tufted titmouse, dog, and goat

sunrise:  6:26

I have been leaving Guster the hound behind the last two days, which gives me more freedom to wander, since I usually have to keep half an eye on him so he won't bolt back to the street and start baying at the world at 6AM.

Following the song of a bird, I went into a little apple orchard away from the dog zone of our yard.  It sang a rising twee - twee,  usually 2, occasionally three in succession.  Then I found him!  It was a tufted bird, and I think it must have been a titmouse, but none of the tufted titmouse songs I find on line match.  They do have a lot of songs, however, so it may just be a different one.

In any case, now there's another back yard bird whom I can recognize by its song. 

Really cute bird.  And I love the name.  Sounds like a Beatrix Potter character, or a creature from the Narnia series.  Or you  can just remember how you used to giggle about it when you were little.

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The sky was all cloud cover this morning, which can be quite beautiful.  My camera does not do it justice, however.  I did try lying down on the ground to get a picture of a skeletel tree against the gray sky, but as you can see, my four footed companion took it as an invitation:

The last thing I did was to pick some old winter apples and bring them to Heidi and Pepper, our nubian goats who will be leaving us tomorrow after eight years.  They have a great home to go to, with lots of other animals.  J. and I are sad to see them go.  The barn will feel empty, and all those delicious fruit and vegetable scraps will just have to go to compost!

I'll get a farewell picture of them tomorrow.