The keets turned thirteen weeks old two days ago. A week ago I switched their food from medicated gamebird starter to a combination of nonmedicated chick starter and layer feed—to meet their high protein requirement. They need to be off the medicated food by twelve weeks because, believe it or not, they are actually old enough to be producing eggs! Each day I step into the guinea house I expect to find a new surprise…but nothing yet!

In the past two weeks the keets have developed a beautiful aqua blue over their heads, which have completely lost their baby racing stripes. Their helmets and wattles continue to grow.

In another two weeks they will have been in their coop six weeks, which means I get the green light to open their door and let them out to explore the brave new world. It will not doubt be the start of sadness, as I can’t imagine all of them surviving. But I hope that it will also be the beginning of a new phase of farm life in which my livestock actually gets to range free.

In a whirlwind of accomplishment last weekend, Dad and I got the tar paper on the roof of the coop—a crucial step to prepare for the actual roofing material. But then there were two evenings of rather violent storms yesterday and tonight, and when I went around doing damage check late this evening after the rain stopped, this is what I found:

So much for those staples I used to attach the tar paper to the roof!

I fetched the deficient stapler and hauled myself onto the coop. There I relaid the tar paper and peppered its surface with staples, hoping that perhaps a constellation of weak metal would make up for having the proper tool for the job.

While I was up on the roof, the sky blazed up with hot pink clouds and a cool breeze came off the mountain to cut our almost-100 degree day.

I lay on my back and watched the clouds fade from magenta through puce to ballet pink. Above my head, a fat contrail chased a small jet flying west. And for once, I didn’t wish that I was on it.