Quail, Snot, Wheelbarrows, and Tractors....

Interesting topics, yes? Not really, I'm just horribly bored.

The quail have been hatched for a while, and they come to the yard often. They like the bird food I put out, and I like having them. Though I do have to keep an eye on the window wells because I've had to rescue baby quail from there before. Dublin then gets mad because she likes to tease them, but she survives.

Sometimes it's fun to document how they grow. When they're tiny, they're adorable. Within a week they start to look quite gangly. Momma still loves them and keeps a close eye, though. They're not very trusting little birds....

The 5 babies last week, they were still cute:

Yesterday, running from the camera:

Poor Luke is a big ball of snot this morning. I'm not terribly surprised, but I feel bad. I had hoped we dodged a bullet after I caught that cold in South Dakota, then promptly gave it to my husband when I got home. Luke stayed healthy. Apparently he just wanted to catch it from a friend of ours. Still, it's better now to get this part over with than to have him wake this way while camping. Thank goodness for tea, honey, orange juice, and children's herbs! He's got a good attitude, he's eating like a mammoth, and sweating, so I know he's fine.

He also has discovered the joy of riding in a wheelbarrow. The yard is a constant process, so the wheelbarrow is used often. I tossed Luke in one day in an effort to get him out of the way and to another spot in a quick fashion. The rest is history.

(unflattering, but it WAS yardwork)

(notice Red in all the pictures...)

Mom and dad brought the tractor out for us to use in the yard. We decided to wait on the sprinkler system simply because the ground was so hard when we put the yard in. Another year and the soil will have conditioned itself enough that a couple of trenches will be cake. Until then, I am the sprinkler system. But I don't mind.

This tractor is pretty aged now. Probably 50 years old. But it still works great! You can still buy water tractors, but mine is not only antique, it is unique. The new ones are all plastic, mine is cast iron, heavy as heck, and soaks the ground so well. I love it! The lawn does, too....