What would you ask of the Mighty Oz?!

Alright... it's really just Agatha.  or IS it?!  BwaaaaHaaaHaaaa!

Lola languishes

Oh, the agony of molting season. (And you thought you had bad hair days?!!)  Poor Lola looks very ratty.  And now, Charro is lookin' pretty good--and letting everyone know it.

Maude (the black and white) thinks the camera is meant for her!  Why would we waste our time on her threadbare (generally conceited, Miss Piggy ) sister?!

Yes, I'll admit, Charro is looking pretty spiffy in her soft new golden suit.

Rollercoaster Temperatures...

While New York and New Jersey are still trying to get back to normal after superstorm Sandy, followed by this past weekend's chilly No'easter, we have had unseasonably warm days.  The drought still holding us in its clutches.

Apparently we have a blast of a cold front headed our way, just to liven things up.

Oh, on the bright side, Charro's leg is much better.  AND her new feathers are coming in: she is looking sleek and lustrous again!

This morning's ditch walk... cottonwood color.

Doesn't fall sneak up on you every year? I am struggling to notice... lots and lots of green, a bit of yellow here and there around the edges. Oh, and I heard a few cranes Sunday morning. And a few more today on our walk, though I stopped and searched the sky and couldn't spot them. [Obviously--no picture!]

Egg production definitely slowing down...

What with molting, and being "older," the girls have definitely slowed down in their egg laying.  (If one needed yet another sign of fall....)  They are now giving us 2-4 eggs a day.  But absence doesn't make a very impressive photograph.  We were very surprised, and laughed a lot, when Scarlett skipped a day, then laid a TINY, Little egg.  It reminds me of the Silkies's eggs (the bantams).  Go Scarlett!!

Pyracantha!

About three weeks ago, we noticed that the berries on the huge pyracantha bushes along the ditch had ripened.  I don't know that I had ever really associated this with fall.  I kind of hated them growing up--for their vicious thorns.  As I get older and crave distance from my neighbors, and enjoy bird watching, I am appreciating them much more.  (The berries DID turn/ ripen with the season, didn't they?!)

Baby carrots!