Poor Earl

There's something wrong with his front legs. So much for hybrid vigor! The vet is working on a diagnosis (birth defect? old injury?). Meantime, he limps around and his front legs (especially his right) are painful and swollen. He is a handsome 15-week-old. I want him to go bounding through the fields, like a normal puppy.

We turned the guineas out into the garden for the first time, and I watched to make sure they didn't wipe out the crops. Yes, some bean leaves were eaten, but for the most part they pecked at seeds in the mulch and looked for grasshoppers. That's Mrs. Davis on the left looking creepy (it was getting dark).

I've got the chicken/guinea house nearly done - we put the weird skylight/roof units up this weekend. We scrounged them from an old greenhouse in the lower field, along with a bunch of the framing. The siding is recycled cedar from Craig's List (free is good). It's not beautiful (I practice bad, slow-motion carpentry – and despite the practice, never get any better. Or faster.) but I think it has a funky charm. I'll get the yard fencing up and move the girls in, maybe tomorrow after work. A shed-roofed leanto or porch will go at front right. And I'll build doors for the front and the wide clean-out opening toward the garden.

(Jack was supposed to pose nonchalantly on the stool, but decided to do a headstand instead.)