Bleak February Days

It's the 26th, and the second month of the year is almost over. 

I have some catching up to do. 

Bob, formerly known as Alien. 

He adores both Zoey and Buddy.  I mean ADORES. 

Mama is the same way, I don't know what it is... Mama will run clear across the property if we are out at 3 AM in the cold to rub up against her buddy Buddy. 

He has let me pet him twice, once on the head and once along the back.  Yesterday, he came in the kitchen for about thirty seconds, then went back out.  You see the straw... he is sleeping in the dog house on the porch to the left of the door.  I just put more straw in it five minutes ago, we are expecting rain tonight.  I would bring him in if he would come. 

Look who was back one night this week.  Friends, that is a healthy coyote, I mean healthy.  He has not been starving this winter.  I was clear up on the deck, and as I advanced with the camera, he turned around and trotted off.  

I will tell you one thing I am no longer seeing here... rabbits.  The cats have run them all off. 

These little guys take their lives in their hands with the cats out there, and I regret this, because I love squirrels. 

The coyote above was taken the seventeenth... this one was this week.  I watched it go back and forth across the pasture about six times, I don't know what was worrying it.  You see it looking into Troy and Kathy's pasture... I know Kathy pours out leftovers just like I do.  Something must have been worrying it.  Now that I look at it again, it could be a pregnant mother. 

Here is a picture taken by the porch cam of a rather large raccoon on the porch (I forgot to bring the bowl in) and Bob is sleeping in the Bob House. 

What you can't see in this picture is Teenie is sleeping on a heated pad on the chair to the right of the chest... Teenie has been run out of the shop by Mama. 

We are expecting 50 mile and hour winds and a storm tonight so I am hoping she finds shelter in the garage, though there IS another little house on the porch... the one to the right of Bob's house. (and it is heated, Coco still uses it during the day). As a total aside, my grandson was with me working out here yesterday, and we went into the old hen house to put something away.  Coco, (the black cat) who lives in there with the chickens, was sitting in a dark corner, staring straight at us.  She scared Jax to death... he did not want to go in farther than the door.  I told him she was watching him only because she didn't know him... but he was hesitant to go in still.  She did not move at all while we were in there, and that scared him even more! 

This is why we can't have nice things in the barn. 

And this... .

And this.  

You know, I never smell skunks in the barn in the morning! 

This, however, is the bowl after I emptied it and before I wiped it out and re-filled it... see all the pawprints? 

My grandson and I strarted buying planting media yesterday, and then got home and realized all the porch planters are still frozen solid.  I don't know what I was thinking! 

(We actually bought potting soil for the deck planters) 

I think poor old Ferdie is going to be next... he is no longer roosting and sleeps in this corner of the hen house every night now. 

Wanda has it good. And that's actually Buddy, Ferdie's son... and he is no longer roosting either, they have both lost toes in the cold.  He sleeps under the roosts.  

Pipsqueak sleeps under the light with Wanda. 

My best boy, Jester.  The American Gentleman, for sure. 

I recently had a health scare, these last two weeks. 

My first thought was 

Who is going to take care of all of my animals? 

I had about ten days to really think about this... and  I am unsure where it is leading me. 

I'm not ready to stop, I realized that.