Wednesday

No, it wasn't simply a quick taste of good weather to wet the palate and hunger for more. Today's morning is as lovely as yesterday's and apart from the possibility of intermittent showers, it seems we're on a roll. A spring roll.

There had been rain at night and the morning walk to the coop was made the better for it. The damp earth feels no longer frozen. I'm sure there are worms. The cheepers are sure there are worms. The robins, the cardinals, the bluejays -- I've seen them all, I've heard them all. We're in this wonderful spring boat together!

Mists hanging onto the fields around us, the sun pushing through wisps of clouds, all beautiful, despite the absence of grand spring color.






(But that color -- we wont have to wait long for it. Do you see it?)






It's the kind of morning that makes us early risers happy to be up and about, before the rest of the world gets too crazy around us.






Breakfast in the sun room. (Yes, he's in shorts. What can I say -- I doubt I'll see long pants on him again for a long long time.)






And then I am off to be with Snowdrop. As I bathe her, then dress her, I'm thinking -- maybe I should just let her romp in bare feet today. In Wisconsin, you don't want to do that in the months after the frost sets in, but we're past those times, aren't we?







She is intrigued. She rarely sees her own toes. Well, today she wiggles them and balances on them to her heart's content.






What, I'm neglecting her face? Here she is, Snowdrop herself...






Later, as we head out on our walk, I tell her -- your nickname comes from this flower. It makes no impression on her. She is far too captivated by the children playing in the school yard across the street.






But is she happy with the onset of warmer days? Oh, I think so.





Her smiles are positively effervescent!

I'm home a wee bit earlier today -- with enough time to work in the yard. I clear, I rake, I clip. The cheepers are there to keep me company and for the first time, all four are working in close proximity to one another, picking bugs, scratching the soil, doing whatever it is that chickens do in weather that is quite possibly a chicken's idea of perfection.






 There is no doubt about it -- it's a grand day to be out scratching dirt!