Today was gorgeous!!  The sun was out, the snow was melting, and the air had that smell that always reminds me of a defrosting freezer:  damp, chilly, and warm at the same time.  It just smelled like spring....in January?

We've had one snow so far, other than a couple of dustings.  The ground has only been frozen for a few days all winter.  I'm not complaining, I'm just hoping that the trees don't bud too soon and lose their blossoms, as well as this year's fruit harvest, to a freeze later on.  An average winter here has snow on the ground from November to April.  This is a nice change.

The worst part about today was that I was completely exhausted.  For reasons both boring and mundane, I was up till 3:30 a.m., and then had to be up this morning at 7 a.m., once again for boring and mundane reasons.  I desperately needed a nap, but didn't want to waste such a beautiful day.  I compromised with a 30 minute coma power nap, and spent the rest of the day outside.

I brought in the wood and did some other every day chores, then decided it would be a great time to put fresh hay in the critter houses.  When I want back around to lock up the critters at dusk, I found that my mud-slogging-itchy-hay-hauling was not as appreciated as you would've thought.

The ducks were horrified.

"Drake, dahling!  Come here, quickly!" chirped Mrs. Muscovy, "This simply will not do! We've been redecorated!  Oh, it's horrid!!"

The young chickens in the tractor were also upset:

"Dude!"

"Gag me with a pitchfork! Why is our house all full of green, itchy stuff?"

"Oh. My. Gosh.  This. Is. Gross!"

"I am totally sleeping outside.  You cannot make me go in there.  I just had my feathers done."

Just kidding. I love Cyndi Lauper.
We should all age so well. 

"Chicks just wanna have fun."



At least the geese were happy:

"Yo, Vinny! How you doin'?"

"Yo, T! How you doin'?"

"Yo. Dat lady put new hay in da house.  No more mud for youse guys, she says."

"Fuggedaboutit!"

Ok...I guess it's weird I hear critter voices in my head, and they all have their own nuance and character.  But after a total of four hours of sleep, well, I'm lucky that's my only problem.