Sundial

I was returning the oven mitt to the neighbor who lent it to me yesterday and noticed she had this small sundial in her yard.  Her front yard seems quite busy to me but is loaded with charming tidbits.  The sundial looks like it's been there quite a while but I never noticed it.  It's remarkably accurate, too.  Sundials are relatively easy to read.  In fact, I used to have my students make them.  For this time of year, the time was about 15 minutes fast (by my calculations)..  

I needed something interesting for my black and white camera club class this Tuesday so I thought I'd try it.  I like the way it came out.  The original is the extra.

Some progress is being made on the yard.  The carpet will be taken out and reinstalled.  Don't know when yet because they had to order it.  Accurate measurements and schematics with the proper orientation this time should help...

Another lateral thinking puzzle:
A family had a chicken coop for their one dozen, egg producing hens. Late one night, a terrible storm came through their area and killed all but eight chickens. How many chickens did the family have in the next morning?
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The family still had twelve chickens, four dead and eight alive.