Shut The Front Door

"Shut the front door" is a euphemism intended to indicate disbelief.  In my case yesterday, it was quite literal.  Not only did I need to close the front door, I shut the side door and the door to the laundry room, too.  Those doors have stayed wide open for months, but believe me when I say it was cold!  A jacket wasn't enough protection against a strong, cold southwest wind.  Down in the barn, Sheila was up on the stand when I heard an almost unfamiliar sound...raindrops on the roof!  It was over as soon as it began.  My sympathies are certainly with those suffering from Florence in the Carolinas, but here that small preview was welcome.  The photo was taken on the way up to the house, the first peek at sunshine when the clouds rolled back.

In between cooking shows, I changed the sheets on the bed.  It doesn't take much to amuse Ralph, but he becomes ecstatic when I make the bed anew.  He burrows under when a sheet is flipped up, grabs at every wrinkle as if it were the last, and plonks himself down on top, making it impossible to smooth out.  I sneak back later to finish the job after he's left the room.

In the afternoon I was struck by an urge to go check on the chickens.  Bess and I took a little walk and found Stanley and his girls standing quietly in the coop.  I'd expected to find them outside enjoying the sunshine.  Oh well, what do I know?  Back in the house, I needed to get something from the freezer on the deck and saw...a coyote!  He/she was standing in the north field, looking toward the hen house and sniffing the breeze.  Drat!  No wonder the chickens were hunkered down.  Stamping my feet, clapping my hands, and yelling, "Git, git, git!," was enough to send Wiley running for the woods.  The "Not welcome" sign is out for him.  In 1966, Buffalo Springfield released a song, "For What It's Worth," in which one line says, "Paranoia runs deep."  Now I'm paranoid about the safety of the flock and left the front door open so I could hear if the little ones were in danger.

Clean sheets and a blanket made for good sleeping last night.