Coloring on the Walls?...and a Pheasant in the Window

I signed Little Q up for drawing lessons with another local Utah artist and his first lesson was last evening. She draws beautiful realistic portraits, and is also talented at working with and teaching kids. (Her info is here if you are in my local area (SL/UT County) and want to get your kids in to some wonderful art classes). I love the sign leading to the studio at the rear of her house:

It made me want to go home and color on the walls. Or on a pot. Or on something...

We are going on 10 days of these three persistent turkey hens sitting an ever-growing clutch of turkey eggs. They take turns taking breaks - it is the craziest, most organized, and most devoted thing I've ever seen. They are obviously communicating and cooperating with each other to make sure that the clutch is constantly being handled by one of them, or by all of them. They sleep in a giant pile at night, taking turns with who is warming the actual eggs. We were going to try to candle a few of the eggs to see if they are fertile and growing, but one of the hens is so possessive of the clutch we don't want to put her off of sitting by messing with the nest.

We'll just have to see if their efforts pay off in 14 or so days...

Our pheasants never take shelter, even in extreme cold and snow, so imagine our surprise when we caught this rooster pheasant living the sweet life the other night. We know he's been sneaking in to the small chicken house to sleep at night, but he rarely ventures off the floor. I guess he's discovered something the rest of the pheasants haven't yet figured out - a warm dry house on a cold wet night can be a good thing.

Especially if there's a view.