by There are scrub jays about. At least I think that’s what they are. Could be Mexican jays. Anyway, they are pretty and interesting. Looks like our hummers have decamped for a warmer clime. They need to since it got down into the 30’s last night.
We lost another guinea the other night. Chris is hatching out keats and in the wee hours one morning he decided the one in the incubator that had hatched the afternoon before was looking listless and needed to be moved to where he could have food and water. Chris didn’t want to put it in with the bigger keats so he put it in a box by itself. He needed a source of warmth so he decided to borrow the light from guinea tower. One of the four remaining guineas flew out and he was unable to get it back in. By daylight it was an x-guinea. So now we are down to three. While having lunch Saturday I saw a fox emerge from the witch tree in the meadow. I’ve mowed the meadow so it was much easier to see. The guineas came around the corner of the enclosure about that time and one of them chased the fox back under the juniper. Then apparently the fox turned the tables and tried to catch the guinea, getting only a mouth full of feathers. We’ve debated whether it was the foxes that were killing the guineas. Based on the skirmish I witnessed, I wonder if when it is dark the foxes are able to creep up on a guinea and get it by its scrawny neck/head. It would be fairly easy for a fox to dispatch one in that scenario whereas in daylight in an open area with other guineas around trying to take down one might be more than a fox could manage.
Saturday I finished mowing the north end. John Deere II has worked very well and I’m glad I went ahead and traded the old one in back in June so I didn’t have to worry about it quitting on me when the place really needed mowing. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the trimmer started, too cold, so the north end still needs trimming. Already the south end has started to look hairy. I’ll probably go over the place one more time this season. Since the trimmer wouldn’t start, I took my weed burner and worked on the wild purslane. Like a lot of weeks, that one has gotten a toe-hold and if I don’t stop it it will cover the place. Getting some rain really supercharges the weeds but here’s hoping we begin to get enough along so that the grass will choke a lot of them out.
Rebecca likes to play in the pickup and Thursday evening she was in the bed when I put it up. I thought to make sure her fingers were out of harms way when I got in but forgot about it when I got out after pulling it in the shop and slammed her finger in the door. I turned around after closing the door. I think I realized I hadn’t made sure she was out of the way. She matter-of-factly said, “Grampa, you slammed my finger in the door.” I immediately opened the door and that’s when the pain sensors kicked in. Fortunately, her fingers are so small and the one was between metal and the rubber seal rather than between metal and metal so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. She took it pretty hard for a little while but there was no damage and the finger was fine the next day. She even seemed to forgive me.