Winter returns

Winter was back Sunday morning. It was 18°F with a dusting of snow.

A dusting of snow on a cold Sunday morning

There were even tiny little icicles on the tiny Little Red Hen Barn.

Tiny little icicles on the tiny Little Red Hen Barn

Nadia finally has feathers! They’re not fully out yet, but she does look less like porcupine.

Nadia's head is looking more normal

We’ve had some trouble with Gracie and Nadia knocking over their food and water. I haven’t figured out what to do inside the Little Red Hen Barn, but outside I can bungee-cord them to the hardware cloth. Terry happily provided me with a couple of 2 x 2 blocks to keep them straight while in bondage.

How to keep feeders from tipping over

And yes, the water is yellow. Last Monday, I had dinner with Dr. Chris, my veterinarian friend, who confirmed my diagnosis about vitamin deficiency in Bella. Why I didn’t think to ask her about it at the time, I can’t imagine. Sometimes I just can’t connect the appropriate dots. Anyway, we discussed the pros and cons of continuing dosing Bella once a week vs. vitamin supplements in the water for everyone. She said either would be fine. It turned out that Hilda and I had trouble remembering to give Bella her medicine, so Hilda picked up the vitamins for the water midweek. Hence the yellow water.

Such a week I had last week. In addition to dinner with Dr. Chris, I had meetings on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I was most grateful when Hilda offered to share fried chicken, potato salad, and baked beans Wednesday night. Just as she was making her delivery, I was getting a bottle of wine from the spare fridge. “Must be spring,” I said. “There are bags of sticks in the refrigerator.”

Grafting scions, not sticks

Terry, who was in the bathroom and was not supposed to be listening, yelled, “Those are grafting scions!”

So as it turns out, he can hear quite well when he puts his mind to it.