My favorite mornings are those on which we arise early - long before the sun - and head out into the darkness (and a brief snow flurry) to do morning chores. I love the silence and stillness of this time of day.
We take care of chores with headlamps on... feeding, watering, cleaning up frozen poopsicles and poop-berries.
As the sun rises, and everyone is eating their breakfast,
we hear the sound of our rooster Elwood - much louder than usual. He greets every morning with robust crowing, but the sound is typically muffled by the henhouse in which he has roosted. This morning, however, he is loud and clear!
When we reach the henhouses and open the doors to let everyone out for their breakfast treat, Elwood is nowhere to be found.
My guess is that he slept with the goats...
and a little investigation proves me right.
So, why, after all this time would he leave the warmth of the henhouse and take up with the goats? I have no idea... truly. Is it hard to be the only man in a group of 40 women? Is he hen-pecked? Tired of the un-ending gossip? Physically exhausted from the demands of forty women? Or maybe, as Jack theorizes, just tired of walking across the frozen, snowy ground to put himself to bed at night? Whatever the reason, Elwood has flown the coop.
We'll see if this behavior changes when the snow is finally melted [me, asking if the snow will ever melt].
Other than this development, the birds are weathering winter without a hitch. The chickens continue to lay eggs as if it were summer.
The guineas continue to room with the runner ducks.
There's just nowhere to run when everything is a sheet of ice. And so, they all hang out in the duck yard together every day, and sleep together in the duck house every night... the guineas roosting on the elevated bar, while the ducks sleep on the pine bedding floor.
Of interest... the great Blue Heron who is a frequent pond visitor seems to be roosting each night at the pond. We see him almost every morning as he silently flies off when we approach. I hope to catch a photo of him on a game camera to show you.
Gus had a veterinary appointment and received his rabies vaccine. He was a very brave boy and didn't seem to mind at all. It's hard to get a photo of his face, because he always tries to get as close as possible. Unfortunately a photo does not do this boy justice. He is the chubbiest cat in the barn - with a serious Buddha belly! He's definitely found his little bit of kitty heaven and is content to just be fat and happy!
Yesterday, after chores, I started a fire in the fireplace,
baked a batch of chocolate/pecan biscotti, and spent some time enjoying the activity at our bird feeders.
There's a constant flurry of activity on the feeders,
with constant comings and goings,
and on the ground as well.
We have some very well-fed squirrels,
who enjoy a constant supply of sunflower seeds that the birds drop on the ground.
I don't know about you, but I think that squirrels are just the cutest of all the rodents - so cute, I hesitate to call them rodents! That chubby fellow two pictures up is one I'd like to bring inside and cuddle. (Probably not a good idea.) He does look like he'd be a chatty fellow!
This week flew by, didn't it? I can't believe that Friday is here already. Our weekend will most likely be spent hibernating - as the weather is to be very cold. My guess is there will be a few fires in the fireplace and a little painting happening. The good news is... we are to have warmer than normal weather for February. Perhaps Spring will arrive just a little earlier this year! I'd better get my seed orders placed ASAP!
Have a good weekend... we'll be back to chat on Monday.
Comments
Recently I came home to find my elderly cat zooming around, jumping, etc. I thought we might have gotten a mouse but eventually I saw a little bird flying around and she was hot on its tail. I kept trying to shoo it toward the door and finally it lit on the top of our front door and I was able to shoo him out unhurt. Like you with that squirrel< I cannot imagine how it got inside but being Southern I instantly thought of the old sayings about what was coming if a bird got in the house.
Good for Gus. It’s nice to be fat and happy!
I miss my birds. Feeder is down due to the bear. The ground is too hard to put up another one. We shouldn’t be feeding them now anyway. He needs to find food elsewhere. From what I saw on our walk this morning nobody has taken their feeders down. Oh well, it will save me some money for the next couple of months. Nice picture of the Downey in flight. I even miss the squirrels. Love watching their antics.
Enjoy your weekend. Stay warm. I hope they are right about February. Hugs😘
Tis the season . . .
That nice fire sure makes things look toasty!