The morning was cool and inviting...The roosters were crowing their morning revelry...Richie went out to grab the newspaper and took a minute to stop and sit on front porch swing.  The air was fresh, cool, and refreshing.  We already have all the window and doors open...and this was the perfect day for airing out the house.   We soon had breakfast...fresh farm egg omelets, coffee, and finished the paper at the kitchen table. 

    Then we did a few household chores...knowing that fall will lead to winter...and then the house will be closed up.  I love the spring, summer, and fall when we can keep the doors open and a wonderful breeze comes down the long hallway.  They really knew how to design and build houses 170 years ago!  Soon the house smelled fresh and we ventured into the yards for a little work. Well at least Richie got out there a little ahead of me...as I still had some laundry to finish up...

   I went back and forth admiring his progress and snitching muscadines...as I traded out the washer with bathroom rugs, and sheets, and clothes... Sneaking in a walk by the pond to spy the water lilies blooming..so I grabbed the camera and took a few shots.   Of course, then I wanted to take a picture of the other flowers I saw too.  The bees were really enjoying my princess feather flowers...but I don't think I ever got a close up of them buzzing there.  My eyes, and the camera, just couldn't focus... I figure you've just got to take a moment to enjoy it all now and then...

Here's the link to the photos if you'd like to see the side show of pictures...flowers, peafowl, Richie building chicken pen...Hammie, Snake the kitten...

http://picasaweb.google.com/patefarms/FlowersAndPeaFowl908#             

   The animals were fed.  Then Richie started back to work on our chicken yard project.  We've still got to get some gates made to the inner yards.  He'd barely gotten started when ominous clouds seemed to move steadily toward us.   Soon rains poured down.  We quickly gathered up the tools before the rains hit and went off to do some errands.

    "Ding." "Light comes on."  Truck is hungry again.  We know gas is cheaper across the river so we decided to cross over, fill up our gas guzzler, and grocery shop there.  Don't get me wrong.  Our gas guzzler is quite handy, and I sure wouldn't want to try to haul a load of feed with a little small car...it's just that's what it is...and seems more so as gas prices stay high. 

   The rain poured as we traveled toward our destination.  It had let up though when we got to the grocery.  So at least we didn't get wet going in.  We did our shopping...decided to treat ourselves to a Chinese Dinner, since we were already out...and our day had been pulled to a halt as far as working outside on our projects.  So maybe we should have gotten outside earlier instead of doing the house...but that's what we always seem to do and we never make it back in to do the house work... and once in a while, the house needs a good cleaning. 

   I enjoyed reading Clay's blog today.  Seems the place where he was staying had five hens and a rooster, and the proprietor said...I hope they won't bother you....I can just see Clay grinning as he told him...makes me think of home...well almost...my mom has 100 birds! not just five...LOL...

*Note my new email address, I'll have to change it on your journal subscription too :-)

You are so right about the morning air. It was wonderful and I just walked around outside absorbing it myself and noticed how you could feel the crispness of the seasons changing. It was a beautiful morning. And, the perfect motivation for getting right out and doing things you might not ordinarily do because of the heat and mugginess. Thought about you'all yesterday... Know your ears must've been burning....was thinking myself what a wonderful day to go to Richie and Ginger's....the thought continued until about 4pm. It just seemed like one thing after another came up. I love the pictures, they're beautiful! Have a wonderful day!

Come on Mama, you need to tone down on the amount of birds, not keep adding to your collection! You may only have 100 chickens, but then you also have guineas, turkeys, peafowl, and lord knows what else by now. By the time I get back I half expect you'll have quail and Emu, haha!

Glad you're having good weather at home; The weather has been great over here, except for that day in the tatras..... but that was just one of those days.