Our weather continues to see-saw back and forth. After last week’s storm, we are back to dull, brown ground again, although it took several days to get there. The week ahead looks to be a bit more normal as to temperature. We shall see.
Hello Folks,
Are we done with winter? Personally, I doubt it but spring is definitely in the air. We had a backyard full of robins yesterday. And early mornings when I am out with the critters, I can hear Redwing Blackbirds. That is always a good sign of spring to me.
I promised to write about the shenanigans out in the pen. It seems spring lust has hit hard and fast. Suddenly, the males have awoken from their sleepy habits and the “girls” are a bit more willing. Anyway, let’s just say it is loud and obnoxious in the pen. I can’t let them out, as the bobcat is still around, so the critters have to contend themselves with staying in the pen.
Poor Mr Puffy (the black Muscovy drake with the angel wings) is pursued by his brother with a vengeance. Mr Huffy goes after Mr Puffy with his head straight out, and he means business. Then a fight ensues and they are cheered on by Freddy, Ethel, and Lucy. What a racket they make! Then Freddy decides he wants to pester one of the Muscovy girls and that causes a huge uproar. I almost have to wear earplugs in the house!
To top it all off, Momma duck, along with Senorita or her brother, decided to stay out on the pond all night a week ago. Not very smart, with all the night creatures we have. They came in for breakfast some days and, some days, stayed out all day too. I’d had about enough of that.
So, one day all three of them came into the pen. Mainly because they were hungry. Anyway, I herded them with a big old towel and got them into the coop and shut the door fast. Then I hollered for B to come and help me clip their wings. In the end, we only clipped the females’ wings, as my thought was that the males will not fly out of the pen if no female does. So far, so good. Everyone is home every day/night. If the “boys” start flying over the fence, they, too, will get their wings clipped. Enough is enough.
Meanwhile, the chickens, who by the way, are not a bit afraid to try to break up fights between several Muscovy ducks, are laying eggs as fast as they can. This morning I came in with 4 duck eggs and a Lucy or Ethel egg. The fun just never stops.
I hope to do another video just so you can hear the noise.
Monday, I went back to Bone Builders, and our dirt road was a complete mess. It was frozen, rutted, mud with about a 6 inch layer of frozen snow on top. I couldn’t tell one rut from another. When I got home, I announced that I did not plan to go out again unless B took me. As it turns out, the town road crew came up with the grader, but not until after noon on Tuesday. I was wise to stay home.
Tuesday was our day to vote for town officials, so B and I went out to vote.
Then B had an adventure. He has a friend who helps groom ski trails for Mount Sunapee. The friend was working Tuesday starting at 4:30 and asked if B would like to come along. Of course, B was running on about 3-4 hours sleep, but he quickly said yes. He left the house about 3:30 and stayed until the groomers’ lunch break at 8:00. Because he was so tired, he came home at that time instead of sticking around for the other 4 hours of the shift. Here are some pictures he took. They run 4-machine crews in 2 shifts, from the time the lifts close until they reopen the next morning.
By the way, they were grooming all man-made snow! They told B they were done making snow for the season, though, but they continue to groom what’s left.
Wednesday, B had to go to the dentist to have his last (hopefully) filling put in his tooth that had the root canal job. I decided to tag along and get my groceries at the same time. So while I was at Market Basket, B was doing some other errands. It all worked out fine. Then we bumpty-bumpty back up the dirt road. Actually, after the road was graded, it wasn’t too bad.
That gave me courage to go out Thursday and go to Bone Builders. It also helped that the road was partially frozen. I came home and “corned” my brisket for corned beef. We are having it tomorrow instead of today, as today was the Mason’s breakfast.
I had a lot to do at home on Thursday, so I didn’t get my pie for Pi Day made. Instead, I made it on Friday. I had some Bing cherries in the freezer that weren’t getting any younger, so I decided to make my mother’s old 1960s recipe for cherry cheesecake pie. It is a no-bake recipe, other than the crust. I had plenty of graham crackers ahead, so I made a graham cracker crust.
As a labor of love, I pitted each cherry by hand, drained them, and made a cherry sauce instead of using a canned cherry pie filling topping. It came out very tasty. Here is a picture before I cut into it.
B was up very late last night, as usual, and received a call in the middle of the night that his mother had passed away at a nearby rehab center/nursing home. So he didn’t come to bed until about 7 this morning, then he’s been working on the details of that after getting up at 10. Peggy will be missed.
So that about wrapped up the week. More to come next time!
Stay well.
The Clampetts 