saturday already

This has been a busy week. Wildly variable weather means any day which is above freezing and not raining is a day to Get Things Done Outside.

Also, a day to take Piper for a little walk.

One cold but sunny day we walked in this hay meadow.

Makes a change from our usual woodsy walks.

There's a tiny wetland (a big shallow puddle) at the lower end.

The meadow is public property but is surrounded by homes with horses and dogs, so Piper was on lead the whole time and therefore I have no pictures of her.

Well, I tried, but they all look like this:

~~~

At home, The Flock has made the most of every non-precipitating hour. Already there are patches of suddenly-clear earth where they have scratched and pecked away the covering of semi-frozen, decaying leaves.

This may not be a great thing for wintering plants, since any perennial crown is left exposed to the rest of Winter, beginning with the snow and sleet we have had since this picture was taken.

I need to make a pen for the chickens, but I always hate to do it as they generally have run of the place within the perimeter fence.

Still, they must be contained when gardening begins, else they will cheerily scratch up and eat every planted seed. So "build chicken pen" goes on the list.

~~~

Moxie alerted me to the latest activity of the squirrel recently defeated by a block at the porch gable. Now, the squirrel has undertaken entry via the vent window in the west gable of the house. There is a screen on the attic side, which fortunately had not yet been breeched though it was only a matter of time.

I almost never use the door on the west side of the house. It could have been weeks before I realized what was happening, and I would have realized it because I would have been hearing squirrels in the attic.

On his last day of work before the month off, my Occasional Helper kindly saved me the awkward effort of dragging out the extension ladder and climbing up to install a new piece of hardware cloth on the outside of the vent window.

Nice work, Occasional Helper!

There is nothing to nail to across the bottom edge, and no way to slide the screen into the window frame as was done on the top and sides. So...fingers crossed the squirrel doesn't manage to work that bottom edge loose. I know she hasn't done it yet, because I heard her swearing at me from the porch roof yesterday. Then she slid down the wall and hung onto the porch windowframe, staring in at me. Della marched right over, put her nose a millimeter from the glass, and gave that squirrel a Meaningful Look. I took the opportunity to mention - again - the abundant trees of suitable nesting size available in every direction.

~~~

And on we go.

Good night from the land of cold but not-currently-snowing-or-raining!

I hope all your skies are clear (unless you need rain)

and all your squirrels are nesting in trees like Proper Squirrels.

~~~~~