One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Okay, this was yesterday in the big henyard.

Notice the ice that Keith and I had broken out of the fortexes.  This was the second watering of the day, and oh WHEN will I learn to take a picture from the correct angle so that my shadow doesn't show?   We have been pouring out the fortexes at night so we don't have to break thick ice in the mornings.

This was today:

Notice the absence of ice?  We went from 18 degrees yesterday to 57 degrees today!

Keith took Hannah out at midnight or so, and told me this morning that it was warmer then than it had been all day yesterday.  The starlings came early this morning while I was at church, and ate their fill... once I replenished the feeders, the birds had feed and water the rest of the day. 

Keith worked in the garden today for a while, getting rid of debris and doing some weed-eating.  We are going to start preparing the beds for spring, but we have not ordered any seeds... yes, the catalogs are tempting, but the fact is, we can get most of our seeds here and not pay any shipping. Burpee seeds are sold at Home Depot, and Grasspad carries many more.  It's fun to go through the catalogs, but not very practical for us. 

 Here are some of the older birds... the original flock was mostly black and white, sons and daughters of Fred, our bantam Japanese rooster.  You can see the old roosters One, Two and Three, and the little hens with them.  These birds are now five years old.  That's the dividing line between the two henyards, and Rocky and the bigger hens to the right.  Today was very gray, though the sun tried to peak through several times.  We are expecting some rain (possibly snow flurries!) tonight.

We could use the rain.

Here is Keith with Hannah this afternoon.  Hannah would never let anyone hold her like this before... she has always wanted to be near you, but not ON you.  We know she has changed profoundly since losing her sight, and now she is also eating only sporadically, as well.  We'll see Dr. Tom one more time this week, and then are going to have to decide what to do about this little girl.

Last week wore both of us out, we admit it.  It's hard work taking care of animals even when the weather is good, but extreme heat and extreme cold make it worse, and we aren't, amazingly, getting any younger.  I spent the day after church baking and dozing... I admit it.  I made an apple brown betty to my own recipe.... a layer of buttery croutons I made myself.... a layer of brown sugar with tabs of butter laid over it... a layer of Granny Smith apples, with another layer of oatmeal and brown suger and butter laid over... baked for an hour at 350.  YUMMMMM.  Tonight we are having simple hamburgers for dinner, I am out of oomph and Keith thankfully changed the llama trough for me, and we finished evening chores together.  Now for an evening of football and Downton Abby!