Walking In My Winter Underwear Redone

One Thing Leads To Another

Some friends of mine came over today bearing gifts. They brought me a tray of seedlings of kale and lettuce and beets and other vegies. We took a hydroponic gardening class together last year and they knew I had trouble getting seeds started.  They are into micro greens. They claim micro greens are healthier for you than sprouts. I accepted the gift graciously.  These friends live about a mile away as the crow flies. Crows probably do fly between my house and their house. Also deer probably munch on their hostas after they munch on my hostas. But these friends have never been to my house before so I invited them in for tea. We got to talking.  We both raise chickens for eggs. I have never been to their house and it sounds like their chickens have a much nicer home.  I described my chickens as slackers and was especially derogatory about the cuckoo marans.  After my friends left I also left to run some errands. By the time I got home a couple inches of snow had fallen. I went out my chicken coop to give them a treat of sunflower seeds and to make sure they were snug and warm for a winter storm.  Just on a whim I opened the coop to check for eggs and much to my chagrin was a cocoa brown egg of a cuckoo maran. It is possible that egg was laid at the same time I was talking smack about the chicken in question. I thanked the chickens for the egg.  After a two month fallow period I figured this must be a powerfully healthy egg.  I brought it in the house and fried it in my cast iron pan with cabbage, kale and Brussels sprouts and ate it with a piece of bread from St. John's Abbey.  After that snack I felt so good I strapped on my snow shoes and walked around the block (on top of the snow banks like I used to do when I was a kid).  Isn't it funny how one thing leads to another?

Theme Song at Work Today!

The Woman Upstairs

A couple of times as I was reading The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud I thought, "C'mon. Let's move on. You made the point three or four times already." Most of the book went by swimmingly.  Sometimes repetition of an idea is necessary.  There are times when I can know something but not comprehend it until I hear it again or I hear it said in a different context. Sometimes my mind is like a sieve. Sometimes my mind is like a glue trap.  36-8-18 was the combination to a bike padlock and I can't even remember what bike so why do I remember the combination to the lock that protected that bike from theft? Overall I would say this was a good book to read. Any book that can distract me from the weather and the state of the world is a good book. 

Sunday Sightings!

As I type this a pair of pileated woodpeckers feed 12 feet away on a hunk of beef suet suspended from my deck.  He eats first.  He has a red mustache. She circles the black walnut tree. She lands about 20 feet up from the ground and descends down the tree.  I suppose she is listening for bugs.When she reaches the ground she pecks at a few things in the snow and goes back up.  He eats until he is full and flies to the same tree. A downy woodpecker thinks it's her turn to eat but flies off when the female pileated flies to the suet.  She eats for about 3 minutes and they both fly off to the east.  I feel pretty lucky to witness this but I feel even better about the snowy owl I saw again today. As I drove east on Highway 10 I saw the owl  soaring in the sky. In the background I saw the ice houses still out there on Crooked Lake. On my way home I see a bald eagle soaring a mile from my house.  Now the downy woodpecker is back. I think now would be a good time to bring my laundry in from outside before somebody flies away with my underwear.

A Beautiful Saturday

I think my chickens had a good day today.  It's hard to tell. If I judge by how many eggs I collect they have not had a good day since December.  Slackers. On the other had they were outside waiting for me when I brought the fresh warm water at 7 a.m.  I don't want to read too much into it but they seemed excited when I came home at 3 p.m. and let them out of the coop.  Chickenson Caruso and Heckyl immediately flew the coop to take a dust bath while the others remained. I refilled their food  bowl and left the coop door open while I brought a fresh bucket of pine shavings to freshen up the chicken house. The rest of the flock left the coop to follow me as I went to refill the bird feeders.  Just as a joke I put a handful of sunflower seeds on the tip of my rubber boots. Speaking of weird sensations, put sunflower seeds on your boots and feel the pecks of chicken beaks against your toes.  I bend down to touch them. No, they don't like that.  The flock will eat the seeds off my boot but won't allow a gentle stroke down their back.  I kick snow at them.  They don't care.  I come back at dusk and they are all in the coop already hoping I will come and shut the door for them. While they are huddled together in the coop all of a sudden they don't mind a gentle stroke down the back.  Now it is fine for me to touch them in a gentle way.  Slackers!

Pfffffffffffffft!

I go outside in the morning to take care of my flock (the slackers/I had to buy eggs). I bring a pitcher of warm well water. I break up the ice in the chicken bowl and refill it.  If I happen to bring the plastic bag of dried meal worms the Americauna chickens (usually Half-Pint) will come outside for a drink and a snack. If not they ignore me and stay inside the coop. By this time of year I don't have to use the headlamp or the flashlight to do my chores. But it is still cold out.  I refill the bowl.  If there is any water left I toss the extra fluid into the air.  Some of the liquid falls on the snow. Some of the liquid disappears into the cold, dry air making a sound like Pfffffffffffffffffft!

Bonus!

Driving home from work tonight, after the gym, I was making decisions. I had a grocery list in my pocket. Should I go to the grocery store?  I had materials I  had requested at the library available for pick-up.  Should I stop at the library?  The chickens are going to need some attention tonight. Wouldn't it be nice to do the chicken duties by the light of the sun instead of a headlamp?  Friday afternoon traffic is heavy today. As I listen to a book on CD in the heavy rush hour traffic I kinda zone out when all of a sudden I blurt out, "Son of a bi##h! Jiminy Cricket!" What is that I see on top of the light illuminating the intersection of Highway 10 and Seventh Ave. in Anoka?  Is it an angel? A white-morphed red tailed hawk?  Could it be? Is it really? I safely exit and take the next right on a dead end road between the highway and the railroad tracks. There, perched on top of a street light, is a short necked bird otherwise known as a snowy owl! Where is the camera?  (at home).  Where are the binoculars?  Oh, right here. I park the car. I look and stare in wonder.  The owl is nervous. The owl flies off the lamp post and lands on a traffic sign closer to Seventh Avenue. I move my car but the chain link fence is in my way.  All I have is my phone camera. The top of the chain link fence remains in the way. I wonder what the motorists in the exit ramp think of me taking their photo? I watch the owl for 5 minutes and it flies back on top of the light post. I drive away so happy with this reward of a snowy owl sighting. Is this my reward for 40 hours of hard work?  Oh, wait, I already got a paycheck today.  This must be my bonus!

Actual Video Coverage on Super Bowl Sunday!

Rx for Cabin Fever

Before

After

Just imagine you live in Minnesota.  It's a Saturday. The world outside looks like a snow globe. Snow falls fast and furious in the sky. You do not need to go out. Yet you want to go out. That is right. You have cabin fever.  What are your choices?  A local author is speaking at the library.  The pool at the health club is calling your name. You don't need groceries.  You don't really need to go out at all. The house is clean but it could be cleaner.  You could visit friends or family. You could read a book or watch a movie. Instead you risk life and limb.  After a swim at the health club followed by a dry and wet sauna you go to the local big box department store to save big money. There you find 3 lacy curtain panels and a curtain rod.  You get home at dusk.  You decide to put up the new curtain. As you work you see the woodpeckers in the yard and stop to take a movie of them eating suet.  You remove screws drilled into the wood prior to 1991.  You stand on a chair questioning your sanity.  You install a new curtain rod and stand back and admire your work.  As you admire your work you see "your" herd of deer. None of them have antlers.  You could go out looking for shed antlers.  You watch the deer frolic in the blizzard.  Two of the larger deer raise up on their hind legs and fight like a couple of kangaroos.  All the deer are putting their snouts into the snow for fresh forage. One of them, you call him Tigger, paws at the ground. She or he doesn't like a cold nose. Every once in a while this Tigger deer jumps up in the air with all four feet like it just got electrocuted. Why?  Why Tigger, why? Is that particular patch of buck thorn especially spicy?  You are glad you are not a deer tonight  You think winter is better when you pre-pay for a seasonal contract on snow plowing.

The Gruff Family Wins The Day!