Around The Farm

There are still three baby fantail pigeons in nests, though it won't be long before they join the rest of the flock as adults. These two are in a high nest, away from the squabbling birds on the floor:

 This youngster was born and raised on the floor and knows how to defend itself by slapping an attacker with its wing. Its parents are still feeding it but it will soon be on its own:

 The bantam hens have reduced their egg laying to almost nothing at this point, which I admit is a relief to me. I simply can't use many eggs and hard boiling them for the dogs is a hassle - although the dogs love the results:

 Their coop needs cleaning, but all the bedding must be hauled out through the pigeons' room and I won't do that until the pigeon babies are fully raised and on their own:

 This is the eastern version of "big sky country" and I am constantly amazed as I watch the heavens above. This mackerel sky might have indicated rain on its way and, in fact, that's just what happened:

 Sunrise in the northeastern sky:

 I walked around to the other end of the barn for a better view and the sun had just broken above the treetops when I got there:

 With the grass in the far south field mowed and baled, I had no excuse left not to replace the kill-switch for the electric fence which had broken. It was an easy job. That's the new one, all connected on the left, and the old, broken one on the right:

These tiny flowers were growing right next to the barn door. I saw them last year and got the genus name but couldn't identify the species. This year, I noticed the hairy stems and pegged it as Galinsoga ciliata. Notice the five three-lobed "petals" with spaces between them:

 And I've long believed I had two or more species of Smartweed by the barn door. This year, I noticed that some had white flowers and knew they were not the Smartweed I was familiar with:

 I took a close look and decided they were Pennsylvania Smartweed:

 The more showy, red flowered kind with a black smudge on each leaf is Lady's-Thumb Smartweed. All Smartweeds are members of the Buckwheat family: