Today has been a mixture of sun, a little snow here and there, and very cool temperatures. The girls have been out enjoying their day, munching on hay in the sun, Max and I went for a walk this morning, tired him out, and was napping in the sun until the deer wandered by. The temperature got as high as 30° and with the sun out it felt warmer, however when the breeze blew it went right through you. With the cold temperatures the mud has been frozen in the morning, so it's much easier to get around behind the pastures and the backyard. All of the snow has not melted yet, so the yard is still quite damp, the temperatures are predicted to go back to the 40s sometime next week, so I'm in hopes that the rest of the snow will melt and things will start drying up. Lakota would really like to run and stretch her legs however I don't want them to dig the pasture up before the grass starts to grow, so she will have to wait a couple more weeks.
Last evening, as soon as the girls came inside, the deer ventured out. There are usually 4 to 6 deer at any time that are wandering around the backyard. They don't look bad, each seems to have a nice coat and a little bit of weight on them. They are fun to watch, Max barks at them from the door, but they don't seem to bother with him, I can even walk out the back door, talk to them, and head down to the barn, all they do is watch me walk away. When I come out of the barn and head in their direction, then they start wandering away back towards the woods. This happens every evening around dusk and sometimes they're out and about in the morning. We also have a fox that you see every once in a while, a great horned owl that you can hear early in the morning or later in the evenings and rabbits aplenty. The birds are coming and sound beautiful, it's nice to see the robins and the bluebirds have returned. At the bird feeders there are chickadees, nuthatches, once in a while I do see a blue jay and a cardinal, but not very often. I've seen a couple different woodpeckers and can hear them quite frequently. Really beats living in the village.
The quote of the day:
Here's to you, Stocking and Star and Blaze!
You brought me all that the best could bring-
Health and Mirth and the Merriest days
In the Open Fields and the Woodland Ways-
And what I can do in return but sing
A song or two in your praise!
WILL H. OGILIE
