Spring? Erm....not yet.

I know that many places are experiencing "spring" amidst all the crazy stuff in the world at the moment.  Not here.  Yes, we've had a bit of melting, but overall, spring is still a bit of a distant dream for me.  There are some icicles on the roof edge, which does indicate some melting.

The front door view is still pretty dismal. 

Here's my path to the chicken coop.  It's so compacted now that my feet don't break through the snow anymore, but it's over my knees in height.  That yard waste bucket off to the right is 2 feet tall and the snow is just above its top.

The raised beds have a LONG way to go before planting.

The closer chicken feed bin is 4 feet tall and the rear one is 3 feet tall.  That shows you how much snow we still have. I'm really glad I had that modification made to the coop gate to give me the winter "upper door" that I am now using because the lower part is blocked solid.

The chickens are coming outside from time to time to enjoy the sunshine on a sunny day, and the egg count is going up.  Here are Maple, Amelia Henheart, and Marble (L to R) catching some rays.

Most of the birds are just staying inside the coop still, like beautiful Smidgen here.

The path to the hay shed...still pretty deep, except the area I shovelled for the hay delivery a couple of weeks ago.

This path is pretty compacted as well.

These two have been complete rascals lately. 

With all the freeze/thaw cycles and compacted snow, they figured out that they could climb OVER the fence in one area last week by pushing it down with their feet.  Spot the rascal who thinks she is hiding.

 BUSTED!  A bucket of grain was needed to bring them back into the fenced area.

Yours truly did a bit of fancy fence weaving with baling twine to keep the fence held up so they would stop climbing it and crushing it to the ground.

It'll be a really long time before I'm back out on the hammock.

And the driveway?  It's a skating rink.

Just pure ice.  I don't recommend walking on it.

So no, overall, I'd say spring hasn't sprung here.  But I remain hopeful that it's on the way.

Bunday Blog Business

Well, today is quite exciting.  I am bringing you my report from the great outdoors!



The Lady Épinette Nutkin and I are enjoying some time in the sun!  The female hoomin bean (FHB) set up the exercise pen for us outside in the yard.  We are helping her by mowing the lawn.  Do not worry about us - she is monitoring us and there is netting over the top of the pen, so the hawks will not decide that we look tasty.


The FHB even picked some extra dandelions for us and we are snacking on those.


She gave us a water dish because it is warm and sunny, and we might get thirsty.  She also gave us a box for some shade, or to hide in if we get scared.


My recommendation is that all you buns reading the blog should encourage your hoomin bean to get you an exercise pen so you can go out in the sunshine too.  The air is full of interesting smells and the grass is really soft under your feet, and you can eat the dandelions and grass and feel like you are on a holiday.  Don't go on the grass if your hoomin bean sprays it with nasty chemicals.  Our hoomin beans do not spray at all, and they think that is best, so we don't have to worry about that problem here.

Sometimes we hear the goat - her name is Lucky Nickel.  She is always complaining about something.  Right now, her fleece is coming off.  The FHB didn't have time to shear her yet, and it's still cold at night.  The FHB says that Lucky Nickel looks like the wreck of the Hesperus.  We don't know anything about the Hesperus, but she is a funny looking goat.  We think she is interesting, but we are keeping our distance.

Have a dandelion-filled week!

Friday's Hunt v 3.07

I have been tremendously busy this week - feeling rather unable to keep up with everything at the moment.  Work is extremely busy, which it is sometimes, and I appreciate that, but it doesn't leave much time for photography and fun!

Our prompts today from Eden Hills are:  Starts with G, Week's Favourite, and Pink.

Starts with G
Goodness gracious, we've had a lot of snow!  Great, gleaming, glistening, gargantuan piles of it! Mostly accompanied by gloomy, glowering skies.  I'm getting very tired of it.  So is poor Marc, who is doing the snow shoveling because my arm is very painful these days due to ulnar nerve problems. Here are some images of our ghastly weather.  We think we might need a larger snowblower for next year, if we can fit it into the budget.  Or we might give up and sleep from January through March!

The route to the sheep and goat area was not easily passable when I opened the door earlier this week.  We've since had another couple of feet of snow, so you can just imagine how it looks now.  Carrying a hay bale through this from the garage to the fenced area is not an easy job.  The snow was at my hips in some places, and I am 5'10", so that is a very difficult path to navigate.

Here, just for fun, is a "find the GOAT" picture!

The snow has already covered the bottom of the bird feeder and the new tray feeder that Marc made me is almost covered.  Can you catch a glimpse of a little face peeking out in this picture?  Maybe the next picture will give you a hint.

Week's Favourite
I managed to capture this image of the squirrel taking seeds from the bird feeder.  I love the way he's hanging on, but looking in my direction.  You can see snowflakes on his face but he still looks like he's smiling.  Now you can go back to the last picture and see his little nose peeking up just at the bottom of the tube feeder, if you missed him the first time.

Pink
Pink is one of my favourite colours in the flower garden.  We are a long way from gardening season, so a pink cat tongue will have to fit the need for today!  Mitten the cat and Pippin the rabbit share this water bowl on the window sill, but they don't drink at the same time.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to get a picture of rabbit tongue.  Maybe another time!

p.s.  If you didn't find the goat earlier, here's a hint.

If you're still really stuck on the goat, let's zoom in a bit...yep....that's Lucky Nickel peeking through the snowy trees.