Look!
Several years ago, we planted a berry patch. We planted blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries. Our blackberry bush is LOADED this year!
They're almost ready! These are "Triple Crown" blackberries. They're HUGE:
Yum! I can almost taste the blackberry cobbler. And the blackberry pie. Oh - and the JAM! Oooh! Can't wait to fire up my canner. Soon!
We interrupt my series of 'early years' posts to bring you this morning's sunrise:
Wow! I stood outside in my backyard with my morning cup of coffee and just stared in awe. God sure outdid Himself this morning. :)
Remember when I showed you the Barn Swallow nest? And the three babies?
Look how they look after just one week:
Ha ha! Aren't they cute? They even fly around a little bit. They still rely on their parents for food, though. For some reason, they remind me of three old men sitting up there. Ha!
Today I was getting ready to take the mower out and look what I saw!
That's a chicken nest! Here's a closed-up:
Our laying hens are getting up in age. They don't lay too much anymore, so we let them out of their pen so they could live out their days free-ranging around the property.
One hen, our Araucana built herself a little nest under the mower! You can't really tell from the picture, but her eggs are pale green. The kids named her "Holiday" because her eggs are like Easter Eggs. Here's a picture of her:
I guess she still has some life in her!!
Our first sunflower bloomed! This is always bittersweet for me because as beautiful as they are, it reminds me that summer is winding down...
For several days, we've notice a couple of juvenile bald eagles hanging around our house. (We live close to a large river - prime eagle nesting grounds!) Well, today they landed in one tree, and I could get some shots:
Yeah, I know I post a lot of eagle pictures. I can't help it. Aren't they magnificent?!
There's a nest of barn swallows around our place that I've been keeping my eye on.
This week, the babies hatched!
See 'em? So cute. I think there's 3 in there.
It's interesting that they built the nest with chicken feathers. (Well, and mud and hay, too.) But see that orange feather in the back of the nest? And all that fluff on the left side of the nest? Those are chicken feathers from our chickens!
See, we have those vent holes blocked off with screens to prevent the birds from nesting. But it obviously didn't do a bit of good. 
As I was leaving for work this morning, I walked out on the patio to find that 2 of our kitties were having breakfast...
That's Lexi's fat cat, Hamburger Joe, above. And yes, that's a snake. Ugh! Just a garter snake, but still! Ick.
That's Raven and her kill. See that poor little mouse?
She never eats her prey anymore for some reason. She just hangs out next to it until one of the other cats comes up and indulges on her conquest.
This is why we have cats on the farm... They sure do earn their keep! (Well, that, and we love cats.) 
I love where I live. I truly do. I love looking out of my front window and seeing cows instead of houses. I know this life isn't for everybody. But for me? I love it!
We live directly across the street from a dairy pasture. This is what I see when I pull out of my driveway. Cows and more cows!
Ummm...But, we also see this sometimes:
What is that... a sprinkler?
Yeah. It's a sprinkler alright. But that ain't water. No. It sure isn't.
It's cow manure. Yep. You heard me. Right across the street from our house, at this very moment is a sprinkler out of which cow crap is SPRAYING.
And spraying and spraying. Can't cha just SMELL it? I can. Wooo. And it's ripe, lemme tell ya.
A couple times a year we have to endure this. The dreaded cow crap sprinkler.
The windows get sealed tight. The kids play in the BACKyard instead of the front. I burn copious amount of candles in the house to mask the smell. But you know what? It's ok. I STILL love where I live.
Wanna come over?
At least he has underwear on. And tennis shoes. That's at least something.
I was up early this morning (very early - like 5 am early ...*yawn*) watering the greenhouse, and came across these little guys:
See them in the back? Here's a closer picture:
There's a little frog in the pot and a little frog on the wall of the greenhouse. See them? They sat there for the longest time and gazed at each other. Ha ha! It was so funny. (Hey. It was funny to me half asleep at the crack of dawn without adequate coffee consumption...) Our greenhouse is apparently the happening place to be. If you're a frog. At 5:00 am.
And because I didn't want that last post up for too long...
Bomb's Away!
Ain't summer grand?!
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