There just hasnt been anything to write about is my answer to Why havent you posted since before Christmas? No barn floods, no escaped pigs, no coyote invasions. Not even any extreme weather conditions. Okay, it got quite cold again and prior to the ground freezing up there was some impressive mud but this is ordinary stuff when youre outdoors doing barn chores a good bit of every day. Ordinary stuff to haul a cart of firewood to the deck every other day, dump a few buckets of wood ash on the garden once a week. Putting out fresh round bales takes some maneuvering but again its an ordinary chore every several days. Theres always some manure to shovel out of the livestock lounge areas but certainly nothing remarkable about that. And water tanks to refill periodically, poultry coops and pig houses to supplement with bedding. Also ordinary, thus not newsworthy, to spend hours watching the birds at the the feeders while stirring a batch of cheese. Wandering out to do a mid-afternoon barn check to gather early eggs and re-fill the beef steers water trough. As long as Im out there Ill make sure the dairy cows havent done any unsanctioned wandering of their own and are still somewhere near at hand. As in not enclosed in a pasture and free to roam you ask? Thats ordinary? It is around here in the late fall through winter as long as theres no snow cover to make the grass inaccessible; why yes it is. Perfectly ordinary for visitors to come up the drive and have to slow down because either Charlotte or Jiggy is ambling up to the barn. The girls are loosed each morning to make their way as they please between hay field, house yard, and barn yard. They are fairly predictable in their meanderings preferring through the early morning hours to munch on the ever available hay up near the barn before moseying out into the yard to graze. Theyll include a swing up past the bird feeders to slurp up some sunflower seeds and usually wander through the garden to see if they missed any of the kale they so enjoy. Late morning finds them lying down and chewing their cuds wherever the urge hits them. Down by the pond is a favorite location on a nice, sunny day. Out back of the barn, protected from the north and west winds, is the blustery, cold day choice. Right up in the barn aisle is where theyll rest if its raining. Afternoon finds them back in a wandering mode though generally still full from the morning and this is when they sometimes get creative in their ambles. So I like to check up on them and call them back closer to home should they have decided to explore down by the woods or over by Mt. Ruthmore. All ordinary stuff and hardly worth writing about --------
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 12:01:49 +0000
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