FRANCIS'S BLOG 04/22/2026
Everybody likes eggs 🐔 😺
Daisy laid a soft shelled egg during afternoon yard time. The chickens scarfed it up, and even Sly took a taste.
Soft-shelled eggs can happen for a variety of reasons, but considering Daisy’s laid 29 normal eggs, we think she’s ok. (Today’s Chicken:Duck egg count: 44:29)
See the balloon?
When we were on our way to Sunday’s horse show, there was a big balloon flight. We caught one of them in the same shot as Chavez’s trailer.
Today’s Chicken:Duck egg count: 43:28!
Lipizzaners at work and rest
Here are the grown horses exercising at the palacial Spanish Riding School in Vienna:
Here are the young horses grazing on their own private mountaintop. Baby Lipizzaners are born dark and most will change to white as they grown, but some stay black or gray:
Todays Chicken:Duck egg count: 39:26!
Egg diversity and bat check (35:24)
Hard to believe both these eggs came out of the same duck:
Here’s today’s bat check. “Everybody smile and say, ‘Mosquito!’” 🐴
Now THIS is something completely new (33:23) 🐴
A juvenile hummingbird got trapped in the duck and hen pen:
It was caught, given a good look at the cats, and let zoom back up in the trees.
Poor kitties. . . 😿
It’s “Rooster Freedom Night” at the farm.
And the ducks add to the indignity, too. (Today’s C:D egg count to 26:20)
Austrian Kitties 😺
This Schrödinger impersonator was at the Liposuction Lipizzaner Stud Farm (I’ve been asked to be nice).
This exotic kitty was mousing outside the little restaurant on the mountain where the young Lipizzaners were grazing.
And this youngster was doing what cats do best in the lounge of the Propeller eatery in Graz:
Today’s C:D egg count is 22:18
♫ Dō, a Deer, a Female Deer ♫ Ré, a Drop of—oh the heck with it.
Here I am at the colorful and nutritious gardens of the Mirabell Palace in Salzburg.
Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music kids were filmed here running around like fools to the “Do Re Mi” song. 🐴 Today’s C:D egg count is 20:17.
♬ The Hills Are Alive ♫ With The Sound Of Francis! ♬
Here I am in front of the Collegiate Church of St. Michael, also called Basilika Mondsee. The wedding scene from The Sound of Music was filmed inside.
Where in the World is Francis?
High on a hilltop, somewhere between Piber and Köflach, here I am with Austria’s pride and joy, the world famous Liposuction Stallions. Here’s a video of the colts and their mothers:
I’m back. 🐴
As soon as I got back from Austria, I heard that one of the aggressive drakes sent one of our brown hens to chicken heaven. I should have known something was afoot: this modern art on the wall of my hotel in Graz contained a disturbing omen. See it?
Here it is—the evil psycho duck:
I’m on vacation until the 14th. 🐴
But horse, cat, chicken and duck thieves beware: we’ll be well looked after by our new best friend Clayton, and the DHS cams never sleep! Today’s C:D egg count is 14:9, but who knows how many more will be waiting for me when I get back 🐴.
Enough with the eggs! 🐴
You want eggs? We’ve got a stable full of big, brown ones just for you!
(But today’s C:D count is 12:9 🐔)
The eggs keep coming! 🐔
The C:D egg count is now 11:8. Daisy, as usual, birthed a big one early this morning. Dot (one of our whites) gave us an egg a little later, and an anonymous chicken had one this evening!
At least we assume it was a chicken. 🐴