May, and things that buzz

Due to some circumstances of my crazy childhood...

I'm an advocate for sufficient recovery time between

"new animal projects."

But, the cows are old news by now -

we've had cows before.

So as of yesterday,

we embarked on a summer journey we haven't tried yet.

And that says a lot.

Because we've tried almost everything.

(Except for pigs, and llamas,

and wild ostriches...)

I had to take quite a hike to the back of our twenty acre

pasture in order to get a look at them.

On the way I spotted this adorable little guy.

He saw me coming,

So,

walnut in mouth -

he jumped out on a cut off limb,

hugged it,

and closed his eyes.

I seriously think he believed he was invisible.

The cut off limb thing was pretty ingenious,

and the fact that he closed his eyes was way too cute.

After thirty seconds he spit the nut out -

and went for higher ground.

And there they are.

Several thousand - all in one little

white box.

We're hosting a honey bee colony this summer...

If things go well, we may end up with more.

It's exciting for us - not having had bees before -

but I'm still grateful they're so far from the house.

I took these pictures from about thirty feet away -

and that was too close for me...

More and more of them kept coming out on the shelf -

and I was just sure that the one running back and forth

amongst them was giving each bee the coordinates of

my exact location.

They can do that you know.

The more I thought about it,

the creepier it became...

I didn't stay long.

On the way back,

There were a couple dozen male red-wing blackbirds that

weren't happy with me.

A sure sign that they had families nearby.

It's been awhile since I've had the patience to find

a red-wing's nest;

but I happened to spot this one.

Swaying in the branches of a thistle plant -

intertwined with the blooming alfalfa.

What a charming spot for a little bird

family to grow-up.

I should take this hike more often.