Dogwood blooms and baby chicks

The dogwood trees are in glorious full bloom. Other trees are beginning to put forth their leaves. Patches of white can be seen in many locations because the dogwoods bloom before the rest of the trees produce their full summer foliage. Redbud trees are still in bloom but some of them have begun to put on their leaves as well. I'd bet my bottom dollar that the person who first named the Redbud tree as such was a man. No woman would look at the color of those beautiful fragile flowers which this tree puts forth and call them "red". Of course, the name "lilac" was already taken and few men care for the subtle differences in shades of color. I'm not trying to sound sexist. It's been my experience that where a woman sees pale blue, aqua, royal blue and midnight blue, she is able to adequately describe the difference in shading where a man will simply call them all blue.

A couple of week ago, one of my hens hatched out a clutch of eggs. When she went broody I allowed her to sit on 10 eggs. Seven of those ten hatched. A few days after they had hatched one of the chicks died, cause unknown. Last night when I put the chickens up for the night, I could only find 5 of the remaining 6 chicks. I am unsure what happened to the sixth little chick. I looked for it's body to no avail. I hope the chick didn't discover a hole and manage to squeeze thru it. If this is the case it is possible that others may also find such a hole. Another possibility that worries me is that I was unable to find a body because of the body was eaten. A snake can get thru quite small openings. We have killed several snakes over the years in the chicken house. These are chicken snakes that have gotten into the chicken house to eat the eggs. I've never had a problem with them getting chicks because usually when I have chicks of this age, they are kept closed up in the house and not allowed into the pen. The hen is a good mother and is very protective of the chicks, but she wouldn't be able to do much against a snake.

Jacqueline had her spring concert yesterday. It was very good. Lasted for a little over an hour. I really like the band director and think she has done a great job with our band. She started a chorus last year and so now the concert also includes selections by the chorus as well as featuring the band. During the band performance Jacqueline had a solo on her piccolo. She alternated between flute and piccolo during the other pieces of music that the band performed. I'm not sure how it is decided which instrument will be used, unless some of the songs do not contain parts for the piccolo.