Happy Harvest Blog
The first chick of the year
Let's try this again. I had a hen go broody. Try as we might to break her up, she was determined. Kick her out of whatever corner she was trying to warm eggs in and she'd march around in full turkey mode, every feather flared and growling until she could sneak back in another coop. Then Cheeks started making eggs again, and I could give this hen something to do. What does she do? Halfway through the process, she jumps up off the eggs, bursting out of the coop one morning and not returning.
I WENT TO THE LIBRARY AND CAME HOME WITH A CHICKEN
I went to the library bus and while I was in the parking lot, the manager of the liquor store popped outside and waved me down, asking me to come to the store before I left. What in the world, I wondered, could I be required in the liquor store for? Who knows, though, really. It's a small town. Well. It turned out to be about a chicken. There was a hen that had appeared some days ago and was living in the snowbank and brambles behind the liquor store.
Guinea sleepover II
HW did some out loud wondering whether we´d have another visitation. If this little bird maybe had a sprain; was having a hard time and the falling in the tank was a symptom, not cause.In the evening, he closed the coops again and returned without remark. He climbed to the loft, where I was, and halted meaningfully at the top of the ladder.No way!
Bumblebee Rescue
I found this bedraggled bee sitting on the plastic of my greenhouse. I don't know what happened, but she was finished. She obviously was at the end of a run (pollen baskets full) without the strength to carry on.
The bees are thriving
H.W. has been watching them every day, and reporting that the bees HATE the "door" (the entrance limiting stick). We've been having warm days, and the inbound flights start bottlenecking at the entrance mid-morning. Then he pulls out the stick and "the bees BOIL out!". It takes a few minutes to rebalance, like traffic after an accident is cleared. Then the bees come shooting in and out like a time lapse video of La Guardia at 16x
It's practically a bird hospital around here.
So there I was, a bird in the hand, scorching hot day, heavy bicycle, a kilometer from home. What to do?I rode home one handed, with the bird in the other hand. I sort of displayed her in front of me, somehow hoping that a passing driver would stop and offer assistance. Is that a bird? Can I help?
Doggiversary
One example of a lot of other charming traits he exhibited at the beginning: he had some phobia of the leash around his legs. The lead simply getting looped under his "arm" would inspire him to suddenly hurl his body in all directions at once, thrashing and flailing around on the ground while shrieking insanely about it; on the whole, behavior appropriate to being attacked by a swarm of hornets. This was a mesmerizing spectacle, especially because it often wasn't clear what provoked the scene.
Jailbird
On Saturday I was shocked awake by a bird smashing into a window with the force of a snowball. I ran outside and found the bird gasping and quivering on its back, scooped it up, and took it in, holding it for several minutes, with my whole hand wrapped in a towel for dark, soothing.
Better dog
For months, our primary feeling about him was what were we thinking? He was pretty troubled when we got him, a huge handful, and he introduced himself by killing one of my chickens. It was a bad beginning and it didn't really improve.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
