I’m skipping right over Tuesday and blogging about yesterday because Tuesday’s pictures are on my phone and I don’t feel like retrieving them at the moment…..

We spent the entire day at home as I was feeling kind of crappy (allergies? not sure…but I was tired and fuzzy headed).

The kids basically did whatever they wanted to do, within reason of course.

Just another carefree day, the kind we love best.

I went over to take care of my poor chickens.  And on the way back from the coop I found a teeny tiny turtle in the grass by the pond!!!!!  I put it in the front pocket of my sweatshirt and darned if it didn’t run right back out onto the ground.  Baby turtles are FAST.

It was so cute.  I took it in the house to show the children.  Sarah didn’t want to touch it but I “made” her.  (encouraged) She was shaking and giggling nervously.  But once she had it “This is my first time touching a turtle!” She didn’t want to let it go.  She wanted it for a pet.

The two of us sat by the edge of the pond and watched it enter the water for the very first time.  Then we walked around trying to find more turtles, but we didn’t.  Maybe we will on another spring day.

There was a line at the nesting box.  This photo is of the front of one hen and the back of another.  I say “poor” chickens because, as I have mentioned in past posts, there is a fox after them.  So they have to stay locked up for now.  Mr. Fox has only killed one hen and that was heartbreaking enough.  This morning I plan on driving to Agway to purchase a supply of tempting feed and treats for my poor hens, to make their stay in the coop more tolerable.

I do let them out in their fenced in area if I am able to be at home to continually check on them.

Ethan spent the day with his girlfriend, Tessa.  She brought her dog to our house, so Parker the Dog had a lovely time yesterday with his bestie, Benji.  They got wet, they got muddy, they played their favorite dog games.

Benji received an egg from my pocket, just like Parker, but he was clueless.  See the invisible question mark above his head?  Parker was already lapping out raw egg from HIS shell which he broke himself with his teeth.  Benji’s egg is by his left paw, right where he dropped it.

?

So Caleb took Benji’s egg to the pathway and broke it for him……yum.  Nothing like a raw egg still warm from the chicken (so they say).

Later on, my husband got home and took the boys to Little League practice.  (Grace made chili for dinner).  I sat on the porch with my book but didn’t read it because my friend Sarah Joy had lots and lots to talk about.  I had my camera with me and shot two bird pictures from my chair on the porch as I listened to her chit-chat.  Not too bad for spur-of-the-moment photography, with the birds about a mile away (slight exaggeration).

A Flicker sat on the very tippy top of the dead tree in front of the house.  I read that they eat on the ground—they eat mainly ants and beetles, using their beak to dig them up.  They are such a beautiful bird, one of my favorites.  They have polka dots, a nice black “necklace” and a patch of red on the back of their necks.

And then Sarah and I saw a duck.

We went inside after this and she read me 30 pages of a 1904 school Primer (early reader).  She snuggled up into my side and I smelled her hair and listened as she read in a sweet voice, laughing together at the funny parts.  (we totally get 1904 humor).