with feathers

We've had two more snowstorms which have been pretty to look at and certainly more comfortable to work in than several days of rain. Now the snow is gone, the rain has stopped for a couple of days, and we've even seen the sun.

But it's been very cold again - in the low 20s when I get up - and windy. 

Biting winds.

Here's a hungry chickadee, back turned to the wind.

Brrrrrrr.

 My birdfeeders have never been busier than in recent months. I haven't totted up how many pounds of feed have been purchased, but I consider the cost to be my Entertainment Budget. And well spent.

Goldfinches are such scrappy little birds. They'd rather argue than eat.

And now the goldfinches are starting to color up. Spring is near.

This little nuthatch was perfectly still for about two minutes.

Lost in thought?

Mourning doves are so colorful.

Understated, but colorful.

Speaking of color...

Fingers crossed the bluebirds will continue to visit a while longer.

~~~~~

thankful thursday

I hope you and yours are keeping well.

If you are able to stay home, I hope you feel "safe at home" not "stuck at home."
It is such a luxury to have the option.

If you are among the people working to keep people and animals healthy, supply chains functional, and everybody fed, thank you so much and please take good care of yourself.

I am thankful that all are well here.

The hens are providing organic eggs daily.

Eloise waiting for the Daily Apple.

~~~

The goats have enough good hay to take us through, with careful feeding, to first cutting. And a delivery from the feed store last week provided my usual Spring top-up of supplies, which my Occasional Helper very helpfully came by to put away for me. I've missed having him here lately, but we usually work together on projects and although he was willing to come, I could not justify the unnecessary risk. (To him, to me, to the world at large.)

However, unloading 50-pound sacks from a feed order is always a solo job, and the bonus since-you're-here task of shifting a dozen bales of hay out to the "distribution centers" saves me a heck of a lot of heavy lifting and dragging for a couple of weeks.

It's uncertain when I will have Occasional Help again,

but I'm certainly grateful for last week's visit.

And I'm not the only one:

 Violet, the eldest, tasting the new mineral mix.

Bud, the youngest, waiting his turn to taste the new mineral mix.

~~~

It's been quite cold lately, but unless it is raining,

Piper and I have been taking daily walks along our road.

It's a team sport.

I do the looking...

and Piper does the sniffing.

 ~~~

There have been many "firsts" in the past week.

The first wood frogs singing.

The first robin in the paddock, first pomegranate finch at the feeder.

And literally overnight, the goldfinches began to color up! One day all the finches at the feeder were the same muted green, and the very next day:

 ~~~

In other green and gold news:

the marsh marigolds are coming along:

I hope you are finding many things to feel thankful for these days.

It's a gift we give ourselves.

~~~~~

thankful thursday

There have been many wild birds here every day this Winter: juncoes and chickadees and finches and titmice and nuthatches and cardinals and jays and downy woodpeckers and hairy woodpeckers and red-bellied woodpeckers. There is a small hanging basin for water, and every morning I pop out the disk of ice that has formed and refill the basin from one of the buckets I'm carrying to the goats, so that at least once daily the birds have access to water in a relatively safe spot. (I've also had hawks here this Winter, so the safety is not absolute.)

In addition to a suet feeder and a hanging feeder of mixed seeds, I've also been scattering seed on the snow under the thicket of Kerria japonica and Spirea branches. I began doing it so the juncoes would have plenty of food available instead of waiting for seed to fall from the hanging feeder, but as more and more birds made it clear that they enjoyed this less-exposed dining area, I began putting more seed on the ground. It's been quite remarkable how many birds will gather under and within those shrubs every day. And around the corner, the suet feeder is especially popular with all the woodpeckers.

This morning I happened to look out at the exact right moment to see two new visitors to the suet feeder, each appearing briefly before flying off. 

First the male:

Then the female:

Eastern Bluebirds!

This is only the second time I have seen a bluebird on my property, and it was such a gift to look out at just the right moment to see this pair. I'm sorry the pictures are a bit murky; it was sleeting lightly.

When I went out to scatter seed and fill the wild bird feeder today, I added dried mealworms to the little feeder attached to a window. The titmice and finches visit it now, but maybe the bluebirds will come back and give it a try if they notice the mealworms. Or maybe I'll put up a second suet feeder.

I would love to see bluebirds as regular visitors here.

But even if it's another two years before the third sighting,

I'm so grateful I saw these two today!

~~~~~

wordless wednesday

~~~~~

stormy monday

accurate colors of this morning

We are in the middle of another long bout of freezing rain, which began yesterday evening, went on all night, and got heavier just before dawn today. I am hoping very hard that the wind doesn't pick up and cause a lot of tree damage. There is still snow on the ground, which suggests to me that the air temperature must be hovering near freezing point. A sander truck went by earlier.

birds through a rain-spotted window

Yesterday the ice cleats came out for the first time this year. In a typical Winter, cleats are only needed on certain days, so I like to keep one pair of old boots cleated. That way I don't have to struggle with pulling cleats on and off my everyday boots every time I'm taking Piper for a walk along the road or driving somewhere or even coming in or out of the house while doing chores - cleats on flooring are both destructive and dangerously slippery. But this winter I don't have an old pair of boots to keep the cleats on, so yesterday I bought a pair of $30 boots just for this purpose. It was a reluctant purchase; the boots were made in China and I feel so miserable about not trying harder to find an alternative from Not China, that I may just return them unworn. At the moment they are still in their box in their shopping bag. For today at least, the cleats will stay on my everyday boots. Piper and I are going nowhere, and I'll try to pile everything needed for chores near the door so I won't have to come back inside until everything is done.

~~~

In other news, a return to a fiber-rich daily diet is about to commence.

Details will be forthcoming in January.

Expect many, many details.

~~~

I hope you are having a slightly-less-grey day wherever you are today!

Here's to the week ahead.

~~~~~

weekend seen

This chipmunk shinnied up the pole holding the bird feeder.

S/he paused a couple of times on the way up, to look around.

At every pause in the climbing, s/he slowly slid downward,

like a little cartoon character.

But once the buffet was reached,

there was plenty of time to eat and look around.

Ms. Piper also enjoys looking around. And sniffing.

Whatever she was sniffing here, it was fascinating!

She stood perfectly still for a couple of minutes.

We went to the woods today for the very first time this summer.

You may not be surprised to hear that it was very hot and humid.

An hour of walking was plenty.

First we walked down into our favorite little streambed looking in vain for cooler air,

then back along a flat trail that Piper really likes.

The bugs were so bad we both wore the Seriously Awful Spray.

Piper seemed unbothered by the deer flies, thank goodness. 

But if I stopped moving even long enough to take a picture,

deer flies took bites out of my fingers and my face.

Many of the photographs I took today were too blurry to share.

Say, readers, here's a question for you!

Are there any fungi aficionados reading this?

If so, I would love to know if that silvery color on the surrounding vegetation

is an incredibly thin and perfectly even layer of released spores.

There were a few similar examples nearby, at various states of maturity/decay.

Can't think what else it could be, but I'm surprised I've never seen this before.

The color stood out so much, my first thought was

that someone had used marking paint.

And here's another colorful thing, but less mysterious:

a "bead" of a "bluebead lily" in the process of turning blue.

They turn quite a dark blue - this bright, light blue was a surprise.

Well, Piper is sound asleep and the sun is beginning to drop behind the trees,

which means evening chores are waiting.

 Time to get busy.

~~~~~

brief bird bulletin

I've been scattering sunflower seed on the ground,

hoping for a return of the mourning doves.

I haven't seen them yet.

Happily, I love cardinals, too.

~~~~~

waving a trowel

Greetings from the gardens! We've had several days without rain, but some extreme heat and humidity - Heat Index of 100F or higher. Today was lovely by comparison, and I spent much of the day very happily puttering in the paddocks and the gardens.

Plants that struggled to grow through the weeks of deluge have been rallying and are now growing and blooming at a great rate. I've brought a few pictures from the garden to share, but first: a question for the chard-lovers among you.

How do you like to prepare it? Some of the chard plants are now growing fast enough that - by moving briskly - I can occasionally pick a few leaves before the bugs devour them.

So far, I've taken my usual approach to a vegetable: eating it raw. This is sometimes as far as I need to go - lots of things are delicious raw. But with chard, well, I'm positive there is a better way. Alternative suggestions welcome and requested.

The highbush blueberries by the workshop are done for the year - and a surprisingly fine year it has been for these precious gems, considering all the days of hard rain. Quite often I picked my daily handful by running out between rainstorms.

My last little handful of 2018 was enjoyed earlier this week, and I left the few remaining berries ripening on the bush for the wildlife to enjoy the next day. Fair's fair.

I say "wildlife" not "birds," because I'm not sure exactly who I share the blueberries with anymore. I even saw a tiny mouse in the birdfeeder, five feet off the ground, the other day. Shinnying up that pole and then vaulting over to the feeder is quite a feat, even for the intrepid squirrels and a thrill-seeking chipmunk. When I walked past the feeder and saw a mouse peeping at me from eye level, it was quite a surprise.

Speaking of tiny things, I've discovered three Minnesota Midget Melons in the garden so far. The largest is about the size of a softball, as expected. People who have grown these melons describe them as "individual-serving." I'm hoping to find out, but it will be a while before they ripen. Meanwhile, they remain as safe as possible from predators, hidden in the undergrowth.

Massive vines are producing my favorite winter squash - candy roaster - in the undergrowth as well, but some individuals are no longer able to hide very well. This one is probably 20 inches long and it appears to have grown considerably larger each time I see it:

But today I noticed this little candy roaster on a trellis, cleverly disguised to blend in with the neighboring pole beans:

I'm still picking pole beans every day or two, eating some and tucking some into the freezer. My fondness for bean salad is unabated:

So good.

~~~~~

postcard from this morning

Falling.

And blowing.

I'm very happy when the occasional gust take some of the snow from the trees.

The less weight on the trees, the easier I feel.

Despite the dense snowfall, birds have been busy at the feeder since before daylight. Right now there are at least two dozen taking turns: woodpeckers, goldfinches, juncos, cardinals, titmice. They are not even wasting time warning each other off the feeder - just eating as fast as they can.

I put a loop of 6-foot fence around the feeder a few days ago, to keep the chickens out from under it. They were ignoring their own bowl and eating up all the millet I put on a platform and on the ground for the wild birds. Bonus: the fence is providing lots of great perching opps. Not very nice to look at, but as a first attempt at any new experimental design, I always go for function over elegance ;)

I have doubts about how clear these images will be, but I'm not going to edit them. I want you to experience the full dim and murky effect of this, the third big storm in what seems, unbelievably, like only a couple of weeks.

It seems like it because it is.

Whew.

I don't mind telling you, I brought out the serious reinforcements for this one. Not just the extra hay and prepping the barns the night before. Not just filling water jugs in case we lose power.

No.

This time I went to the grocery store and bought:

creamsicles

chips

and ginger beer.

I also made a roast yesterday and cooked a pound of pasta,

because I am a grown-up.

But it's the ginger beer that will get me through.

Cheers!

~~~~~

poor pictures from a big storm

Tansy?

"What?"

Just checking!

This is a Real Snow we are having.

Knee-deep at noon, and still coming down.

Chores took...a long time.

All the goats have multiple options for shelter.

They tend to find a spot, stay there for a while, then move to another spot.

Often, this means other goats get shifted out of that other spot.

Seeing that the snow was predicted to continue into the night,

I moved Tsuga and Tansy and Fern into the Corner Suite.

They get "shifted" more often than the others,

and I wanted them to have a comfortable night.

With lots of hay.

In fact, every goat will have lots and lots of hay tonight.

There will be much wasted hay. Can't be helped.

Real-time blogging interruption:

Campion is yelling in distress.

I'm going to put on my last pair of dry trousers and get the flashlight.

Real-time blogging update:

Campion was being kept out of the big barn.

His mama and sister were inside,

and he wanted very much to be inside with them.

(Someday I'll write a post about goat bonding.)

But three other goats were also inside,

and even though there was still plenty of room,

and even though no one was physically blocking the doorway -

which is eight feet wide -

Campion was definitely being prevented from entering.

(Someday I will write a post about herd dynamics.)

I escorted an ice-encrusted Campion in from the snow, 

had a chat with the group in the barn,

and distributed even more hay.

Then I made the rounds again, checking the other goats.

Everyone was settled when I came back inside,

and I sincerely hope they stay that way at least til daylight.

I do not enjoy putting on wet trousers.

And now I'm about ready for bed at 8 PM.

A cup of tea, I think. Maybe an audiobook.

But before I sign off,

let me show you what the birdfeeders looked like today.

All day. Non-stop.

 At one point, the pile of snow atop that feeder was over a foot deep,

and the the line it hangs on was sagging perilously.

I cleared the snow off, added more seed, and came back inside.

Next time I looked out, that feeder was covered in little birds again,

and next to them, I saw this gem - bright even on a dark day:

Good night!

~~~~~