A Day In the Sunshine

I'm really getting spoiled by all this beautiful weather we've been having for the last 3 weeks or so.  It was supposed to rain last night after 1 a.m., but the storm never materialized and we woke to filtered sun streaming through our stained glass windows.  The weatherguesser said it would be 76 degrees and sunny.

On the way out the door, I noticed that my white asian lilies are blooming for the first time.

J. and I got out early and spent the day working on those little odd projects that just seem to come with owning a house and a backyard farm.  One of the bad things about using PVC fencing for your garden beds is that you can't use the weed eater around them because it will break the brittle fence.  So I have to weed by hand with some grass shears.  Doesn't take long, but it's not as fast as with a weedeater. 

While I was harassing weeds, J. was putting the finishing touches on the garage downspout which was the last "to-do" after our unfortunate truck incident a couple of weeks ago.  Finishing at the same time, we decided it was way past time to sit down, enjoy the view and have some iced tea before starting down the "honey do" list again.

This robin agreed that a break was needed after the morning's worm hunting and nest-building, so she enjoyed some time in the sun with us at the base of one of the apple trees.  I tried to get a closer shot since I only had my phone but she flew off.  So sorry for the somewhat unfocused shot!

Our resident crew of baby bunnies were hiding in amongst the overgrown grass around the beds, and they weren't happy about being woken from their mid-day snoozes.  At one point, we had three little cottontails hopping around the yard.    The good news is that they aren't coordinated enough to hop into the garden beds yet.  I picked one of them up to move him from his nap location and he jumped out of my hand and into one of the beds where I snapped this pic.  He stayed there for several hours.

One of our sweet baby bunnies sheltering from the sun under the lettuce leaves.

The chickens are quite angry with me because I won't let them out to free range, but I'm a little worried about doing that with all these bunnies running around.  A grown chicken can easily kill and eat a mouse and I'm sure they wouldn't discriminate against eating teeny bunnies.  They'll have to wait until these babies are gone or a little bigger.  It didn't stop them from giving me an earful, however, as I finished mulching the tomato beds.

As dark closed in on us, J. and I retreated to the house for dinner and to cut up some fresh strawberries that I picked up over the weekend. Out of 6 pints, we got 3 quarts of usable strawberries, all cleaned and cut up for freezing.  I'll post more about those tomorrow.

And, guess what?  We never did get that bunny fence put up.

Sharing this post with the Tuesday Garden Party, where you can check out some fabulous gardens, and Weekly Top Shot #32!