April First

April definitely snuck up on me this year.  Rain day after day for the first three months was like being on a treadmill...working hard and going nowhere.  The past few days have been glorious, warm enough to leave doors open for fresh air and sunlight.  Like my little lizard friend, I've shed the two sweaters and double socks, jacket, and gloves.  Another couple of days like this and the barn will be dried out, and about time.  My barn boots have sprung leaks!  SAD (seasonal affective disorder) is a perfect acronym for the gloom of spirit that comes with a lengthy bout of grey days.  You just don't know how bad it was until you start to get well; getting kissed by the sun makes it all better.

April was my mother's month; her birthday and her favorite "holiday," April Fool's Day.  I was never as good as she at pulling pranks on my Kids.  She was inventive.  She's been gone many years now, but I still feel a little trepidatious on April first.

Deb and Craig did such a good job on the pen for the Silkies last year, but the original four were bigger than this year's chicks.  Since the barrier was taken down, I've been going out to check on the little ones several times a day (they're having such a good time out in the pen).  Fortunately, I found a couple of places in the fence where the chicks could have scooted through and blocked them before anything untoward occurred.  The red-tail hawks are ever vigilant, and the chicks would be easy pickin's.  Last evening, five chicks followed the hens right into the coop...and then there was the sixth.  I'm getting better, but my swoop-and-grab techniques riled Musashi and he tried some protective moves as the baby was plunked into the nest last night.

It might be my imagination, but Nineteen seemed particularly affectionate last night, waiting at the gate to nuzzle my fingers and then walking by my side on the way to the barn, my hand on his back and him rubbing on my side.  Did he know?

Fence Guy and Son put up more than half the fencing in the pasture before they came to a post that hadn't quite set in the damp ground at the lower end; a good stopping point for the day.  They fiddled with the splitter, and finally decided to take it home to work on.  The budget has taken so many hits lately, "Just put it on my tab."

With the coming of April, the year is a quarter over already.  Where has it gone?