Snapshots From A Farm Visit

I had one baby fantail pigeon left this season, and it was in a nest on the floor between the wall and the food bin. I feared the cold nights would be its undoing, yet it continued to grow and look healthy each time I checked:

The little thing was doing fine until one morning when it simply wasn't there anymore. I hunted through the pigeon room but it was gone. Then I saw two holes where rats apparently had gotten in. Farm life can be filled with beauty and contentment, but there are also heartbreaks:

But back to beauty - the red Asiatic Lily continued blooming into October:

And my sister came to visit, trying valiantly to get Remy and Blue to play with their Jolly-Ball. They weren't interested:

They wanted to play, but not with the Jolly-Ball. She wedged a pear inside its handle and got a brief reaction from them, but only to remove the fruit and eat it:

These two fun, friendly little guys are quite tame - but they also have minds of their own:

My sister's juggling partner (they are amateur jugglers and travel to conventions of fellow enthusiasts) also tried to interest Remy in his Jolly-Ball, but with similar lack of success:

I turned off the electric fence so we could take the dogs for a romp in the north field:

There isn't much the dogs love as much as a romp in a natural setting. As for us humans, we liked it also:

There is a gravel road between the north field and the house, so I try to get the dogs to heal before we cross it. We were approaching the road in this picture, so I got all the dogs except Jack to heal. Luckily, there is little traffic on the road:

I got a preview of their juggling routine. Alas, it was a short visit and soon they were off to a juggling convention: