Convenience, Quality, Life.

I am embarrassed to admit it. Sometimes I opt for convenience over quality. I think know when we start to value convenience over quality we often get ourselves in trouble. Frequent indulgence in fast-food leads to health issues. Synthetic fertilizers in your garden or on a corn field might produce a nice, temporary result, but in the long run, the food doesn't contain the same nutrients and the soil suffers. You get the picture.

But the consequences of convenience are not always that harmful. And so today, I opted for the convenience of my new iPhone... Wait, what was that? Is this the same person that several years ago thought she would never text? Is this the same person that just last month swore to herself that she would never own a smart phone? Yes. It's a long story, and the siren, Convenience, has sung her song and lured me into her clutches once again.

So  after taking the photos, instead of digging out the cord to connect the camera to my computer, waiting the minute or two for the camera and computer to acknowledge each other and finally download the photos, I let the iPhone do all that for me.

What's really nice is when the quality of convenience rises, and I can take a decent picture like the one of the calves here.

 Mopey and Meat-Head are still alive, though they still have a cough. I am not sure they will ever be rid of it. One more round of antibiotics, then we will see if they can make it on their own after that. We have stopped the morning bottle feed as they seem to be eating grass and their ration of grain well. They still look for me in the mornings, which made it easy to get this shot. Sometimes, though, they are too busy nosing in the grass to notice me, so I started calling them for their bottle in a falsetto, "Soo(Sue), sooooooooo! Shuck, shuck, shuck...." (I think I learned this from my brother, who used to lend a hand on a cattle ranch. If I remember correctly, this was the way they would call the cows in, offering some grain as a treat.) Anyway, the calves have started to make the connection between the call and the bottle and come running.

The three Polish chicks we got from Co-op were moved out to the little chicken coop recently. They are paranoid, flighty little things.

 Isadora has taken to sitting on some eggs. I didn't have the heart to kick her off the nest, so here she is, a week into it. The second day, she got off for a snack and got back on the wrong nest. I found her a few hours later, and put her back on the right one, so I'm hoping the eggs are still okay. I plan to candle one soon to make sure. I've also been careful to collect the other eggs more often so that she won't make the same mistake again.

 Our other layer chicks are growing up... Still not full size, but it's about time they start venturing out for some sun and fresher air. Hopefully, they will not draw the attention of any hawks.

 And the meat chickens have been relocated to the movable pen. Just a couple more weeks, and they will be relocated to the freezer.