Chores on a Snowy Morn

As predicted, more snow fell overnight.

Geese preening in the snow. 

The ducks came right out (with their hats, scarves and mittens on) 

also, but the chickens (so far)

were a no show.

Apple blossoms on these three 

apple trees?

Nope, more like snow blossoms.

Spring will come.  Eventually.  

It's a sure thing.

Meet Our Summer Intern

Ha-ha, and don't we wish!  Although we couldn't convince our dear daughter to give up her other two jobs and function as slave labor here on the homestead all summer, she did agree to work for us one day a week.

Yesterday was her first day and much was accomplished.  She moved and re-stacked a lot of lumber, moved a bunch of bags of feed, took down some overhead bracing (don't cha just hate working with your arms over your head?), moved some materials to a storage building, and built a storage rack in the feed room.  (You can see her hiding working away down in the right hand corner above.)

Raise your drill if you're having a good time!  (The feed room is unheated and we had a high of 30 degrees yesterday.  Hence, the hat and jacket.)

The first shelf boards were put in place before she had to leave to go put in a few hours at one of her "real" jobs. 

Even if it is only one day a week, we're pickled tink to have her help.  

I Think I'll J-u-u-u-st Make It

I took my last container of fresh frozen chives out of the freezer this morning.

During the winter months I use a lot of chives, mostly for adding color to dishes.

There are four clumps of chive plants in that center raised bed, the one in the foreground.  (Picture taken a few minutes ago.)  Even though they are the first green to pop up in the garden each spring, something tells me it's gonna be a while yet this year.

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

Winter, that is.

More predicted for this coming week.

Along with cold temperatures which

 means this new snow

will be with us for a while.

I'll leave you with the song that's been

running through my head all day

as I look out on the

beautiful scenery.

"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas . . . "

A Little Webbed Foot Help

While watching the four new goslings, our daughter was the one to notice the littlest one's right foot didn't look quite right.

Turns out the front third of the little webbed foot was curled back under.  She was still navigating but with a definite hitch in her get-a-long.

We tried unfolding the foot which didn't seem to cause any distress to the gosling, and then tried to tape it to keep it flat, but nothing remained on her foot for long.

Finally I made a little square out of strapping tape which is clear tape with filament inside it (makes it extra strong), put her little unfolded foot on that and then applied another square of the strapping tape on the top of her foot.  I pressed the edges of the tape tightly together along with putting a little pressure on the bottom and top of the tape covering her foot.

Then I trimmed the square of tape up a bit.  Put her back in the brooder and found that the bottom of the tape pad was too slippery and she kept falling over.

Out of the brooder she came again.  I painted some rubber cement on the bottom of the pad, and we dipped that in some fine grit making a sand paper-y grip on the bottom which kept the foot from slipping on the bedding in the brooder.

Her walk is still a little funny, but the "brace" has stayed on and she rapidly runs around the brooder like the Energizer Gosling Bunny.  When we put tiny pieces of green lettuce in there, she beats the other three to it every time.  Despite her slight disability, she's a little spitfire, no doubt about it.

So, two questions:  Have any of you ever had this foot problem with chicks, ducklings or goslings?  How did you handle it?

And any suggestions for a name for our little gimpy gal?  Since the goslings came from a hatchery in Oklahoma, we were thinking of using names for the four related to the musical and movie, "Oklahoma."  What do you think?

Small Quilt Winner and Four Fuzz Balls

Thanks to all of you who showed an interest in my small baby quilt.  Or table topper.  Or pillow cover.  Or however you thought to use it.

I drew a name out of a bowl this morning and the winner is:

~ ~ ~ KATHY ~ ~ ~

Kathy, if you will send me your mailing address I'll send the quilt off to you as soon as I can. 

Thanks again to you all for making this a fun little giveaway.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now for pictures of our newest critters.

We got a phone call from the post office in town at 7:30 yesterday morning letting us know we had a package there from a hatchery.

Arriving at the post office building, Papa Pea was met at the back door by our Post Master holding the small box with a bit of a worried look on his face.

"I'm a little concerned," he said.  "There hasn't been much peeping coming from the box."

Papa Pea told him that the box contained goslings rather than chicks, and they're not as vociferous as chicks usually are.  And, no worry, all did turn out to be just fine.

The box contained four healthy looking goslings.  Packed in fairly tightly, but I'm sure that helped keep them warm on their journey from Oklahoma all the way to northern Minnesota.

They are supposed to be two females and two males.  The darker one is quite a bit smaller than the other three, and we're assuming she's a female.  One of the other three (back left in picture above) has a smidge more shading of the darker coloring than the two very yellow ones (males we're presuming), but she's not much smaller than the boys are.  Time will tell exactly what we've ended up with.

When you put your hand into the brooder near them, they don't seem shy at all but come running over to take a peck or two to check you out.  They sure are cute little buggers!