FRANCIS'S BLOG 04/21/2026
The flies change their size 🐴
Maybe it’s the change of season, but it seems we’ve gone from big flies around our faces to smaller flies on our backs.
They are just all over, and sometimes bite:
Hurry up with the fly spray, people! 🐴
On the bright side, the flowers by the creek are very pretty!
The flowers won’t be here for long. 🐎
It’s cooler today 🐴
After all the rain, it’s a nice sunny morning and only 70:
We don’t have much going on today:
I’ll admit that Noodle by the manure cart isn’t very exciting. 🐴
Lots of rain all night 🐴
Ferdinand, Percy and Daisy are in a rush to get out:
It poured all night, so there will be plenty of worms:
Look out, Evil Cat! 😾
The other ducks are happy, too.
Kitty capers 😺 and horse happenings 🐎
Finn is at the end of her rope:
Oh, and here are some wet fireworks:
Stormy gets a bath after being ridden yesterday afternoon (Mary’s getting a bath, too). 🐎
Let’s try to stay in the shade today 😺
Noodle has found a cool spot by the water fountain:
I’d love to talk more. . .
But, as you can see, I’m busy. 🐴
Hot sunny Sunday 🐴
Percy and Daisy retreat to their shady resting place in the weeds by the water tank:
Ferdinand would join them, but sometimes he can’t figure out how to slip under the fence:
Charlie’s been having a little trouble with one of her back hooves (I forget which one):
She’ll get a foot bath this afternoon, which always helps. 🐎
Warm Saturday morning 🐎
Rose and Jewel feel as free as the ducks this morning:
They are having the run of the stable, and we are in the front pasture:
It’s only been 10 minutes, and this is the second mask Jewel’s had on—she rolled in the mud with the first one.
They’ll be easier to retrieve for a ride this afternoon. 🐴
Rainy morning 🐴
Noodle checks out a sparrow’s nest blown down by the storm:
There are no birds or eggs. . .
Just a lot of duck feathers! 😺
The sun is out now, and the air is cool and breezy. Rose and Jewel have some hay in the front pasture. . .
While the rest of us are very far away!
🐎
Good fences make good roosters 🐓
Hansel and Baldy alternate days outside of the pen:
That way, everybody has a chance to run free in the yard without the risk of chicken bloodshed. 🐓
And Ukie visited us this morning! 🐺
Horse Crime! 🐎
It’s bad enough when the horses take off each other’s masks. . . 🐎
But the absolute worst is when they do it way out at the far end of the far pasture! 🐎
Oh, and Noodle has made a sparrow-blind out of the horse-busted salt-lick-rack:
Sorry, Noodle, you’re going to have to get out of there. . . 🙀
There are too many nails sticking up, so your hiding place is going to the trash heap. 🙀
What are the cats up to? 😺
Schrödinger says Good morning:
And so do Pumpkin. . .
and Kanna.
And now that the pleasantries are out of the way. . .
FEED US! 😺
It’s pouring rain, but any Monday that they collect all the trash is a good Monday 🐴
Finn and Noodle have the rainy day blues:
We’re not happy either:
It’s hard for us to stay out of each other’s way:
But we do our best to get along. 🐎
And we’re happy the ducks are happy. 🐴
Sunny Sunday 🐴
It’s a little cooler today.
The ducks are out doing what ducks do (making a mess).
Charlie and Iris are sharing the front pasture with Rose and Jewel. 🐎
And the rest of us are out over the hill. 🐎
You’re right, these birds are not local: they are java sparrows that you see all over Hawaii. 🐴
Busy Saturday 🐎
The swallows just keep coming. Here are 8 babies lined up on a rafter:
With the rest of us locked in the front pasture, Rose and Jewel have the run of the place:
But that’s ok: they’re getting ready to be ridden:
Here they are with Iris in the riding arena:
Mara is riding Iris, Mary is on Rose, and Cheyanne is riding Jewel. With all the rain recently, it’s nice to have a dry place to ride. 🐎
Cloudy Friday 🐴
I don’t know what the ducks are eating off this bush, but I hope it’s not poisonous:
Iris and I are first out in the far pasture:
Oh, and here’s a beautiful gecko that was at my hotel in Maui:
What a living jewel!
Here’s another living Jewel! 🐎
I visit a Maui farm 🐴
Here I am at the Maui Tropical Plantation:
I saw pineapple plants:
Banana trees:
Coffee plants:
Coconut trees (of course):
Papayas:
Macadamia nuts:
Of course, a farm wouldn’t be a farm without ducks:
And chickens:
And cats:
Hello, Hawaiian kitty! 😺
Nasty rainy Wednesday morning 🐴
But it was sunny every day in Maui! Here I am about to board the Reef Dancer:
We had a great view of the reef and all its inhabitants:
Here is a diver showing us a sea urchin:
Here are two kinds of starfish:
And here is an octopus!
Here’s a movie of us sailing back to shore:
The undersea world of Francis 🐴
Here I am grazing with Wailea Beach in the background. I’m about to go take some pictures of underwater lava rocks.
Here is one of the colorful little fish that was keeping an eye on me:
I don’t know what that plant-like animal in the upper-right corner was (it looks like a bunch of red fingers), but it was spooky:
Here’s a spikey critter I couldn’t identify:
But I knew enough not to touch it.
Look at the 16-17 second mark, and you’ll get a brief glimpse of a red spikey animal clinging to the rock:
I’m back 🐴
The first thing I discovered in Maui was how they trim the palm trees. I saw them working almost every day.
They have to saw off any dying branches before they come crashing down on the sidewalk.
How do they get up there? 
They had these neat trunk-grabbing platforms: first they move one, then the other.
Here’s a movie of them in action:
I’ll be back next Sunday 🐴
Maybe when I get back the baby ducks' heads will be completely green:
I’m going on vacation to Maui:
I’ll share all my pictures with you when I get back, which should be next Sunday, August 12. 🐴
Uh-oh, tractor down! 🙀
Security Chief Schrödinger reports a suspicious vehicle (suspicious in that one of its wheels has fallen off):
Our friend Judge from Rich’s farm finished cutting our grass for us! 😺
What would we do without such good neighbors? (Be lost in the weeds, for one thing.) 🐴
Kitties can’t wait 😺
The cats can’t wait to start breakfast:
Oh, and what’s that lump of fur on the ground?
Why, it’s Tux playing possum (Baldy has been terrorizing the cats recently). 🙀
More work being done 🐴
The ducks are befuddled this morning. Ferdinand is burying his face in the grass.
Our Emmerson friends are digging up things again:
They are finishing the drainage system around the riding arena.
Pooter, Paschal, Nina and Chica will hide in the “igloo” if the noise gets to be too much. 🐴