a handful of weeds.  TRULY!  Isn't the runt usually the one picked on???  NOPERS.  Not this guy.  He got his nose right in there, head butted away some of the others, and snagged up the whole handful of greens!  Therefore, I took the liberty of naming him "Lil' Bully."  

I can already hear Candace now......"Mom!  Look!  It's a pattern!  Black, white, black, white."  

That's it for this morning's tour.

In other news, I'm still trudging through my knee pain, probably to my own demise. :\

But the weather was SO BEAUTIFUL last night, I HAD to enjoy an evening stroll :)

Softball is still in its infancy of the summer.  Cassie tried her first night with catcher's gear since our normal catcher couldn't make the game.  Her Aunt Jen (my sis) was a catcher back in her glory years :) Taking right after her, I could say.

Okay!  Time to hit the garden to give my tomato plants some TLC before needing to head back to school for an extended half-day of our meeting from yesterday.  We made great progress, but still have items to tackle on the agenda, so.... it got extended into today.  Then, MORE softball directly following.  Therefore, another non-quilting day.  I'm okay with that, though :)

HAPPPPY TUESDAY!