winter is here

It’s definitely winter around here. The wind is howling, temperatures are in the 20’s and snow is on the ground. It’s sunny but miserable out. I don’t like winter- at least when it’s cold enough to freeze the hose to the barn. I hate carrying water to the barn, emptying frozen buckets and trying to keep the poor animals warm. I also hate having to put on 6 layers of clothes and being too bulky to walk.

The old white duck has finally came up to the shelter I made for him by the gate to the pond. I though I would give him a few days to get used to being there then I would go and catch him. But now I can’t get the gate open there. By the time I scraped away enough snow he will be long gone. I just keep putting food and water over the fence.

Even the turkeys have given up sleeping on the barn roof . I know it’s got to be boring for the chickens and turkeys to spend most of their day inside, our inside coop isn’t that big. I did see the turkeys outside for a little while on Friday. They came over the pen fence and were sunning in front of the white barn door. Today I threw a bunch of hay I swept off the floor in front of the hay stack in their coop for them to scratch through.

There’s always one hen who doesn’t want to stay with the rest. I have a new Henny- Penny now. She is always in the front of the barn, she goes over the outside pen walls and comes around into the main barn. She will run in the coop when I open the door to throw treats in but that’s it. She eats cat food with the cats and helps herself to any chicken feed or horse feed that spills. She has been laying in a corner by the hay. When I am in the barn she follows me around clucking just like Henny did. Henny re-incarnated I guess.

We put up the Christmas tree. It’s on a small table to raise it off the floor and so far, no doggie problems. They did steal some decorations out of the boxes while the tree was being decorated but have left the tree alone. They all just want to sit on someone’s lap and cuddle. Some prefer my lap, others prefer Steve’s. When we are both sitting in the living room its doggie heaven. When I am in here writing they fight over who sits on Steve.

Last Monday when I went to the barn, Sarah, one of the kennel dogs was carrying something in her mouth. I though it was a rat, then I saw the eyes. It was a tiny little screech owl. I was quite upset. I can’t imagine her killing an owl in her kennel. There isn’t any food in the outside run for either a mouse or a owl to want. The window to the barn loft is right over her kennel run. I am thinking maybe the owl flew into the window pane and fell into her pen. I got to look at it closely, I have never seen a tiny owl like that and I didn’t know we had them around here. I have seen Great Horned Owls when I have been out at night, those are huge in comparison to the screech owl. It was about the size of a pigeon.

The bird feeder has been quite busy the last couple of days. I have noticed a change in visitors there, even since summer. Of course some flew south but I haven’t been seeing any of the big woodpeckers, just the Downy’s . And we are going through a lot less suet. That seems odd. And I have been seeing a lot more Blue Jays, which were scarce for a while and less Chick a dees. I haven’t seen Evening Grosbecks either. I wonder what caused the change.

Oh, I long for spring. And it isn’t even Christmas yet.