Here And There, Around The Farm

The fantail pigeons seem happy, healthy and thriving. They haven't yet produced any babies this year, but that may be a blessing. I have 27 birds and really, that is enough:

 But some of them keep trying:

 Little Elvis gets fed a big bottle of milk twice each day. He has grain, hay and water available at all times but hasn't yet tried them. Well, he has stepped in his grain bowl and spilled it, but that doesn't count:

 I weeded the new plantings (the old plantings have to fend for themselves). This Dandelion came up in one piece, its taproot clearly illustrating why they are so difficult to eradicate:

 Wild Strawberries have filled the lawn (along with the Violets and Dandelions). I usually miss the opportunity to eat the fruit, but I'll try to be more watchful this year:

 The wall by my back door began to wobble whenever I entered or exited, so I removed the interior chipboard and discovered everything inside was soaking wet and rotten. The studs were so deteriorated that they crumbled when I touched them. I climbed up on the roof and found 6-8" of Cedar needles and cones, which had been damming the water during rainstorms. I removed all that, but caulking the roof and rebuilding the wall remains to be done:

 The two apple trees on the north side of the house began to bloom, but the trees in the orchard weren't doing so well. This was one of the two trees:

 And the other. They sure smelled nice:

 Two neighbors rode by while I was working out in the yard. They rode their horses over to chat for awhile:

 I covered the exposed roots of the Magnolia and returned to photograph its one and only flower:

 Just about the same time, I noted that the Lilacs were about half open. I figured they'd be fully in bloom and perfuming the yard very soon:

 Two farmer neighbors, an uncle and nephew, have been very helpful to me and one day, they introduced me to their three little bottle fed heifer calves named Rose, Mary and Thyme: