Here are the last photos from August!
This cow took us by surprise on her due date. She had bagged up a little, but not much, and sure didn’t look like she was ready to calve, as far as I was concerned, when I looked at her the night before. In the morning, there was evidence that she had calved—but no calf! We searched around the area, and down the cliff which she was at the top of, and couldn’t find anything. Several hours later, Mr. Diligence went back out and searched more. The calf was at the bottom of the cliff, way back in a blackberry patch! He pulled it out, and he and Mr. Sweetie carried it up the steep cliff to reunite it with its mother. That calf is fine, but we know now—this cow doesn’t bag up much, and we can’t go by the way she looks!
During lockdown, Esther and Elijah got the tiny house painted. We were sure thankful we had bought the paint a month before that!
Gayle spent one afternoon helping get the chicks outside. One of our cats is a hunter extraordinaire, and had pulled one chick out of the coop through a crack under the door (I discovered the crime when I went outside and found her eating it on the step of the house). Therefore, we decided we had better electrify the top of the fence around the run, since that cat likes to perch on top of it. Here, Gayle is stringing up the wires.
The tulip magnolia bloomed—so gorgeous! See Little Miss swinging in it?
This is what is left of my winter garden—broccoli, cabbage that didn’t head, and leeks.
Inside the greenhouse. This is a patch of peppers we wintered over; I think two of them have made it through two winters now. Gayle transplanted the aloe plants into that area, as well, and there are two or three Cape Gooseberries.
Because lockdown caught us unprepared (I planned to buy enough potting soil for the year, but couldn’t because we were locked down so fast), I started my tomato seeds in the ground in the greenhouse, and then put them in punnets after I was able to get some potting soil. Here are the tiny baby tomatoes, starting to come up.
Most of the greenhouse is full of lettuce and spinach.
See how wet it is? This is a common sight. Any time it rains, we have surface flooding in the yard.
The garden on a rainy winter day.
The chicks are cosy and warm! This was a month ago, when they still needed heat from the lights.
About the end of August, they were big enough to go out into the run. 
Simon replaced the head gasket on this car. It was Esther’s car, till the head gasket blew, and now he uses it for hunting.
A lockdown Sunday afternoon. We played an entire game of Chicken Foot dominoes—from Double 15 down to Double 0!
Gayle played games with the younger ones.
Esther saw this funny sight one day! They sure do enjoy the sun.
Simon’s birthday presents. We each gave him a bag of salt and vinegar chips, his favorite kind, wrapped in all sorts of wild and wonderful packages. By the third one, he had figured out the joke. The last one included monetary gifts from several of us.
We saw this out the window one morning. Our cows were at the top of the hill as the sun came up.
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