Babes In The Woods. And The Shed. The Bathroom, Too.

Because it was my birthday -- and possibly more to the point, because it was an extraordinarily nice, sunny day -- we loaded up the kayak rack yesterday afternoon and went to the lake after I'd worked a few hours. I swam about three-quarters of a mile and kayaked (is that actually a verb?) about a half-mile. Scooted into town and had a birthday dinner of Cheap Chinese at the all-you-can-eat. Came home, did some more work.

Went out to check on the Angora rabbits in the shed. The pregnant doe was alone.

Or maybe not.

She'd been pulling hair out and stuffing it, along with hay, in a little nesting box. The hay was rustling. Lisa and I got a couple of long wooden spoons -- do not get between a mom rabbit and her babies if you value your fingers and poked through it. There were four little hairless bunnies curled up deep in the box.

Which reminded me. I had to reassemble the chicken brooder, just on the off-chance that the Aruacanas chicks would show up as promised. Finished work and put it together late, finishing up around midnight. Phone range this morning. This is why I really like the post office in My Town: They opened up a few minutes early for me. When I got there, the box o' peeps was on a table, next to a radio.

"We've been trying a little bit of everything," they said.

"Huh?"

"They don't like NPR."

"That could be a problem."

"They were pretty indifferent to Smokey Robinson."

"Hmmmmm."

"But they really seem to like the Four Tops."

It's a small town, and a small post office, so maybe we don't get that much mail. But I was still pretty charmed by the idea of a group of federal employees helping me to narrow down entertainment choices for chickens. Took them home and put them in the brooder, where they went right to town on some scratch. Amazing how they learn so quickly.

My own personal blonde moment: I was trying to figure out how best to describe the size of a day-old chicken when it came to me:

They're the size of an egg.

You think?

They're in the brooder, peeping happily now. I'm still a little concerned that they don't have vaccinations for coccidiosis or Marek's, but I guess that's what sulfa (and cage cleaning) is for.

A screaming boatload of work to do today. More later.