to & fro

Zach and I have been trying to take advantage of the last warm and sunny days... He's a good buddy for walking up to the mailbox with me. I can usually bring my camera along and get some pretty pictures while we sweetly saunter...

Aunt Ruth had a birthday this month. We were so glad to celebrate with her.

Asher

It's startin' to be that time of year... the critters are 'adjusting' to hay. I say 'adjusting' because they still see green grass, and would rather get out of their safe and cozy pasture to eat the neighbor's yard rather than eat the yummy hay we provide.
Don't they know that this is, of all seasons, a time to be grateful? :)

I found a little traveler on Aliyah...

Critter's Breakfast on a Sunny, but Cool, Winter Morn

Papa - "Why did the sheep get a traffic ticket?"
Barnaby - "I dunno."
Papa - "Because she did an illegal 'ewe' turn!"

I can't tell if Barnaby is laughing
or
trying to get away from the really bad joke.

Dodge is working on an interesting hair-do. Going through one of those 'teenager' phases where he's got to have enough fluff in his eyes to do the Bieber flip. 

 Papa and I load up in the gator with warm water to help break any ice in the water buckets. Then we drive to one of many haystacks Papa put up over the summer to grab armfuls of green and golden hay for the critter's breakfast.

BREAKFAST!

Clive - "Hay. Please sir, I want some more."

"He said no. How can anybody say 'no' to this face?"

Annabelle - "I'm queen of the breakfast hay!"

Clive - "Here, let me help you with that breakfast crown."

Clive

Melted snow and rain make excellent puddles for my fancy boots to splash around. 

And you thought gloves were for keeping hay out...

A Tale of Seven Blind Mice

We've had a pleasant surprise here on the farm. We started setting out some birdseed this past year and have greatly enjoyed the huge variety of birds in our area. The neat surprise is that our birds dropped some seeds and now we have a small crop of huge sunflowers! They're so cheery. 

 Also, our grapes seem to be doing well this year! We can hardly wait to try them! 

Papa has been busy 'scything' his sunny days away. He does get excited about his hay. And why not?! When it is so beautiful and very much needed on a farm filled with hay munching critters! This stuff is particularly rich and it's nice to save money by cutting our own hay. 

 Papa helped me clean out the barn the other day. This was no ordinary mucking out of the barn, but a scraping and pressure treating of the barn floor. We are currently waiting for the floor to dry out so that we can put some more waterproofing sealer on the floor. Anyway back to the picture. In the process of cleaning out every piece of straw in the barn, I was startled by a nest of baby mice. They're so ugly, yet cute. Since I had flooded their nest, I scooped them all up and put them outside of the barn. Not to worry, their mama found them and has moved them to a safe place. 

 Before they were returned to a safe place, I ran them up to show the neighbor kids, and make their mother nearly vomit.