A Pleasant Surprise...

The other night we sat out on the porch and I looked up to see a pile of sticks on top of the porch light. I thought, "Why did Christian put those sticks up there?" Upon closer inspection I realized we have neighbors...cute little birdie neighbors!

A warm, safe place for a nest out of the wind...

...with three babies percolating.

We've seen the mama bird several times and now I realize why the songs she sings are so loud...they are right outside the back door! These eggs are American Robin and will someday look like this...

Fawns Without a Mama

We first noticed these fawn standing in our front yard about 9:30 this morning. Then the neighbors came out and scared them over to a vacant house across the street. They have been hanging out there in the shade almost all day because they saw people in the direction they wanted to go. One of the fawns can't jump over the fence, so the other has stayed with its friend/sibling(?) all day. Our neighbor called the Game and Fish department, but they said eventually they will find their way somewhere else, mostly likely tonight when it gets dark.

Unfortunately our dog, Maggie, got out and chased them. We hope they are heading back towards the forest. I hated to see that poor fawn smash into the fence while trying to get away from Maggie. So sad!

Techno Dance, Harry Potter, and a Rooster

Techno Dance
Each month there is a Stake Dance here that Marlayna has been trying to attend (when she feels well enough to go). This month's theme was Techno and she had a bunch of glow-in-the-dark stuff that she put on. She looked so cute! (but, would not let me take a picture). She is making friends, but the nearest LDS kids live about 3.5 miles away and we are too far out of the way to successfully arrange carpools. I have to say that I am very proud of Marlayna because she never worries about showing up at an event by herself. She just goes right on in and joins the fun.

When I was her age, I was attached to my "pack" of friends. I was scared of arriving to things like dances by myself, I needed someone to go with. I even needed other girls to go to the bathroom with me, for whatever reason, I don't know. I have been wondering why I was like that at that time in my life. Was I programmed that way and then changed later in life as I became more self-sufficient, or was this part of public schooling and just what everyone did?

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
I rarely do this, but we went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince yesterday, which was opening day. We waited in line outside for over an hour before getting into the theater and then waited another 30 minutes for the movie to start. Sam told me she had already seen it the night before. People started clapping when the movie came on. The last time I remember being in a theater when people did that was Star Wars. It was kind of funny.

I have to say that this is by far one of the best Harry Potter movies. It is PG and the only thing I would warn parents about is that since the characters are older, they do engage in a bit of kissing (snogging as they call it). They did an EXCELLENT job on the movie and choose the scenes that made for the best movie. It is a very good book too, so in all, I feel that it is better than some of the others.

Banana the Rooster
We bought 9 chickens, one died a few days after we got it (too bad there is not a guarantee on chickens), and now we have 8. We started noticing right off that one chicken was not like the others. This chicken acted as though it needed to protect all the others when we come out to feed them, change their water, and muck out the poop. It would run up in front of the other chickens and stand between us and them or try to gather them all together as a pack.

After a while, we realized that this chicken, Banana by name, is in fact a rooster. As chicks you can't really tell them apart, but we sure can now. He is one proud fella. It is kind of fun to hear him crow in the morning. The kids are hoping to have some chicks born, so we will allow a few of them to stay on their eggs after we get them established at laying.

More Nightime Visitors...

Wow - I knew we lived on the edge of the wilderness, but last night's visitor really started me thinking that living in the middle of nowhere was maybe not what I had in mind...

Last night the kids woke up to what we think is a mountain lion. We are on the opposite side of the house, so we did not hear it. Both Marly and Chris said they heard dogs fighting something at the neighbors and then could hear a mountain lion growling or howling back at the dogs. Crazy!

So, this led us to researching the Mountain Lion population and what we can do to reduce the impact of this animal in our area. I called the Game and Fish Dept. and asked about what it could be that we heard. They said it was most likely a mountain lion. Whoa! Here is a video about mountain lions:



My biggest concern is keeping our animals safe from predators. Thank goodness we put all our animals in a large shed (isn't big enough to be called a barn) at night. It is on cinder blocks and has a solid floor to keep raccoons and other burrowing predators out.