Hatched!

Remember the swallow nest on my porch? Just yesterday I was thinking it was past time for any eggs to hatch.
Today, sure enough, I saw a tiny head and open beak peeking out.
Mom was watching anxiously, sometimes sitting on a nearby perching, sometimes flying around with Dad.
I interfered long enough to snap a few photos.
While standing on a stool risking my neck to get high enough to see and photograph anything that moved in the nest, I noticed a second little head!

Stay tuned. They should fledge in 18-21 days.

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More Haymaking

Stage 2 of haymaking is the baling process. (Stage one is here. )

Our neighbors have a new baler than makes 750 pound rectangular bales. Only superman or the like would try to lift these babies.

Notice how the dad and 2 of his six boys are all crammed into the baler cab. They're having fun using the new machinery. The sky was turning dark as they made the rounds, and the wind kicked up some serious dust. The harvest was about 2 tons per acre. Not bad for amateurs. That's 8 tons for our 4 acres of hay meadow, enough to feed our guys through the winter months. The rest of the time, they'll do fine on pasture grass.

One of the neighbor boys (These kids are such good workers. I'm really impressed!) stacked it in our hay yard with a forklift device on the tractor.
The threatened rain didn't happen, but the clouds made for an unusual sunset.

To see beautiful skies from all over the world, click here.