First blue egg

Oh my goodness, I'd almost given up hope, but finally, finally one of our Ameraucanas has come through in the laying department. I think it must be Toy -- she was showing a fair bit of interest in the nest-boxes a couple of days ago and I had started to get hopeful again about someday seeing a blue egg. Our other hens, born the same day, have been laying for five weeks already, and I'd been seriously considering starting to do workups on the Ameraucanas for infertility.

The kids, even Noah and Erin, who much of the time just tolerate their mother's interest in living a simpler, closer-to-the-source kind of life, were thrilled. I was so excited I almost drove to my mom's to borrow her digital camera. Then I remembered that the camcorder she and I jointly own, which is currently residing at our place, has the ability to snap stills too. So I pulled out the manual, followed the directions, managed to capture to the piddly SmartCard we'd never used before, and upload this photo.