little surprises...

There's a cool breeze today, bringing welcome relief from the dog days of summer...yay!  Let's take a quick walk around the farm and I'll share some of our summertime surprises.

We had so many heavy frosts this past spring, we were certain the buds on our fruit trees wouldn't survive. But taking a tip from a friend, we kept spraying them with water...

all.
night.
long.

a happy surprise..it paid off and now we have pretty Fuji apples on the trees!

My mother-in-law calls these beauties Surprise Lilies...and are they ever! They pop up in unexpected spots here and there - just when we need a bit of color.

And who doesn't love a surprise volunteer pumpkin plant...looks as if it's about to take over!

Now these aren't surprises...in May we couldn't resist adding some new chicks to our little flock! We have just successfully mixed them with our older hens (whew) and I'm happy to say there is peace in the coop...which is a surprise!

THIS is our biggest surprise...meet Bandito...

First of all YES it was a surprise the first time we heard that sound.

No, no, no...those little chicks were supposed to ALL be pullets!

I did my reading...okay, sometimes a hen will crow to show off her position as head hen. Then more time passes...

NO, NO, NO...

it kept happening, the crowing became stronger, and soon the tell-tale signs appeared. 

Saddle feathers - check
Hackle feathers - check

What's a girl to do? Sigh...

I do like the sound of a rooster crowing, and for now, while not overly friendly, he seems to be calm. Actually, one of our older hens has been seen bossing him around...that's fine with me, maybe she'll keep him in check. Crossing our fingers.

And looking for the bright side...it could have been worse, they could have ALL turned out to be roosters!