The Dog, the Cow and the Nest

Now that Chet Baker comprehends English, I have great fun with our one-way conversations.

Chet Baker. Do you know what's going to happen today?
Whut?
Later on, Shila's (ears prick, big smile) coming over and we're going to take a WALK!
Frisk, frisk, boing, boing, whee!
Nobody loves a walk more than Chet Baker, unless it's me and Shila.

Chet's getting much better in responding to voice commands, unless there is a cat, a squirrel, a coon or a cow around. So the lead comes out when there are cattle around. In the fall, our neighbor puts his breeding herd of beeves on the pasture near our mailbox, which we must cross in order to visit the beaver pond.

You had better have that little heathen on a leash, Missy.(Rising to her feet) You know that we have a new calf here, right?Yes, Mrs. Cow. He will be on the lead for the foreseeable future. Sorry to disturb.

We happen to think that your animal is ill-mannered, and we disapprove...

Yes, Mrs. Cow. We're leaving now. Please resume your cud-chewing.

The wind brought a field sparrow nest out into the path in our meadow. Only the field sparrow builds this angular structure of blonde stems, perfectly uniform and distinctive in its simplicity.
This nest has rather more base structure than one usually sees in a field sparrow nest; I think it may have been on the ground, as I look at it. It had caught a bright sumac leaflet in lieu of an egg.

More faux eggs--a sturdy brown thrasher nest lodged in a multiflora rosebush had a mouse's stash within--hickory nuts that will never hatch.
The multiflora hips, highlighted against a barn. What is that color? Oxblood? It's so far beyond barn red, well into alizarin crimson, so beautiful. Nobody's painting barns that color any more.