No, really, I have not become a chicken farmer! (For one thing, that would be one tough job: working 'round the clock to make many chickens happy.) But my visual orbit remains small and without question, the most colorful, playful, indeed social minutes are going to be ones I spend looking in on our foursome.
I am again the one who opens the coop in the morning. (Wait a minute, Ed! Is this becoming a pattern??)
It's cold, but we know how relative it all is out there. 15F/-9C feels a lot friendlier than what's coming tonight, for example.
In any case, the brood steps out and I can tell they, too, feel like the day is going to do them the favor of producing some warmer moments!
Well okay! I like the sunshine too!
It becomes a rather irregular day for us: both Ed and I lose ourselves in our various projects and before you know it, it's after 11 and we have yet to eat breakfast! That is a marker of a good day -- when we are that distracted!
And the afternoon is no different. I revisit not one, but four separate writing projects, all in various stages of completion. I am really full of words all day long.
When the sensor bell rings, announcing someone at the front door, I almost cannot believe my eyes! Two of the hens have made it all the way across our frozen paths, recalling the many happy treats they used to get from me here at the farmhouse in warmer times.
I remind them that it's barely 20F/-7C outside, but they do not seem to mind today. It's the sunshine I tell you!
I usher them back to the barn area, where the others are tentatively poking about.
And they all hang out by the sheep shed and it all seems so retro, so "of another era!"
(I choose not to tell them that tonight will be the coldest yet. Let's just enjoy this afternoon of sunshine and great hope for a better future!)
We are so distracted today, that I put up my hand and select this evening as the one this week when I do not cook dinner. Take out pizza may not sound terrifically exciting to you, but with a homemade salad (we're getting Wisconsin winter spinach now and it is sublime!), it really is a fantastic meal. And a good cap to a full day.
I am again the one who opens the coop in the morning. (Wait a minute, Ed! Is this becoming a pattern??)
It's cold, but we know how relative it all is out there. 15F/-9C feels a lot friendlier than what's coming tonight, for example.
In any case, the brood steps out and I can tell they, too, feel like the day is going to do them the favor of producing some warmer moments!
Well okay! I like the sunshine too!
It becomes a rather irregular day for us: both Ed and I lose ourselves in our various projects and before you know it, it's after 11 and we have yet to eat breakfast! That is a marker of a good day -- when we are that distracted!
And the afternoon is no different. I revisit not one, but four separate writing projects, all in various stages of completion. I am really full of words all day long.
When the sensor bell rings, announcing someone at the front door, I almost cannot believe my eyes! Two of the hens have made it all the way across our frozen paths, recalling the many happy treats they used to get from me here at the farmhouse in warmer times.
I remind them that it's barely 20F/-7C outside, but they do not seem to mind today. It's the sunshine I tell you!
I usher them back to the barn area, where the others are tentatively poking about.
And they all hang out by the sheep shed and it all seems so retro, so "of another era!"
(I choose not to tell them that tonight will be the coldest yet. Let's just enjoy this afternoon of sunshine and great hope for a better future!)
We are so distracted today, that I put up my hand and select this evening as the one this week when I do not cook dinner. Take out pizza may not sound terrifically exciting to you, but with a homemade salad (we're getting Wisconsin winter spinach now and it is sublime!), it really is a fantastic meal. And a good cap to a full day.
