AWOL or Field Trip

I mentioned yesterday that our hens and ducks are

confined to their own yards for the time being

(this being fox season).

One of the girls, Lucile, is a rebel and refuses

to be confined.

Each day she flies up to the top of her yard

and makes a great escape.

AWOL!

Why? You ask.

Because, for some reason this gal 

prefers to lay her daily egg in privacy

in the turkey house.

Most nights, at tuck-in-time, we find her outside

the door to her yard, asking nicely to be let back inside.

She even lets us pick her up and take her back to her house.

Last night, however, she bunked down

with Tom and Chuck... nestled in next to Tom

for the night.

When I opened their house in the morning,

she made a hasty exit.

I'm wondering how much sleep she got...

most likely keeping one eye open all night 

in order to keep a watch on the boys.

I, too, flew the coop yesterday morning and headed out into the country

on a field trip,

to pick up tomatoes at an Amish tomato farm.

Each year they start their plants in a heated greenhouse

(planted in the ground).

By the end of April we are able to buy tomatoes that taste

like summer.

It was wonderful to get out and see the countryside

as Spring wakes it from its months of slumber.

This field was breathtaking.

And I love this abandoned farmhouse.

I imagine how different it must have looked when it was loved.

Oh, the stories buried here.

Yesterday afternoon was spent cleaning pastures with Hubbs,

visiting with the pigs...

and sheep...

While we were out, Annie had a wrestling match with a 

groundhog (we think)

and ended up with this superficial flesh wound.

Ouch!

Later in the afternoon I worked on transplanting

more perennial flowers from other gardens

to the shed garden.

Work on the inside has come to a halt,

as I am still awaiting the shipment of bricks for the floor.

I found out on Friday

(by calling the shipping company because the shipment was two days late)

 that the shipment was in a tractor trailer 

that had been involved in an accident

and that the police had impounded the trailer.

I called the brick company and explained what had happened.

They sent out another shipment that should arrive early next week.

At that point, I will have much to share with you on 

that project.