My Partially Empty Nest

In the past couple of weeks, my daughter moved out and into her college dorm, Bow and I witnessed a partial solar eclipse, and many, many wild animals presented themselves to me, as if to make up for the lost companionship. And, of course, Bow is still here.

The eclipse, such as it was, was just a momentary darkness in the pens and an odd kind of light out of doors. You can see what we saw in the video embedded below.

My daughter also witnessed the eclipse in Springfield, two hours away from here. I have visited her there once since she moved into the dorm, but it's a long drive, and I can only go in the evening, because I have to stay with Bow from sunup to nearly sundown. Lawrence has remarried and moved away, so we are currently one chimp sitter short.

So how does it feel to have a partially empty nest? I see a lot of young animals  everywhere I look on my property. This turtle has such big eyes, because it is a juvenile three-toed box turtle, only three or four years old.

This brown thrasher allowed me to get close enough to it to take a picture, because it is a juvenile who has not yet learned to fly properly. I saw it after the mowers had left, and as brown thrashers are ground nesting birds, it seems likely the nest was disturbed.

And, of course, there are always the deer. The twin fawns are the easiest of all the deer to get close to.

It's as if all of nature is trying to make up for my fledgling who has flown away. Of course, I still have one in the nest. Bow looks so peaceful when he's asleep!

Poppy Seed Muffins

Yesterday, I decided to bake some poppy seed muffins.

I let Bow lick the bowl. While the muffins were in the oven,  I looked out the window and I saw some deer.

It was the doe and the twin fawns.  I went outside to see if I could get a better look.

The doe looked at me. One of the twin fawns decided to go into the back pasture, but the other one kept looking at me. Then the doe decided that she would leave, and they all bounded away.

 As a result, the poppy seed muffins were a little overdone. But Bow did not seem to mind. He ate them with great relish.