Day 247 of 365
Today was the day Boudica finally “accidentally on purpose” almost hurt Bairre. Ron was outside playing with them in the snow, and then they started playing with each other, which is great because Boudica will not play as much as Bairre would like. He’s like an annoying little brother who bothers her too much. Anyway, Ron said Boudica ran at Bairre more than a little too hard. She rolled him! Poor Bairre. Of course, poor Boudica too. Since Bairre has taken ownership of Ron, I try to make sure Boudica remembers our bond and knows I treasure it. Thankfully, Bairre is just fine. He’s a tough puppy and getting to be a pretty big boy. He’s lanky still, but he’s getting so big.
Later, when I went outside to see them, I asked Boudica if she “accidentally on purpose tried to kill Bairre.” Her face is very expressive. She looked at Bairre and then back to me, and I swear she looked at me with the guiltiest face ever!
It was very cold today, much colder than the weather had anticipated (as an aside, I love the way we say “the weather,” and everyone knows what you mean–“Who told you about the weather?” “The weather.”), and Ruby insisted on staying outside all day. I tried and tried to coax her into the coop, but she was like “I can’t do that, Crystal. I don’t like those people.” So I just brought her treats several times and made sure she had straw and food and water.
Just now, as I was writing, I thought I heard a rooster crow, so I went to check on the chickens. Everything was fine, but I heard Rooster sneeze. He was doing so, so much better. I was going to write about how I thought he was on the mend, but I guess this very cold weather was hard on him. I am sad about this. If it gets this cold again, Ron will put a very safe to the touch heater in the coop to take the edge of off the cold for Rooster. It’s generally not necessary to heat a coop, even in Maine, but when you have a sick, old Rooster, you figure something out. We use an oil based heater, which is much safer than a heat lamp, and on top of that, just to be safe, Ron build a cage to go around the heater.
In better news, I noticed tonight that in the last three days, every single meal we have eaten has come almost completely from our little farm, which is a good thing because groceries are worrisome. I haven’t been to the grocery store in about 2 and 1/2 weeks, and the things we get, like organic flour and milk and the coffee and the cat food are so expensive. It’s such a worry for everyone, and we are so fortunate to raise most of our food. I wish everyone who wanted to grow their own food had the time and resources to do so. It helps a lot. Hopefully, Farmer-ish can help a little.
Farmer-ish 