Sue

I started this story quite some time ago and neglected to finish it and post it.

Sue living large in the yard as Eddie's wife

One little hen passed this week--unknown to the world, but special to the farm.  Sue had been a steady resident here for 11years and I do miss her presence.

Sue --you really think you can make me go up??

In July of 2002 (the 3rd to be exact) an emergency run was made to nearby Cackle Hatchery.   A determined hen of a non-setting breed-- Black Sex-Link--had hatched a chick.  A chick.  One.   This couldn't be, as life is easier when you are a chicken  if you have a big brood to run with.  In order for "Oney" to have any hope of being a raised a well-adjusted chicken I had to get her some siblings!   Luck was with me when I arrived on 'hatching day' at the hatchery and found a brood of available Ameracaunas.    I had them pick me out 12 day old hen chicks---and they threw in an extra, so off home I went to add the chicks under the hen after dark and expand Oney's family.  The hen agreed to her larger family and went about raising them.  One little chick died the next day but the other 13 thrived and grew.  The hen quickly became tired of them and as soon as they had feathers she was so out of there.  Of the 13 one of the purchased chicks was a rooster--the lovely King of The Barnyard in latter years.  The rest were a lively bunch of hens with the then unnamed and unremarkable Sue included.

Those were one of the most scatter brained bunch of young chickens I have ever seen.  Probably because there were so many that the older hens couldn't knock any sense into them.  Penning them up for the night was always an adventure.  Thankfully as they grew older they gradually got some sense, but it was a long hard haul there for awhile.  They were also the last large brood I raised here---the following year there were a few more hatched and that was that.

The flock a few years ago .  Sue is second from right--the Other Grey Hen is on the right and the Black Hen...oh, well you know where she is....

Sue's first years were uneventful in that large healthy flock of young chickens, but as they began to get older the rooster took a terrible dislike to her and used every opportunity to peck her within an inch of her life.  While scraggly looking and always looking over her shoulder she remained un-bowed.

Then fate struck her another blow---bumblefoot.  She was now crippled and still on the rooster's 'list'.  It didn't take long and unfortunately I was slow to realize what was happening,  but the tides had turned and Sue was in bad shape.  With her sore foot, the rooster could now catch her and peck her,  which led to the rest of the flock turning on her.  I came home one evening to a huddled bloodied grey form in the corner of the paddock.

Immediately she was removed from the general population, her wounds and foot tended to and placed in a cage in the breezeway.  She slowly grew stronger and I pondered what to do with her.  Her foot was not going to allow her to be fleet enough to live with the rest of the chickens.  Then it dawned on me that perhaps she could live with Eddie, my crippled rooster who also lived in a cage in the yard.  For more of their introduction and life together you can click on Eddie's Story.   This is when that plain grey hen became Sue.  My best friend's parents are named Eddie and Sue, so when I added the grey hen to Eddie's 'flock' it just rolled off the tongue, and so Sue was christened.

After Eddie and Sue had a rousing knock down drag out fight --or as rousing as a legless rooster and crippled hen could pull off--they settled in to living a happy quiet little chicken life.  At that time I had my sweet collie girls--Jody and Ariel who were in the fenced yard all day with the two chickens.  In the morning I would turn Eddie and Sue out and Eddie would generally hop out and putter around near the cage all day, whereas Sue would roam the extent of the yard.  Eddie would worry about her, but she would periodically stop back in to say 'hey' to him.   She was the dickens to catch up at night, because she would fade into the bushes or garden and I wouldn't be able to find her.  Seldom did she ever make it easy to pen them up!

At one time she got very attached to Ariel and started following her everywhere--Eddie wasn't amused, Ariel wasn't amused and I wasn't amused--especially when she would leave her chicken droppings inside the breezeway on the dog beds!  Admittedly it was pretty funny to see her just hanging out with the dogs.

Eventually Boone, my big mastiff joined the brood and I had to end up fencing and dividing half the yard.  Chickens in one area, dogs in another, because Boone was no mild manner collie and would have had chicken for supper with no regrets.

Sue didn't much like it, but she adapted--she always adapted, and Eddie was happier where he could keep her in his sights all day.  Then tragedy befell the little couple and Eddie became ill and died within in a few days.  Now Sue was alone--no Eddie and no dogs she could follow about.  It was okay for awhile, but Sue got sadder and sadder.  I thought about bringing another hen to the yard, but the logistics of dogs and chickens sharing the yard were getting harder and harder.

Then I came home and found Sue at the back fence --gazing longingly at the hated flock of chickens from whence  she had come.  The flock was smaller due to attrition, but still I hesitated about putting her back, since the same rooster was still in command.

Eventually though I did.  First in a cage in the hen house for a week, then finally out with the main flock.  It wasn't easy, and Sue was definitely treated as an outcast at first.  The rooster still wanted to kill her, but he was older and she was in  healthy shape so she ran fast and got away most of the time.  She seemed happy to be back in with chickens--even hateful ones.    In time she hung around with her grey sister and did okay.  The rooster would still catch her out sometimes and peck her head unmercifully--especially in the Spring, but I would treat her wounds and off she would go.

She had the last laugh anyway--she survived her brother by a year and had a very pleasant time in her final and full retirement.  With only three hens left in the flock there was allot of pottering around, sunning and just hanging out.  It did my heart good to see Sue swaying about  her business.  She always knew I'd give her special treats and protect her, and although she wasn't a 'pet' chicken, she was a smart chicken and enjoyed her special status.

Sue is survived by her sister--the Other Grey Hen and her niece--the ailing Black Hen.  Good bye my little feathered friend, your grace under fire always impressed me and I will miss your little grey ghostie form going about your important chicken business. 

And the long reign of this flock slowly comes to a close and I worry that one will outlive the other and then what to do?

I wrote this post after Sue died and never got around to publishing it.   Now several months later and the last sentence of my post proved prophetic.  The Black Hen died only a few weeks after Sue.  She was the youngest of the lot but began to ail and died a short time later.  This left the Other Grey Hen as an 'only'.   It was very sad.  First she freaked out and was very distraught for a couple of days.  She was flockless and knew that wasn't a good situation.  However after the first week she began to settle down and seemed to do okay.  She didn't stray far from the hen house, and tended to hang out with the sheep when she did.   I fixed a box full of straw and on really cold nights I would tuck her in and close the lid and she seemed to handle the cold okay.  She looked healthy and appeared content.  I debated on getting an older hen off craigslist, but knowing chickens it would have been ugly and at 11 she probably wold have gotten the worst of the deal.  (After all 'old' chickens on craigslist tend to be only 2 or 3).   Then one crisp but not deadly cold night in February the Other Grey Hen died. For the first time in 27 years, there were no chickens pottering about the little farm.   Suddenly I didn't have to worry 'did I shut the henhouse door' at all hours of the night.  No working my schedule on being around to 'put up the chickens' in the evening.  It was quite odd.  Will I get more chickens, so I can rearrange my schedule and worry myself crazy?  You betcha.   Now I just have to decide what kind and how many... 
 

Crossing To The Dark Side...

Well ya'll know how I feel about books if you've been following this blog very long.  I love them.  Love to read, love to see them, love to smell them.  I have lots of books.  Lots and lots.

And I swore I would never, ever, ever, ever get a Kindle and read an electronic book.  It was just a bizarre concept in my eyes.

So then I turned 21 (since my sister just turned 29 (again) I can only be 21, right?    For  my 'big --0 birthday' in December my sister and niece teamed up to destroy my vow of no kindling.  They gave me my very own little Kindle.   I don't really think that was their motive, but there you have it. 

And I was delighted.   I would never ever ever ever buy one for myself (really) but hey, how could I say no to a GIFT.  So the minute I got home I forced myself to turn it on and download my info and start reading.  Well... maybe it didn't happen that fast, but the truth isn't too far from that. 

See the really big exciting thing is that you can get books free--or very low cost.  I'm a picky reader.  There are things I like and things I don't.  Usually if it's a 'popular to the masses' book I don't even bother anymore because I find them dull.  With the Kindle I can hop and shop around, try many, many authors and books on a myriad of subjects.

There was a problem though.  I hated holding that slim little gadget in my hands.  It was awkward and certainly did not feel right.  Then there was the issue of reading at night after I got into bed.  Once upon a time I could read all night, but now, I'm lucky if I last a half hour....and I don't nod off gracefully.  I (usually) end up dozing off and invariably throw the book up in the air, or occasionally let it slide off the bed to the floor.  Real books don't break....Kindles do, so I was uneasy about that.

It probably would have been easier to buy a Kindle cover, but hey, that would be too simple (and expensive), so I thought and thought and decided to make one. First I tried to hollow out an old blank journal book and that took forever and was awful looking.  For take two I found an old leather look vinyl Journal cover (that you could slide the paper tablets into), which was absolutely the perfect size.  It also had a slide in tab flap you could close it with.  I removed the paper, bought some small black elastic, rummaged around and found a nice piece of gold colored corduroy and some fabric glue and was ready to assemble.  It actually went together pretty smooth and when I was done, I had a thin nice looking case for my Kindle.  It looks homemade when you look close, but it's durable and I like it.   I slipped the Kindle into the four pieces of elastic on the corners and there it has stayed since.  Now I have the feel of a book when I'm reading and the Kindle is protected from 'the elements' of day to day life. (cats)

As I've mentioned I love the fact of having unlimited access to various authors and books.  Plus it is easy to slip it in my purse and carry with me.   I  have the paper white (I think that is right) version so it is like reading a book and not a computer screen, and I really appreciate that.  There is also the anticipation of finding a 'new' author that I will really love. 

And that thing stays charged up forever, unlike the usual three hours for the laptop.  I mean days and days. 

There are some things I don't like about it as well.  I still find it awkward to read--because even though it has a percentage read bar it still isn't like holding a book and visually being able to see how much is left of the book--always an exciting thing.  I still struggle with this aspect of it and the small page size bothers me.

My biggest dislike though is that there are allot of people out there who really really should not be publishing their work.  They are considered 'indie publishers'.   Some really can't write --even if they have a great idea--but many of them just need a good proofreader and don't even bother to have that done.  Some of them are truly atrocious.  I'm not a terrible stickler for everything being all proper sentence structure, but it does bother me to see misspelled words and improper usage of words.   I also get royally ticked off if they haven't done their research or they lose the continuity of key story lines and end up contradicting themselves.  And you really can't decide much based on reviews.  Sometimes I'm wondering if we are reading the same stuff.   At times it can be hard to wade through the 100s of books listed to find something that appeals.   Many authors let you read a sample though and I've started doing that before deciding to spend time on reading the whole thing.  I've deleted many --but hey, easy come easy go.

I'll never give up my books.   I still like the visual and the feel of 'real' books, but the Kindle has become a handy little tool in my voracious book reading habit.

Thanks T & T for dragging me kicking and screaming into the 'modern' world.


  

Cooking Away

I've been using my new stove allot this long, long, long winter.   I love it.  It doesn't look quite as shiny and new anymore, but oh, how she cooks!

Bread, pizzas, desserts, casseroles....oh my......

Country White Bread

Chicken Noodle Casserole with a bit of sour cream added....ooooolala....

Bacon-Chicken-Ranch Pizza!

More Bacon-Chicken-Ranch Pizza--Personal Pan Size

Yum

I've been using my bread machine to make dough for two loaves of bread a week and then baking it in the oven.   Rotating half wheat/half white and 'Country White' to keep it interesting.  The pizzas were made in my cast iron skillets--two personal pan size and one eight inch.  Getting re-acquainted with cast iron cooking--it's a bit of a learning curve but so far so good.    I share the eats with my folks, since it's pretty hard to cook for just one.

Come summer there won't be as much cookin' going on I'm sure but it's fun while it lasts!   

Winter's Last Gasp....

...or is it?    This wicked winter clings on with long boney icy fingers.  I think everyone is tired of it.

Although I admire a good fire, by this time of the year it's getting old. 

Saturday we had the most pleasant of days.  Almost 70 with sunshine.  I worked at preparing garden beds, and the dreaded chore of cleaning out the inside stove pipes again.

Here I sat basking in the sun just the day before....

I let the sheep out on the front for a brief time for their first taste of grass and freedom since last fall.  They look as I feel--dirty, dingy with strings of wool trailing about and overgrown toenails.  Well, maybe not the trailing wool or overgrown toenails for me...   Ready to throw off the ill used trappings of this long season.  For the sheep that will come in mid-April on shearing day.  For me, I'm already thinking about packing away the winter togs, but know it is not reasonable yet.  

These Grackles & Blackbirds (plus a hundred or so Robins) were caught by the nasty turn in the weather

The weather prediction for Sunday was not bright and sunny, so I hauled in extra wood on Saturday 'just in case'.  I fired up the stove again late Saturday afternoon and admired it's clean bright flame....hoping that soon it would not be needed.

The Sheep huddled in their barn avoiding the sleet and high winds

Saturday night a storm came blowing in.  It rained and the wind blew and as morning dawned the rain started to freeze a little around the edges, then the sleet came in blowing sideways.  The wind would knock your breath away and drive the sleet pellets into your face.  It was nasty.  The roads got pretty slick for awhile before the snow came.  The temperatures hovered in the 20s for the day and the snow fell steady until late afternoon.   The night bottomed out with temperatures in the teens and the whole mess of it was literally a slap in the face.

I think Ashley's face says it all regarding her opinion of the weather! 

Since we had such a warm day on Saturday the snow didn't stick to the roads or paths and quickly melted the next day except for a few lingering patches in the shade.

Carly preparing to sass me, the weather and the world

This week promises to be nice---a dip in temperatures for Wednesday but only in the 'normal' range.  The rain that fell has the grass already greening up and trying to grow.  The sheep are anxious for grass  and we'd all be happy if we were done with feeding hay.  

Minty (always) poses pretty for the camera

Spring is upon us.  Isn't it?

Sage says ho..hum...what happened to our warm sunny catio days?

Yes, bud, I feel exactly this way about it too....

Hope the weather is stabilizing wherever you may be!

Happy Third Birthday Puppies!

Exhausted  new little family (Minty in the middle & Carly to the front right)

Three years old today.   Four little girl puppies made their appearance throughout that long long day.  Minty and Carly were the last two and were born within a half hour of each other.  Their sisters were hours older than they and Ashley was worn out.   

How the time has flown --my little puppies are already three years old, their mommy eight.  I didn't need three collies but they have blessed my life everyday.  All three different in their quirks and personalities but all three loving and devoted.  Smart as whips, but sometimes deaf, they keep me on my toes.  They make me laugh and smile and sometimes drive me a little crazy with their antics. 

I wouldn't have missed living in a collie pack for anything.  Happy birthday Puppies and Momma too!  (Hamburgers all around tonight!)

Learning to walk--Tempe supervising (Carly and Minty on the right)

Pile of puppies and kitties too...

  

Carly & Minty doing what they still do best--playing tug of war

Fuzzy little puppers

Minty, Numy (their sister), Ashley & Carly

Opening presenters from a fellow blogger

Sisters

Carly & Tempe laying on the cat beds

 

Ashley (left) & 'baby' Carly

Beautiful Momma Ashley

Minty (and stick)

Carly

 

My companions--spending a cold winters day surrounding their person

Merry Christmas!

Minty says Merry Collie Christmas!

 Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!   I had stories to tell and pictures to post, but time ran away from me.   So here are a few pictures of our ice storm---which thankfully didn't cause much damage and no power outages and was outstandingly beautiful.  The trees were quite festive for the Christmas season and with the cold temperatures the ice has stuck around.  

If you'd like to read a couple of cute stories you can go to my sister's blog, Ruralhood and see a picture of me in my go-go boots and short short dress!   She has posted a couple of childhood stories, and I'm the little sister in the first one.  You decide--was it Santa or the Frisky the Cat?

Have a great day!

Mid November

Morning Sun through the Maples

Our glorious autumn is finally winding down and even though she was beautiful and generous in her beauty and time with us, still I wish for more.  

Now it's cold.  Really cold at nights.   The leaves have mostly been blown away to Kingdom Come and only a few stubborn mums cling to color.   Soon the grass will fade to it's winter brown  and winter will have arrived.  Bummer.

On the bright side this year the barn is filled with good hay and the sheep are relishing some free pumpkins.  They still find a blade or two of grass and have feasted on leaves.  We've made it nearly half way through November and still they are not on full winter hay rations.

Soon I hope my wood guy will get my wood supply delivered and then perhaps while I'm never willing for winter to come at least I will be somewhat ready.  I reckon.

I'll finish with a 'few' pictures of the past month.

Hope you are all well and enjoying the days before winter.  

Last brilliant display from my hard maple tree

 
 

It was hard to get anything done for looking at all the lavish color displays

My new stove--delivered today!  The (really, really) old one died.  This one has four burners that work and an oven that works!  Happy early birthday to me!   Isn't she pretty?  I shall call her Pinto. 

Minty wanted to dress up as an Afghan Hound for Halloween.  What do you think?

Collie in the Woods.  Ashley smirking because she is the only one that can be trusted off leash in the woods.

Carly struttin' her stuff.  And she sure do like to strut.

One of my no-kill Shetland rugs.  This one is produced by sweet Ranger and needs to be listed on Etsy very soon. 

Oh yeah.  Here we go again.  This beautiful Coon Hound showed up this past weekend.   I'm sure  belongs to a hunter--and is wearing a collar, we are seeking the owner.  (Such a marvelous deep voice). 

Updates

It's October.  I've built my first fire.  I'm working on the 'getting ready for Winter' list and am making some progress.  We haven't had a frost yet, but it's been pretty close and I expect this week it'll happen.  I have a bunch of nice looking green tomatoes, which I am going to pick tonight.  

Early Morning at the Lake

Sadly vacation has come and gone (sob...).  The weather was absolutely wonderful.  I spent one day and two nights staring at the Lake and doing nothing.  Then I came home and worked--but at my own pace on my own things.  The dogs loved me being home...the cats, I'm not so sure.

Sweet Milo looking happy in his new home

The bestest news is that the Little Grey Dog/Freddy now Milo has found a wonderful home.  He has become a member of a family who loves him already and say he is the sweetest thing.  He has a doggy brother named Chet who matches him in size and they have allot of fun together!   And Milo's new Mom has been kind enough to email me and let me know how he is doing.  I'm so happy for this little guy and my heart feels much more peaceful as I realize I was just a part of a bigger plan to get him to a family that needed him. A special little dog for a special home.  (and doesn't he look great?)

Milo (front) and his new doggy brother Chet

However....I hope that I'm done for awhile.  This stuff really wrings me out. I fear though that things are only going to get worse.  Our only 'local' animal shelter has pretty much been shut down, (not enough money, dontcha know) so now I suspect there will be even more dumping.

There does seem to be some sort of magnet attached to me...or my house...or my vehicle.  While at the Lake, on the last evening there, I thought I heard a cat meow....and when I walked into the room with the patio door (which was open) there stood a rather defiant ginger tomcat.  He hissed and meowed and hissed.  So I got him something to eat.  He hung out with me on the deck that evening--in a strictly no pets resort--and was there the next morning.  He finally left just before I packed up.  I'm sure he belonged to someone, as he wasn't skinny.  Typical intact tomcat with battle scars and attitude and a soft side.  At one point as we were companionably hanging out on the deck, I waved my arms around and said to the cat, --do you see all these decks?  do you see any cats on any of these other decks??   He just looked at me and blinked. 

Lake Cat (yes he looks like Noah, but it wasn't...really)

Today as I sat here at my desk at work, one of my co-workers shouts at me from the other room--'hey, is that your cat?'  Whaaa..where?  'There is a cat out there walking around under you truck, is he yours'?  Uh, no...no he isn't.  But by golly he was just circling my truck, sniffing and having a good old time.  And when he was done,  he was done, and didn't give a glance to anybody else vehicle as he sauntered off.  Now tell me why?  It's not like I have cats running amok out where I park my truck at night......but, yet, something was fascinating for him. Was this big ginger tomcat with long hair, looking for that secret symbol?

These two boys I was able to walk away from, they didn't need my help.  But, well, Johnny, he was a different story.  He deserves his own post but with my recent track record I better just tell his story and be done with it--so here's what happened....

One evening during vacation as I went out to  fasten up the chickens and do sheep chores, there was Buford  just sitting there by the chicken pen.   While it isn't unusual for him to stop by, he usually is on the move and mouthing off the whole time.  (If you don't remember who Buford is, he is a traveling black tomcat who shows up periodically to bum a meal (from my Mom--she feeds 'em the good stuff).  But there he sat...quietly staring.  Since he rarely stops by, I went to get him a can of cat food and have a little visit.  I fixed him a little flat place to eat and dumped half a can.  While this was going on, in the back of my mind I wondered why Buford had started growling.....  Well, it wasn't Buford.  As I stooped to put down the food, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that made my blood run cold.   

To go backward here a little, back in the summer a calico cat appeared.  She was a thin lanky thing, and you couldn't get within a mile of her.  We (my Mom and I) would have helped her--at least gotten her spayed and given her some good meals, but she was wild with no clear feeding habits.  I'd see her periodically off in the distance, always with a sense of dread.   I haven't seen her now for awhile, so she has either perished or moved on poor thing.

So when I saw that 'something' out of the corner of my eye, what I saw (in my lightening quick worst case scenario mind) was the leg and tail of a calico cat inside the little igloo in the chicken pen.  A calico-cat with kittens.  

It wasn't though.  I went in the chicken pen, closed the door to keep Buford out and stooped down to see what was what.  The cat inside the igloo howled and yowled, hissed and growled but finally came staggering out when I waved the remainder of the can of catfood around.  Poor kitty.  Poor skinny kitty that was scared out of his mind.   He wolfed down the food and I went and got him more.  I closed up the pen for the night and figured I'd deal with it all in the morning.  Buford was horrified that I was helping this intruder, and (eventually) stalked off in a huff. 

Poor Skinny run down Johnny Cat

In the morning Johnny-cat was limping badly and I was sure he had an abscess on his hind leg.  He hissed and growled at me while at the same time craved pets.  I had thought I would open the cage and let him go and see what happened, but when I saw him in the light of day--skinny, crippled and obviously with no intent of leaving his little island of calm, I decided to get him to the vet.  And since he was going to the vet, I'd just have him neutered at the same time. 

Johnny cat scarfing down food--skinny and depressed

So the next day that is what happened.   Only he didn't have an abscess.  The vet thinks he has an old injury and his hock has limited mobility.   Johnny came home from the vet one sad sick pup-uh-kitty.   It took him a few days to get up a good appetite and quit growling and hissing at me.  He never at any time offered to scratch or bite, but he put up a big show.  In fact he was a big love bug.  In the meantime I listed him on a few lost and found sites, with no responses. While he was at the vet I had him scanned for a microchip--even though they all thought that was a hoot.  In this area it's hard to get anyone to chip their dog let alone a mere cat.   

Top view of skinny cat

 I emailed a friend (hi old buddy, old pal) asking her is she was interested in a farm cat.  They lost (as in vanished--probably stolen) their beagle this summer and he was determined to keep cats off the place.  Now with Goober gone, maybe she would be open to a cat.  I didn't have much hope.   As the days went by with no response, I tried to figure out my next move.  Worst case he could hang around --I'd feed him and he would be terrorized by Buford and probably end up dead on the road eventually.   But I hoped it wouldn't come to that.   I don't need any more cats, at all.   

Skinny now, but you can see he is a gorgeous boy

He was such a sweetie and as the days went by he started to put on weight and relaxed--he was happy where he was and no thanks, he didn't want to venture out!  I feel like he was a big pet at some point, but either he wandered too far and got lost or equally likely he just got to be nuisance and got dumped off. 

Johnny Cat a week later.  Feeling fine and looking good.  (Those are shadows on his nose not scratches)

This is one of the most gorgeous cats I've ever seen.  His markings are stunning.  He will be a big cat once he fills out.  His hock seems fine too-no limps now, although there was a spot that opened up on his inside upper thigh...so I think he probably did have an abscess after all. 

Nearly impossible to get a picture of since he just wanted to rub on me and be petted--but isn't he pretty?

Johnny went to his new home Saturday.  All fixed up--neutered and vaccinated and with a few extra pounds added.  My friend was tickled to have him and we set him up in her dis-used chicken house.  She will feed him and he has his bed in there and will stay in there four or five days and then she will let him out to see how he adjusts.  I'm praying he just stays put.  He'll have a great home.  They aren't silly syrupy about their animals like I am, but he will have a good solid home.  Food and attention and lots and lots of hunting ground.   They have outbuildings and fields and live well back from a gravel road that isn't highly traveled.  I took probably a months supply of food so he'd keep gaining weight for winter.

A week later and gaining!

I pray that it works out.  He is such a sweetie and was so good about riding in the crate over there.   Animals are so vulnerable to our whims and even though I know I'm trying to do my best by him, I felt guilty.   Hopefully he will be calm and not bolt and he will live long and prosper.

I hope.  I'm wrung out. 

That is it for now.  I've got more pictures and more updates and can only hope I'll be motivated to get 'em up.

Hope you are all doing well out there!

 

It's been a long cold winter--all two nights of it... (clockwise starting upper left--Meshach, Gabe, Sage, Chaco & Noah)