Spring has arrived here at Hobbit Hill. The snow banks are slowly melting, the pathways are clear and the birds & bunnies are out exploring. I swear they have giant smiles on their faces after the extremely long winter we had! The ducks are bathing in the big puddles, gobbling soggy acorns and leaving muddy footprints on the leftover grainy snow. The bunnies are sunbathing sprawled on the hay, coming to sniff what treats I bring them. Chickens and guinea hens are scratching any bare area they can find.
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| Donald, Delilah, April, May and June (Daisy is missing as she was laying an egg) |
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| Maisy & Hazel |
Tonight as I went upstairs with the kids to get them ready for showers, we looked out B's window to see two brown rats trying to barge in on feeding time in the paddock. The ducks kept stretching out their necks to shoo them away. They'd run and then turn around and run back towards the food. I hollered for my husband to come see. The whole family gathered at the window and stood in horror as we watched the rats and immediately imagined them taking over. After a quick read on wild rats, learning they can reproduce every twenty one days, my brain began fearing that these two rats will turn Hobbit Hill into their new colony. We'll have to see what happens over the next few days and figure out how we will rid our little barn of these unwanted guests.
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| Roo |
We lost our favorite rooster this winter. On one of the semi-warm days that we let the birds out for a bit, he disappeared. Roo was our first rooster and had so much character. We have 3 other roosters that mostly get along with each other. The largest one, Hans, is now the official Patriarch of the flock. I suspect we will have a lot more babies this summer, which is always fun. We sold a dozen of our chickens over the winter so we didn't have to feed so many mouths, knowing we will most likely have more babies if last summer is any indication.
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| Fernando |
Last week we lost our gecko, Fernando. He got a tumor on his head and became very sick. His body tried to fight it but he lost the struggle. We have no idea how old he was as we bought him 15 months ago off of a fb yardsale site. It was always interesting to watch him stalk crickets and munch on worms. I will admit after the kids were bit by him, numerous visiting kids were bit by him, we didn't handle him much after that. He was definitely a high maintenance pet. We have all stated we will not be getting a lizard again.
We have turned the point...spring is definitely here. I can smell it and feel it, as do all the animals. The feeling of cabin fever has left this house. We are patiently waiting for the deep snow to continue melting, praising the massive amounts of mud appearing in the driveway and pondering the artifacts that appear in the yard as the white stuff fades. For a brief moment, while filling up water buckets at the outside faucet (something I haven't been able to do in months) today, I could hear birds chirping in the trees. I closed my eyes as the sun warmed my face and I could imagine summer and bliss took over for a moment. I finally feel like I'm coming alive again.
