Up up and away....

A colorful surprise while my husband and I were walking on the county road this morning-- a hot air balloon right over our heads, floating over the tree-tops. We heard the whoosh of the air tank before we saw the balloon, and we both looked out into the fields thinking that someone was having problems with a tractor or some sort of farm equipment. But then we heard the sound again, looked up, and there it was... a huge balloon, so close we could see the basket and the people in it. We stood there in the middle of the road, waving up at them.

The balloon floated on and we watched it till we couldn't see it anymore. On the way back down the road towards our hill, we looked at all the fields to see where it landed. Not a balloon in sight... nothing but the neighbors' houses, chickens, livestock, and green wildflower-less pastures.

We haven't seen a hot air balloon since we lived in Clear Lake. They had a hot air balloon festival every year at the Johnson Space Center... we lived so close to JSC that we got to see all the balloons floating over our subdivision. So this morning's sighting was a nice surprise.

The quail are still walking around the yards here, and the cats aren't bothering them. I was out on the porch when the quail were walking around the front courtyard today and Gatsby was right on the porch with me, watching the quail through the porch railing. Maybe he doesn't like birds? I wish he would lose his taste for baby bunnies. The quail make such sweet little sounds... I hope they stay around.

Speaking of birds... the hens might be getting into their 'broody' stage again. Scarlett spent half of the day sitting in the nesting box, and Daisy joined her (in a separate box) late this afternoon. Scarlett did lay an egg today, but I took it out from under her. Nothing in Daisy's nesting box, and she was very insulted that I dared to look.

I checked the little notebook that I keep on the chickens and their egg count, and it was this same time last year that Scarlett went broody and stayed in the nesting box for 34 days. I hope she doesn't plan on doing that again, but if she does, then I'm just going to let her sit it out. Last year, I was taking her out of the nesting box five and six times a day, trying to give her a hint that the sitting wasn't necessary because she had no egg to hatch and even if she did, it wouldn't be hatching because we didn't have a rooster.

I did all of that on the advice of the chicken farmer who sold us the hens, but Scarlett was determined to sit in that nest, and that's what she did. So this year, she can just sit in there for as many days as she wants. The books say that the hens do get out of the box to eat and drink, so this time, Scarlett is in charge of the details. I'll just make sure she has fresh food and water right near her nesting box.

And that's been the day... sunny and warm, Summer is here... Spring lasted 28 minutes, and the lack of wildflowers under our rain-free sky is very disappointing. Oh well... there's always next year.