LIFE ON PLANET EARTH

I had two very large bales of hay delivered for my sheep yesterday. The sheep went through two and one half bales last year. These bales are even larger; if it is not enough I can get more. I found that these large bales are the easiest way to feed sheep and one doesn't have to go out there every day if something comes up. My hay man [who is also my plowman] brings them over on a truck, and unloads them with a bobcat like vehicle, with a forklift. He drops them right over the fence.

The hay bales are about one hundred yards from the barn and I am going to have to trudge through the snow with a bucket of grain to entice the sheep to follow me to the bales. When we get the chickens located in their new coop, my chores will be much easier. The present chicken coop is over one hundred yards from our front door and I have been taking that path, at least twice a day, every Winter for nearly forty years. Last Winter began with a wet heavy snow that formed an ice highway out to the coop. I go topsy-turvy a couple times in a typical Winter. Last year was horrendous. It was Jamie's idea to move the chickens to the newly vacated goat barn which is about fifty feet from our front door. We would have had the conversion completed by now if it wasn't so cold. The forecast promises warmer days next week. I resisted the change, ever so mildly, because I need the exercise in the Winter and I don't like making concessions to an aging body. Oh well, life on planet Earth. 

In a normal year it gets above freezing everyday, this time of year, and if it snows it doesn't last long. In my nearly four score on Planet Earth I have known only one Winter when it snowed this early and didn't melt until Spring. I hope this isn't the second time. Underneath the snow, there is still some excellent green grass in my pasture, I was hoping my sheep could graze a little longer. We will soon be getting to the time when it is normal to be snow covered. If we are going to have a melt it needs to come soon. Of course, there is that elusive January thaw to hope for.

I do my blogging in our new addition, we call it the North Room. It has two large windows facing East and one facing North. The light streams in the windows in the Morning and it is extremely pleasant to sit here and compose my blog. Most of the year, I do my morning chores when I first get up, and I would still be doing that if it hadn't snowed. As it is, the chickens are not eager to go out, they have plenty of food and water, so I go out late Morning. I let the chickens out. There is not much for them to do. Some of them go to the barn and scratch around. There is an area where I throw out the kitchen waste. Both the chickens and the sheep keep that area carefully patrolled. Nothing goes to waste on Laughing Water Farm.

It is 29.8 degrees F. That is like a heat wave compared to what it has been. I am going to go out and lead those sheep to their new bales.

Keep loving every moment of your lives.

Love and Peace,  Gregg