Busy Missus

This beautiful creature has already laid 4 perfect little blue eggs in the garden nest box (see Extra).  I noticed that she and Mister were spending a lot of time going in an out of the box this morning so I suspected she'd begun laying.  This is more eggs than I expected though, so I think she may have possibly laid more than one per day.  Anyway, the box will be heavily guarded now and for about the next 5 weeks, through hatch and fledge.  

I liked this picture of her because you can see the soft shades of blue on her back.  She is much less colorful than the male, but still beautiful.  

Picked up my friend at the farm and we headed out for a nice walk along a lake with Jax.  He was really being a shit today, pulling like crazy and going airborne both times we saw another dog.  Definitely more training needed - for human and dog.  Other than that, however, it was a nice walk in good company and with beautiful weather and lots of birds singing around us.  And of course, Jax is now sound asleep.  

I had some good looks at a female hummer in the garden this morning and I think a second male may also have taken up residence.  Epic chases have been happening and courtship flights are in full swing.  The hummingbird courtship flight is really extraordinary - the male makes a shallow U-shaped flight directly over the female who remains perched to enjoy the show (or perhaps in sheer terror) while the male's wings beat at 200 beats per second!  The tail makes a very distinctive sound and the wing rushes through the feathers, apparently adding to the male's resume.  Anyway, lots of activity!

We have had problems with our water the last few days and realized that we needed to get the pump in our well replaced.  An expensive proposition, but it's done now and should be good for another 20 years.  The company who replaced it is the same company that originally drilled the well when out house was built in 2001.  

Meanwhile, it looks like Roe v Wade is about to be overturned by the current US Supreme Court.  If this happens, it opens a door that I fear we won't be able to close again.  It saddens me, and it makes me worried for women and for the LGBTQ community and for communities of color.  

I'm going with dark with mint today.

xo
Debbi