Donegal in Pictures, Part 3: Animal Portraits

 
In two months of working with chickens, ducks, pigs, goats and dogs, I have come to focus occasionally on one individual character or bit of anatomy: a chicken's dinosaur feet or scaly wattles; the way a sleeping piglet appears to be smiling if you catch her at the right angle.  Having been primarily a portrait artist for the last seven years or so, I soon started taking close-up pictures of the various creatures grunting and clucking around my feet.

Wee Stripy

This little creature hatched from a chicken egg at the same time as the now-juvenile hens you see beside it.  It seems to have stopped growing at about the size of a mango and has maintained a decidedly vulturish appearance.  Its feet are huge compared to the rest of its body and it has very short feathers, few of which are on its head and none of which are on its backside.  I like the little mutton-chop sideburns.

This is the shy mouser who lives in the barn
where we milk goats. I call her Barn Cat.

 

Bonus:  The Gallery of Cute

There are always new arrivals around here.  Spring and summer mean chicks and ducklings, while another litter of piglets is born every four to six weeks.  Sometimes their cuteness brings out the squealing girl in me.

After finding a dead duckling floating in this water dish after a long rain, I figured the wee thing had exhausted itself trying to get out.  So I put a big stone in the water against the side where the stepping-in block is.  The remaining babies were happy to use it.

 

Donegal in Pictures, Part 2: What I Am Doing

 
I spend my days feeding and watering pigs, chickens and ducks; milking goats; weeding; hauling manure; planting; repotting; fencing; ..."whatever needs doing" is sort of my work motto.  These photos are all about the place I spend my work days.

This boulder got a lot of attention when the goats were in the big field.

Murphy didn't do any damage here,
she just likes to be where the action is.

The ubiquitous blue saw.  There must be five or six of these on the farm.  This one is hanging on a nail on the wall, where one might reasonably expect to find such a tool.  More often, though, I find them buried under piles of straw or notice them poking out from under things.