How Grown Up is She?

Chick-Chuck hatched on or about September 17, which would make her just over five month sold. Recently I have noticed that, while feathered like a Cuckoo Marans, she has the head of an Araucana -- ear muffs, and a tight little comb.

In the past week or so I have noticed a couple of smaller green eggs layed. Could they be from her? I have not yet seen her in one of the nests, but her boldness with the others grows daily. In fact, this morning she hopped right up next to Egglebert on a roost. (Admittedly, once she arrived she took one look at him and scurried way over to the far end, but for a moment she stood right next to her dad as pretty as can be!)

I hoped that, if she is in fact a mix of Marans and Araucana, that her eggs would have a distinct color resulting from a green shell with a brown overlay, and I expect that is still possible. But on the other hand, she may have already demonstrated exactly what she'll produce!

Promise

Just when the weather takes a distinct turn for the worse, winds whipping 40 miles per hour across the fields, pummeling the house, barn, and everyone in them with a threat of permanent winter, something very quiet happens.

A bit of green peeks up through the dead brown ground. Not the dessicated green of leaves lingering since the autumn, but robust green, bold and strong, literally pushing the dirt away in order to stretch up towards the sun.

It lends a promise of spring to pull me through the last weeks of winter, as if saying "come on, you can make it, I'll be with you!"

Soon we will celebrate together.

On stickiness.

Don't ask. OK, ask. I'm not too embarrassed.

Last night I took a chunk of frozen homemade caramel out of the freezer. I cut it into large squares to defrost in the refrigerator, but there was a small piece leftover.

Ulani displayed an unsafe level of interest in the caramel (can you see my dogs full of sticky candy?). I took that final piece, sitting on waxed paper, and set it up high where Ulani couldn't reach it. And I promptly forgot it.

This morning after I got up, got dressed, fed the cats and the dogs, I thought it would be nice to start the coffee pot before I went to feed the chickens so that the coffee would be ready when I came inside. And that's when I discovered my error.



Gee-ross! Oh, yeah, my coffee pot opens by lifting the lid, as most of them do. Can you say "glued shut"?? Yick, yeck, yuck! First I scraped, then I steamed, then I wiped it clean. Only took about ten minutes to be usable again.

This morning I drank my coffee black. Somehow it just didn't need sweetening!

The Great Tigger Tug!

A short story in pictures.

C'mon Oskar, let's tug!


Grab a leg! I've got one!


No holds barred! I'm using my big, hairy foot!


Rah! One big pinch and the Tigger is mine!


She cheats.


I win. To the victor go the spoils.

Mud

The waters receded, and the chickens emerged from the coop. While they were decidedly not delighted by the change in their run, the girls wanted some fresh air, so they trotted out, tried to fly over the mud to the grassy area, and eventually left their footprints everywhere.



The red hens' reluctance bothered Egglebert. Here you see him urging them to "come on in, the mud's just fine!"


It's funny, Egglebert appears so small in this photo, like a banty boy! In real life he's a much more manly rooster!

Everyone stayed outside for a good half hour or so of scratching and pecking before they gradually retreated to the dry barn. But they left behind plenty of evidence of their excursion.