Another Farmish Moment ...

The very well camoflaged egg

Dancing up a storm to distract me
I can't even see her head

She was also very vocal

They actually look quite pretty when they do this

Temporary barricade

And Bruno couldn't care less

When I was hand-walking BrunZ around the ring yesterday, preparatory to riding [to let him get the saddle "feel", and tighten the girth] a killdeer became most upset and vocal. She was in one corner of the ring, and obviously had a nest there. 

   While I rode, she was extremely brave in her attempts to warn us away. At one point, I glanced below my inside leg/boot, and she was almost directly under us. Several times she swooped around Bruno, almost right under his nose. Thankfully, Bruno could not give a damn, and just kept evenly going on.

   After I finished riding, and took care of BrunZ, I went to the corner to see if I could find her nest. There was nothing yesterday, but today, while cleaning the ring, I found her nest with one egg. She will probably lay two or three more, and then it will be a few weeks till they hatch. We had a similar situation last year, when they decided to nest on top of the manure pile. I would get  scolded every morning by "mom" about not disturbing the kids.

   

A BUSY Day at the Farm

Head Study

The Inspector

   It was a very busy day at the farm today. I had Ken come in with his tractor to dig out some of the wetter spots in the ring, and then spread the three loads of hogge's fuel I'd had delivered last week. That took about three and a half hours of steady work, but it's done - YAY - and will soon be ride-able. I just have to spend hours over the next several weeks leveling it bit by bit with a rake and pitchfork.
  Then I got to the inside of the barn and cleaned out all the old and moldy hay. That was a hefty job as well, as I was cleaning up after two or three years of build-up [couldn't get to it sooner, as it was inaccessible]
   I also finished the head study that I started as a demo at the open studio tour. I think it would look better with the edges [right and bottom] much softer. I'll try it that way for the next demo. I also got all the smaller, unframed paintings bagged in glassine pouches, and worked out prices. I will tag them, and put my business card on them all later tonight.

New Barn Grunts

   Here are some photos of the job done today, and my new apprentice "barn grunts".

Old footing moved to side of barn

The three nesters are back[killdeer]

Bruno, wondering "What the ..."

Mounds of new footing

Done

Bruno leaves his seal of approval