Getting things done, doubtful

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. We did. We spent it with some of the family down at Camp Brandenburg near Madison, an awesome girlscout camp. And now its back home again and hopefully back to work. I don't mean work as in 'go to work and get paid'. I mean work as in 'get some things done around the yard that haven't been touched since last fall'.
We finally had a decent day to work outside and since I had it off, I spent all of it outside. Sometimes though, I feel like little Billy from Family Circus. I begin out in the front flower bed, the weeds are already past my ankles. Where is the garden fork...? Aha! Up by the porch. After retrieving it I head back down to the front bed again, only to realize I forgot the wheelbarrow. So where's the wheelbarrow? Oh, yeah...lying broken behind the garage...! But it can be fixed. An hour later I wheel it outside the garage again, but not before I swept the entire garage floor.
On the way back to find my misplaced fork again, I notice that the nettles and burrs are beginning to take over the banks of the creek. Well that won't do, give them an inch.... where's that hoe?!  And so the rest of the day goes.
Everywhere I look, every direction high or low... I see something that needs attention. Needless to say, I didn't get much done today. But I did have time to take a few pictures of the animals. There is always time for that.

The cowbirds are back. They're funny to watch. Here they are following Timmy around.

That's Duncan, our bull grazin behind the birdhouse.

My husband made the birdhouse for me last year. The colors match our house.

I see that Erin is losing her winter black color. Her coat always turns red in summer.

Here, the hens are enjoying the warm day but I see they've already dug a hole. Knowing how chickens like to eat (A.K.A. kill) grass, I put a divider in their pen so I can rotate them. Its not quite finished yet (it still needs the dividing gate put on) but it looks like I'll be needing it soon.

Bad girls!

Yay, spring!

Beautiful blue sky day, perfect for working outside

I've been so busy this past week (ever since the last of the snow melted and I finally got to dig my garden fork into the soil) that I haven't had time to sit down and write. All I want is be outside because there is always something to do everywhere I look. It was a busy fall. Winter came on quick and with me being gone in PA for a few weeks to see the grandbabies, not much of the fall yard clean-up got done. I'm paying for it now with this spring clean-up.

At least the chicken house got cleaned out last week and now we have happy (and much better smelling) chickens. We ordered 15 new silky chicks and also 15 guineas this week too, so I've been working on getting the old chicken house and pen straightened up.
I started on the pen yesterday. Can you believe the dead weeds in there were taller than me! And the new ones, nettles included, already had a pretty good start at six inches high. After removing the weeds, the washout holes still needed fixing from a downpour last fall, which ran underneath the shed's concrete floor.

It took forever to get the pen clean and I'm still not done... there are a few more washout places beneath the fence where predators could get in. But in spite of all the things that need to be done, I'm getting very excited about this new spring growth. I just love the surprise of seeing a new crocus or daffodil that wasn't there yesterday.



                                                                                                            

The cattle seemed to be enjoying the warm spring day as much as I was

Angel with the calves (the light one on the left is hers)

Erin and Rocky (our baby bull)



No good luck; but at least spring is finally on the way

It has been a rough and very sad two weeks. We lost the white calf before she was a week old and sadder yet, we lost Leah on the Wednesday before she was two weeks old. We tried hard to keep her going (many, many hours worth) but I guess it was not meant to be. Out of the 42 calves we've had so far, this makes only 4 losses, and I'm still wondering what went wrong with these two.
On the day before Leah died, a thought came to me. Perhaps they had a selenium deficiency. This deficiency is very common in our area, and I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. We try to keep a selenium block out for the cattle at all times but we haven't checked it lately, and the vet hadn't mentioned it either. Unfortunately my husband was on his way home from the vet with 3 shots for Leah when she died.

This has been a long, sad winter for us but at least spring is starting to show itself. Our valley only has mere traces of snow left in the woods and ditches. The fields are starting to turn green--well, at least they're trying to. My tulips and daffodils are already 3 and 4 inches high, and of course the Johnny-jump-ups are blooming. I think they bloom underneath the snow! How encouraging it is to see all of this green going on.
Of course the chicken yard is still half-full of snow. Yesterday I took a walk in it and some spots are at least 6 inches deep. I've been opening up the coop door so they can go outside if they want to.

These next pictures were taken on March 6th. The snow is over a foot deep here.



It was the first time I let the chickens out this winter and of course no one wanted to venture out into the... eww, ick... deep snow! I was on my way back inside the coop to chase the others out when I noticed that my brave little silky, Snowflake was out in the snow all by herself (She's my favorite by the way).

When I put the other chickens out in it, they were afraid to walk on it. They stood in place. No one can dispute that my chickens hate snow!

                                                                                                              

Another sure sign of spring: the goldfinches are starting to turn gold