First we strike out across the dam toward the horse pasture. The pond was built after we moved here; it was lots of fun to watch such an undertaking occur right in our front yard. That is Sipsey--ready to go.
We pass by the horses: Pistol on the left, One Gun on the right. These are H's Quarter horses. Scout is in the middle. All three of the babies have now been able to pet Onsie's soft nose. He was sweet to them.
Then we come to the barn. Sometimes we bring scraps to the chickens. The white chicken is Chic Chick (not chik chik but sheek chik). The other hens are Rhode Island Reds. They are good layers. We have about a half dozen of them.
This is the rooster. He is a game chicken. I think game chickens are beautiful. They do a better job at surviving free-range than the Rhode Islands. We had the Rhode Islands in a pen for a good while. We have lost several since moving them to the barn. We rarely see them, but sometimes at night we hear coyotes. There are also foxes and hawks for the chickens to contend with.
Here is a better picture of chic chic. She was at the barn before the Rhode Island Reds moved in. She reminds them of it too.
Before we leave the barn, we look over at the pretty place where we live.
The next thing we pass after leaving the barn is the goat and sheep pasture. The four animals up front are the goats. Those in the background are the sheep. The goats are H's, the sheep Papa's. The goats, starting with the closest, are Brownie, Priscilla, Presley, and Verma Lee.
Here are the sheep again. Those that look like deer are Mouflon sheep; those with the ram horns are black-bellied Barbados sheep. They are very shy creatures. Papa Glenn has had them about a year and has already doubled his flock. I think he has had six lamb this spring.
This fifth goat is Aubie. She thinks she is a cross between a human and a dog. This is the goat we got from the family who wanted to get rid of her because she was peeing on their couch. Luckily, we have not had that problem with her. She talks a lot. She seems to annoy the other goats at times, but they still love her.
After we walk the fence of the sheep pasture, we come down a hill and pass the cow pond. This pond has been here forever. H's dad built it when he had cows. The lily pads are beautiful when they are in bloom.
Here is another pretty spring photo of the cow pond. The dogs love to swim in it to cool off during the middle of our walks.
Not soon after the cow pond we pass a large patch of wild ferns. There are sporadic wild ferns throughout our walk, but this is a whole slew of them.
There is the occasional piece of trash we pass on our walk. Across from the ferns there is this insert and heel piece of a shoe. I need to come up with a good story of how it got there by the time the children are old enough to ask about it.
Then we head out on the main dirt road. H's parents and us are the only people who live down the dirt road so there is usually no traffic. This interesting specimen looks like some sort of mushroom made out of coffee grounds. I am not sure what it is, but I notice it every time we walk past it.
Often the dogs go ahead of us and scout things out. This is a piece of the main dirt road down past both the houses.
Here is another perplexing item we get to ponder on our walks: a scattering of oyster shells.
The babies and I are watching this big mess of blackberries. Once they are ready, we hope to get to them before the birds do.
Right now we are turning around at the old Woody house. I am not sure why it is called that, but that is what everyone calls it, so I do too. It has an old Coke machine on the front porch--a sign that a house has had lots of good times. No one has lived in this house since H was a child. A mama buzzard has lived in it for several years now. As I took the picture mean Scout went in and flushed her out. She sits on one egg each spring and the baby always has white hair that stands straight up on its head--kind of like Mazie.
Here we are traveling back. Several places in our walk are stretches of country lanes with such pretty canopies of trees. It gets ungodly hot here in the summer. The trees and shade at various places in our walk will help to keep things just unbearably hot as opposed to ungodly hot.
Here is a pretty wild fern hanging out by itself.
This is the third and last pond we pass on our walk. It is called the old pond. It is pretty low, but still pretty. The dogs usually cool off in it too. Our house is to the left, H's parents' to the right.
This is Scout, the half-coyote dog, running back toward us full force. She took off into the woods, probably after some defenseless fawn or rabbit.
This is the ramp we take back to our porch. We built it before we knew we were going to be having three babies at once--good fortune.
Once back inside, the babies play on the floor so they can stretch out after being confined to the baby Bjorn and stroller, and we get the beer from the freezer that we placed there before we started out on our walk so that it would be cold and slushy upon our return. We hope you enjoyed walking with us today. We enjoyed you; you were very good company.
