Day One at Lilliput and the Lake

Doesn't that sound like an adventure? Lilliput and the Lake. The first stop upon decamping from the van: guinea chicks in the garage. They have to be kept safe and sound for the first months, because the wide world is a dangerous place for chicks.

They are quick as lightning, and can fly already at 3 weeks old.
So you can't let even one wing free, or they Take Off!
Which does not make for much of a view of a guinea chick. This one is an anomaly - it is light gray, while the typical color is dark.
Next up: playing ball with Gulliver. Or, as Phoenix calls him, Goal Over. (See that ditch between the crops and yard? Copperhead station! Dun-dun-duuunnnn... That's where the guinea nest was hiding.)

Ready Gulliver?

Go get it!

Now sit still for a snuggle. But slink away when I bring out the camera. He doesn't like papparazzi. But Isabella, our Dog Whisperer has a friend for life. She sits still and gently strokes and soothes every dog in the neighborhood.

At the end of the day we walked back to the lake. There were ducks to feed, Redneck and Mo-Squawk. There were koi fish to marvel over - "Cool" fish, thank you Phoenix. There was an adult-size treehouse to clamber into. It was misty and overcast, and just right for wandering around.

The kids stomped out onto the dock, and like creatures from the deep, the koi slowly swirled into sight. We were enraptured. The first ones were brought to the lake over ten years ago by my grandmother, who had special-ordered them. They are all nearly two feet long, with color patterns in orange and white, and grey and white. Plus one frilly koi with ruffly fins.

They are so graceful and peaceful. And somehow, the kids were not bothered at all by the knowledge that they would later be swimming in the same water with those "giants."

A wonder.