A Visit from the Painted Bunting:

What a confirmation of Spring to see the rare and breathtakingly beautiful Painted Bunting.  What a treat it was when my oldest son stuck his head in the basement door calling me outside; he had seen a male Painted Bunting feeding on the ground below one our feeders near the back porch.  We stood patiently in the backyard, keeping our distance from the feeder, and sure enough, he returned to feed quietly on the ground.  We stood in silence for at least 15 minutes just watching the handsome young bird.

Last Spring, one of our farm cats - one of our best mousers (or perhaps "birders") made the ever so awful mistake of killing one.  Despite the loss of the beautiful and somewhat threatened species, we took advantage of being able to examine this species up close - it is like nothing you've ever seen.  The colors are much like those of tropical birds - especially the colorful pairs of love birds you see in pet shops.  I was really discouraged over the loss - but having cats puts feeder birds at risk.  Needless to say, I was thrilled to hear a male had stopped by for a late lunch today!

Wild Chicken Update:

I'll be the first to admit that I have a love affair with naming our animals around here - including all of our chickens.  You'll be glad to hear that the wild chicken has decided to hang with the flock since our rescue the other day and has been going in to roost inside the chicken house (as opposed to under it...) at night as well.  The boys told me that "the wild chicken" was not such a great name and that we really should name her now that she has joined the flock.

I told them I thought we should name her Nell - after the character from the movie about the wild girl named - what else - Nell.

Seemed suitable to me.

The boys were obviously not familiar with the Jodie Foster film - but agreed to the name just the same.

So Nell it is (but also formerly known as the wild chicken...).

Poor Little Brer Fox:

Meanwhile, we've had to visit the vet today.  One of our younger tomcats, Brer Fox, has been puny; but this morning, he was more like lethargic.

Not a good sign.

Going to the vet causes tremendous anxiety to descend upon me; I understand they are doctors and that they want to do the very best in medical care of animals.....but I don't have a money tree growing my back yard either.  I really hope the one son who I won't mention any names around here but he keeps talking about he'd might like to think about maybe going to vet school.........WOULD!  I would feel somehow villified for all the vet bills over the years....

Brer Fox was among 5 kittens out of two litters that were born within two days of eachother last 4th of July that were failing to thrive.

Did you get all of that?

Out of the five - we lost two of them - but Brer Fox, Savannah Lucille ("Lucy") and Miss Georgia Peaches ("Peaches") did survive after I bottle fed them from four weeks on.

Did I mention I have a thing about naming our animals?

Brer Fox was one of three males that were born all alike - we called them the Brer Brothers:  Brer Bear, Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox.  (Doesn't sound like I get out much, huh?)  Brer Rabbit has been gone since the litter was about 4 or 5 months old - we think an owl most likely preyed upon him - it was hard to know - he was just gone one day.  Brer Bear is the alpha male of this generation of farm felines and he is due to be neutered asap!  He is tough; he is really buff, too!  But his little brother Brer Fox has not been himself and this morning we knew we had to have some interventive help.

When we arrived at the vet, he had a temperature of 105.3!  After eliminating a number of possibilities - as well as having to negotiate what I was willing to do and what I was NOT willing to do (....as in take out a small loan......), he had to have I.V. fluids and two injections of antibiotics and we came home w/oral med's for him.  The vet thought perhaps he has a wound somewhere that just hasn't festered yet - and rather than it fester, he is running high temp.  So he's pitiful and in quarantine on our back porch.  I'm just glad it wasn't something toxic - we've been through that as well last year and ended up having to put a sweet farm cat down.  It was tragic and I must admit I had a huge lump in my throat and teary eyes by the time we reached the vet's office in our neighboring town.

Brer Fox doesn't have to start his oral medication until tomorrow and the vet said his fever should be well reduced by this evening - so we're just visiting him on the back porch this evening.  Hopefully, he'll feel like eating a little bit later on - we'll see.

HKJ