The keets turned eleven weeks old on Tuesday.

Their favorite thing is eating grass—in fact, the only time they will willingly approach me is when I extend a fistful of greenery their way. Things got a little tough during the drought we recently had. All the grass on the farm dried up and blew away with the dust. I haven’t mown for more than a month, and haven’t even assembled the new mower I bought to replace my other that I killed by running over a gnarly big tree root that was hidden in the grass. Back when we had grass! I even saw an ad on CraigsList that a farmer was selling his entire herd of cattle (15 head) because there was nothing for them to eat in the field.

And then last week we got a few storms that dumped a couple of much-needed inches. The pasture greened up, and things started growing again.

The keets continue to exercise their loud new voices, and each time I hear them all launch into a cacophonous chorus, I am glad I built their coop relatively far from the house!

Their wattles continue to grow, and they are sprouting bony protrusions that will become the “helmets” on each bird’s head.

One reason that I am including so many guinea photos, other than that I find them neat, is that I have had such a hard time finding good-quality images of guineas in all stages of their development. I hope that I can do a service to any other birdkeeper who’d like to know what they are getting into!

In other birdwatching news, I have really been enjoying the hummingbirds as they come to feed on the back porch. They never cease to amaze me with their crazy flying and admirable aggressiveness as they chase each another around the sky.

It was a year ago to this moon that I walked home in the dark from a neighbor’s party. I sat on the porch of the old house and watched this moon blaze up from behind the mountain, making the trees look like they were on fire as it rose behind them. One year later I still find this sight as startling, and as stunning.

I came home from work Thursday night to find the hay had been cut in the fields around the house.

As much as I enjoyed the tall hay glowing in the sunlight, I like this fresh and clean look too. And just in time! I was out late last night buying material for the chicken coop that Dad and I are going to start building in the field today. It’s no small undertaking, this structure, so stay tuned for progress reports. Here’s the coop thus far:

Last night, the farmer who takes the hay showed me a photo he took of a gigantic black bear that lives in the neighborhood. I had suspected as much after seeing some incriminating looking bear poo under the cherry tree. A lone bear doesn’t worry me much, but he’s seen mothers with two and three cubs as well, and that’s not a situation I’d want to walk into in the dark of night.

At last count, the predators I am battling in this quest to keep birds include: fox (saw one run though the back yard the other night), raccoons, snakes, coyotes, hawks, eagles, weasels, mice, rats, dogs, and now bear. A more sane person might ask, “Why bother?!!”

It’s hay season, which means my commute to and from work often involves looking at the back of a John Deere while crawling twenty miles an hour breathing diesel fumes. Which, apart from the fumes, is great and exactly why I moved here.

But in addition to all the tractors rumbling past my house, I love this time of year because the pastures surrounding the house look like this.

Each day I come home from work expecting the fields to be shorn by the farmer up the road who cuts the hay for his cows, and each day the golden grass is still standing I am a little selfishly happy.

I worked late on Friday night and by the time I left the office, a beautiful almost-summer evening was shaping up. Thunderheads marched from the west during my drive up to the house, and out of no where the honeysuckle had burst into bloom and perfumed the heavy air that swept into my air conditioned-less vehicle. After checking out the house and watering my new trees, I sat until sundown on the front porch and watched the lightning show behind the mountain. I have to say that the last thirteen months of this often-maddening adventure were totally worth it for that moment, my first porch sit.

New updates include the completion of the kitchen redo. The new counter was installed, and I was very pleased to find the appliances in place, minus the dishwasher, which is coming in a few weeks and minus the range hood, which my dad will install because it requires modification beyond what my “builder” can manage. The kitchen sink was replumbed and guess what!? Now the sink and faucet are aligned on the window above!

My builder is calling for the C.O. tomorrow, so fingers crossed we pass the inspection. There are quite a few things that, although not really hazardous, are probably not perfect if we get a stickler inspector. A big one is we haven’t yet built railings around the porches…so if I am required to have them expect to see a few hastily tacked up 2×4s in upcoming photos!

After the C.O., next week will be spent cleaning and May 23 is scheduled move-in day! Do you believe it? I don’t! It will be a year and a day from when I closed on the property, which was May 22, 2009. And what a year it’s been!

The painting was also done on the stair railing, and I love it. I spent a couple of hours sanding each factory-sharp edge off of each banister and newel, and I love how the whole thing, upon close inspection, looks soft and old, like its been there forever.

I’d also gotten register grates, and the laundry sink, which my dad and I had positioned and installed last weekend, was in place. The gas tank for my stove was also set on the concrete pad we poured last weekend, and gas was flowing to my stove. I can’t wait to get cooking on these beautiful counters and with this gleaming gas stove. I am used to a stove that required me to regulate its temperature by cracking the door and setting fans to blow across the opening, so this is luxury!

Speaking of cooking, doesn’t this just make you want to make a cherry pie? It seems to be the week for cherry ripening here, but the local birds are really the ones enjoying the feast. Which is fine with me—I hope that in future years I will be able to partake in the harvest, but with all the other things I am trying to manage right now, I am happy to share.

April 18, 7:42 p.m.

Driving home from the farm after a beautiful day spent working on the back porch ceiling and doing what I hope is the final trim sanding. The last time I drove home this way, it was on thick ice and this pasture looked like this.

One of the things I like best about the farm is that the sun sets behind the woodline at the back of my property, and behind the soft mountains that are beyond the woods.  In the winter, the silhouettes of trees—including the gigantic oak right behind the house—throw up a stark background that’s not unlike an expertly lit stage set. I like being out here as the stars wheel into place above me, and I like feeling small under those giant trees.