I’ve never really had an interest in birds.  Maybe it’s because we didn’t have a lot of birds in our suburban backyard in Elk Grove; just the annoying blue jays in our redwood trees.  Now we have an abundance of birds in our yard.

I cleaned the kitchen window and repositioned the bird bath so I can take pictures of the birds.  With the exception of the turkeys, as soon as I go outside they all fly off.  We have had as many as five magpies in the birdbath at once.   These are good sized birds.  At first, they appear to be black and white, but up close you can see they have blue and green in their tail feathers.

We have a few hummingbirds in the yard, so I got them a feeder.  I always think of them as cute little birds, but they can be mean.  As I was watching the first hummingbird use the feeder after I hung it, another hummingbird swooped in and kicked the first bird off.  The feeder has multiple feeding ports, but the bully bird wanted the whole feeder to itself.

The finches are still living in Tito the dinosaur’s mouth.  There are other small birds that fly through the yard, but these two have decided to stay.

When we first moved in, we had three to four large turkeys that would wander through the yard on a daily basis.  They have been enjoying the feed that the chickens leave behind when Shawn moves the chicken tractor.  A few weeks ago, we noticed they have babies.  We now have a “rafter” of turkeys.  (See, I just taught you something.  My blog is so educational.)

Other flying creatures that enjoy the birdbath are wasps, bees, and yellow jackets.  Neighbors in the area have reported that the insects are having mass drownings in their pools in the current almost drought-like conditions.

Other Happenings Around the Homestead

I have a new stove!  The knobs were falling off the old stove and we were using pliers to turn on the burners.  Of course, the hole in the countertop was a quarter inch too small, so Shawn had to get out the saw and make it a bit bigger.  I’m still cleaning up the superfine dust.

Shawn whipped up a batch of Italian sausage from the pig he butchered in his butchering class a few months ago.

Now that the weather has finally turned warm/hot, the garden is thriving.  The wheat is almost ready to be harvested and the tomatoes and tomatillos have set fruit.  One of the grapevines has grapes.  Our mystery fruit trees are full of hard green orbs.

The pigs are growing at a rapid rate.  Last week, Shawn introduced them to the electric fence.  They learn pretty quickly after a shock or two on the snout.  The electric fence allows them to have a bigger area to dig and root in which seems to make them happy.

Our chickens have started laying eggs.  We have four eggs so far.  They are small, but Shawn says they will get bigger as they lay more.

We are still painting and laying flooring in the house.  We’re working on the basement this week.  As usual, nothing is straightforward once you start tearing things up in an old house.  The wood stove in the basement was installed over the carpet, so now we need to dismantle it and lay the new flooring underneath it.  What were they thinking?

Since we live on the Couer d’Alene Indian reservation, we decided to check out their annual Julyamsh powwow at the fairgrounds.  Tribes from all over the country come to compete in drum and dance contests.  The dancers were all ages: from grandma to toddlers.  It was very colorful, and the frybread tacos were tasty.

We also took a walk along the beach and through the park in downtown CDA.  The best places in town to catch Pokemon.

We are off to the movies this afternoon to avoid what is predicted to be the hottest day of the year.  You can do that when you’re retired.