Roll Call

First I have to share with you our unfortunate little visitor.  She fell in the water trough and Liam saved her.  Lucky little bird.

She sat in my coat shivering for a while, then sat nice and quietly, and eventually she was ready to go!  Unfortunately at that point she was still really wet and it was getting colder by the minute, so I made her stay in a box for a bit before I let her fly away.

I'm not sure why people hate starlings so much.  Maybe because they eat so much. These guys have been eating all my duck food.  But they're hungry...  So I guess I can't blame them.  What else are they going to find in all this snow!  Once it gets a little warmer I'm hoping they'll go away.

I took this picture on the morning of a gorgeous sunrise, all in pastels, the sun coming up into a fog bank with the blue sky above. It just looks bleak to me here.  Don't mind my apple branches that have been laying there for months.  They will probably go to the burn pile eventually.

Juniper, wanting something.  Food of course, but I can't remember if I had treats or if she was just hoping I did.  She got her hind feet trimmed that day, so I probably had treats.  She has gotten so much better about hoof handling.  I just wish she'd like my farrier.

Halla, wanting alfalfa from Sawyer's stall.  He pretty much doesn't eat the stems.  It's a mess.  I wish I had a horse to give it all to.  Nobody here really should be eating it.  It will make good garden mulch or compost.

Sawyer, wondering why I made him pretty.  (Actually he's just chewing his food.) I put detangler on his mane and brushed it out.  Not much work, on him, but it was something to do.  I also touched up his hooves since the farrier can't get down my driveway.

Scout wanting food.  I'm beginning to see a trend here.  Bella wants food too, of course, but she doesn't get so silly near the electric fence.

Such impatience.  I can't give them their food until I've gathered up their feed tubs.  Which of course they always rearrange and sometimes lose in the snow.

Huckleberry is still in love with that moose leg he brought home a couple months ago.

He's so proud of it.

Winston loves it too, but he doesn't get a turn very often.

So that was my day of trying to get outside and feel better about life.  I ended up almost getting frostbite in my toes.  They still hurt.  So I cut some sheepskin insoles for my rubber boots.  They're pretty nice!  But next time I think I better wear real boots and go inside when my toes start to hurt!

Today I have no plans.  Sundays are so unstructured.  I'm about to sit and make a to-do list, because there is plenty to do, I just end up forgetting about it all.  And I'm really hoping someone gets back to me about some Muscovy ducks they're selling.  Hopefully next time I'll have some new friends to share!  But don't get too attached, they will be meat birds.  We'll love them and treat them like family while they're here though.  I think all animals should have a good life, and that's why I'm looking at raising our own meats.  

The yak thing is on hold for now...  I'm just not sure about this seller, for one.  I want to go visit his place.  And the plan to buy a butcher steer right now kinda went lopsided when it turned out he didn't have a butcher up there.  I don't really want to haul the poor thing 2+ hours down here all by himself and then butcher him.  That's a lot of stress.  But better than some alternatives.  It's all moot, I can't get my trailer out for probably another month.