Friday, March 13, 2015

It has been a while since I recorded any activity….several reasons….since the arrival of the woodsplitter, it and I have bonded….We have split a lot of wood….we have burned a lot of wood…but for the most part we have been warm this winter….second reason…it has been a winter…worst February in years that I can recall…weekly significant snows…cold nights below zero…the fluid in my tractor tires froze….I didn’t want to be a whiner so I just shut up and tried to endure…..But spring finally approaches…it has been warm this week and the snows are finally gone….frogs have been peeping for a couple of days…there is a tint of green to the landscape as early plants begin to break dormancy…This morning I saw a sight I have never seen before….I could hear geese…scanned the sky and finally found a vee of snow geese way high in the sky heading north….must have been forty or so all solid white and way high in a classic vee….now we see geese all the time and we have resident Canada geese that raise young on the pond behind the house annually…some times there are a few white geese mixed in….but this entire flight was white geese…I watched em until they disappeared in the distance….Spent the morning planting some plants I ordered in January….day lillie and sedum….I had almost forgotten about them until they showed up in the mail…mostly went around the dog graves…when I got up there the jonquils are out of the ground and budding and looks like we will have a good crop by each grave….then this afternoon began mixing seed and sowing cover crops on the pastures that have been sacrificed this winter….got three paddocks done……got to relate the excitement last night….the dogs woke me up ….something outside…..I grabbed the judge and stepped out….Perkins was running and neighing frantically….got the best flashlight and soon figured out that the mini donks were with him but he was distraught because Pete and Star Baby were absent…..went in and pulled some jeans and a sweat shirt over my night clothes got in the truck with my spotlight to try to find them….no sign of them anywhere….but it was so wet that there were places I could not get the truck to in order to shine the light….so I parked the truck and grabbed the flashlight again and set out on foot to find them….I walked the place over and checked the perimeter fences…All fences ok…no sign of trauma…but could not find them….was beginning to get worried when finally the light hit something white….It was Star Baby and Pete was right behind her….Since we don’t have a bull here any more, I had let the horses graze the bull lots in the fall and even around the pond and those gates were still open….but they had not been back there since the first snow opting instead for hay welfare…..last night they realized the snow was gone and grass was greening and apparently walked off while Perkins was dozing….I got em back and shut the gate and Perkins was satisfied, but then I had to watch tee vee for an hour before I got sleepy again….then I slept til 7:30 this morning……. I am usually starting to think about lunch at 7:30

Saturday, March 14, 2015

As predicted it began to rain last night….good for my broadcast seedings…Marie was off so we went out for breakfast this morning…went to Shoneys just for a change of pace…not the variety of Golden Corral but I still managed to consume three plates worth and it was good…stopped by Walmart and got groceries and then home…cleaned out the wood stove and then mixed some seed and in a break in the rain managed to broad cast some seed on the maternity lot…started raining again just as I finished…