Surprises in my garden

It's funny, but ever since we moved to the country, we have only been able to spend - maybe - two, full, uninterrupted days here. Both my husband and I are yearning to just stop, breathe, and explore our new place for hours on end. Unfortunately, that's not yet in the cards and I have found myself having to travel into town almost every day since our move. While the distance itself isn't all that far, with the appointments/stops and then traffic to and from, each of these trips has me leaving in the morning and not returning until late in the afternoon.

Despite this, though, I gave myself permission yesterday morning to be a bit late to my "city date" and just wander for thirty minutes through my garden and barn. The pastures will have to wait for another day.

I can't express how beautiful it was...the weather was gray, cool and wet, but the birds were out in force, singing, chirping and chattering and the air smelled so fresh. I found and noticed the most wonderful things:

...a tree, still living, with many woodpecker holes in it:

...an ancient old pitchfork spade that I pulled out of the dirt:

I was able to determine that this fruit tree is, indeed, apple and not pear:

...a rope in a tree that has been there so long, it has huge clumps of moss growing on it:

...a larger than average nest above the hay storage area of my barn:

My husband had found a surprise in the garden for me the night before that made me laugh so loud. It was buried, on its side, beneath an overgrown shrub:

Our new farm mascot! So you can get a sense of his size, here he is next to Roxy:

What shall I name him?