Spring Fever

I had a WONDERFUL time talking with my sister on the phone last night. She noticed that I was still online at the ungodly hour of ten o’clock… I was actually in bed but had the phone on in case Ede called (being the party girl this week off in the big city). Two hours later my sister and I realized we had better call it a night. Love those looooonnnnngggg phone visits. (Always reminds me of a time we were teenagers and I was away … likely at school. Cindy was at home for a visit as she was also in university at the time. She called – and we talked for hours … I think even longer than two? I just remember our dad teasing that she could have taken the car – got to where I was – had a long visit – and driven home … all for less $$’s. Ha!) All this to say that I decided I was going to sleep in this morning. When I did wake up this little face was peering over the duvet at me.

I’m glad I did get some extra zzzzzz’s as this was such a beautiful day I could not pull myself back into the house! I did make a quick run in to the loo and to drink down three tall glasses of water. But pretty much worked away on spring cleaning from about ten in the morning until four thirty this afternoon! After doing the regular clean up chores I decided it was the perfect day to clean the fans. (They help keep the biting flies out of the barns, the chicken coop and the goat fort.) The wind was blowing right down our laneway and made a great super fan to blow all the dust and grime away from me. It is always a challenge to get them apart. I like to clean them right down to their motors and into the speed controls. And if I can remove the grates then I can use the hose to really get them white again.

While the fans were drying off I had a go at clearing out the winter’s worth of extra bedding in the chicken covered run. (We call it their porch … ?) See that log just to the right inside the door ledge? I had already taken a tractor load of wood shavings away. It had completely disappeared. The chickens had a wonderful time digging and scratching through the piles I made. There were lots of corn kernels left for them to discover. You can see Sophie’s bare spots in this shot. Not sure if the poor girl will ever get those shoulders covered again …

While the chickens were having a grand time the jennies were pouting on the other side of the gate. A few years ago, while doing this same coop clean out job, I toppled our side-by-side (Jeep sort of vehicle that I used to cart loads away) off the raised road we built through the woods down to the front paddock. Not a great experience … that year the jennies got into all the spilled coop bedding and ate themselves sick. I wasn’t risking letting them get anywhere near the job today. If I had they would have been so pushy that they’d have fought with each other and me over getting their ‘share’.

Got down to the ground level! I will let that dry (and some ice patches melt) before I scratch down to where I’ll lay a sand floor for the summer. Loved putting their mirror back in all shiny and clean. They love to sit on those logs and admire themselves. Each night they get closed into this area. They also have nesting boxes and night perches through that little door in the back. The other side opens onto their ‘garden’. Their screen covered summer run. That door gets closed so they can have a decent sleep without having to fight off varmints. Which, by the way, I learned this week that Goldie would! He heard Sophie flying across the paddock in distress and came roaring out of the barn – spurs raised and forward – to take on an attacker! That is one giant step for that little guy!

While I finished off the fans I let the jennies and the goats back out together. Seems MayMay lost her head over the new bale of hay! 😉

By this time it was pushing four o’clock and my body was about done in! Do you ever have those times where you are feeling like you are in the last 100 metres of a road race you didn’t train for? Like walking in pudding? I finally got myself into the kitchen and made myself sit down at the table to eat a decent meal. Good thing I did because when I looked out the window …

… this is what I saw!! I called out through the screen and the girls were quite impressed that they had found ‘my’ barn. They both got up on their hind legs and took a good look to see if that was the way in.

I slipped on my duck boots and popped out the back door, calling their names as I went. They came leaping down the front porch steps chitter-chattering ‘Hello! Hello!’ all the way. I’m glad they were so happy to see me! 😉 Seems I had not latched their door properly … and they’d figured that out. Not sure how long they would’ve just hung out with the donkeys before deciding to go looking for me. (If I leave the paddock when they are out they do get quite frantic to follow me … I’m hoping that eases as they get access to all of the paddocks and woods with the new fencing … which didn’t come in this week …) I was pleased with how cooperative they were at following me back ‘in’. I have a certain inflection of call that I use when I’m going to head them back to their fort. They know that call – and know that it ends with a peanut treat. So it was easy to set things straight – and get myself straight back inside to put my feet up! Phew!

Tomorrow is supposed to be a rainy day – my body is grateful! 😉