Sleepy sunny day with guest

Shout out from our guest, Miss Bonnie, to her mom, Miss Julie: 

"We know you had a lot of fun in Maine, but why did you have to tell them about my affinity for horse dookie? I love you anyway. And I miss you. Happy Birthday Mom! Pooch smooches, Miss B."

The Peters and their sleepy pets wish you a big happy as well.

Goodbye snow!

I love when the sun makes the creek glow.

It is not unusual for us to still have snow on the ground in March, in fact we had the biggest snowstorm since we've been up here on March 14, 2017, but after 2 days of warmth and sun, the beautiful brown grass is back again.

Stella and a curious newborn

The Husband has been outside being the farmer tending to his goats. With only a bit of help from me, we've been busy birthing babies. All of them (so far) have the half ears from their dad, a LaMancha, even though their moms all have big ears. About half of them also inherited dad's black color, although some of their moms are black and white like their kids.

The "Blood Moon" occurs when the sun, earth and moon are perfectly aligned and the earth's shadow turns the moon a very earthy red color. I didn't realize that it was only supposed to begin at 1 am. My favorite alarm clock, Jessie, woke me to go out at 12:30 am. I could not get back to sleep after letting her out, so I came out in my PJs to watch the eclipse, which didn't actually fully take place until almost 2:30 am.

None of the pictures showed the true colors of the blood moon, but it was fascinating to watch...until my fingers got too cold to take any more bad pics. Lots of pretty stars though!

1:53 am

2:22 am

Music and birds and kids

I went with the Hub to a bluegrassy kinda jam at Council Rock Brewery a week or so ago. Since I was not a jammer, I was pleased to have one of my Jersey cousins magically show up with her hub and 2 friends.

I was all set to post this (not great) pic of a red-winged blackbird 2 days ago. They showed up on the same day the green grass reappeared, and I wanted to celebrate the first signs of spring. Too late...the snow and ice and too much wind are back again.

Now for the good news—our first 2 kids were born this morning. As we borrowed Black Bart (a LaMancha buck) for only a few weeks, this was the first time that we could actually predict when the kidding would begin.

These 2 kids look just like their dad—mostly black with the little gopher ears of that breed. Our females are a mix of colors, a lot of them white like Rainbow here, and all of them have big ole goat ears. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the kids look like.

Even more wind and snow, no blue

Two tufted titmouses,
one black-capped chickadee

The Adirondack chairs and the bench are disappearing. The fire pit has been gone for weeks. The BirdBuddy is still busy, but the birds have to hang onto it for dear life...kinda like the Tilt-A-Whirl without the seatbelts.

All the inside beings are warm and cozy. It is such a blessing to be retired and not have to worry about venturing out into the snowy wilderness.

Monkey and Martin are still figuring out how to be best buds. That last pic may look like a peaceful chat between the bros, but the thought balloon above Monkey would say "try that again and I will smack you down again". The fur goes flying now and then.

The only one without cabin fever is Jessie. She is outside by choice, since this morning, and even now it is only 19° with winds up to 46 mph. At least she is on the porch, but she still gets a coating of snow with all the wind.

I can only try so many times to bring her in.

Wind and blue

For all my complaints about gray skies, now we have plenty of blue skies—but they come with too much wind. Poor Jessie isn't comfortable with the noise inside or out. She's just not happy. I am talking to the vet about what I can do for her.

Cyrus is happy inside and out. Rolling in the snow is one of his favorite things to do. And Monkey is happy with the peace and quiet inside. (What noise?)

The birds don't care about the weather, just the food—although sometimes it's tough to hang onto a swaying BirdBuddy.

Katzenbirds

It was hard to find a good BirdBuddy photo with a blue sky in the background. There has been a constant few inches of snow on the ground for weeks now, with gray skies, wind, and flurries to top it off.

I had to go back to January 3 to get this photo of a white-breasted nuthatch. He usually sneaks off before the camera can catch him, but this time he struck a pose AND there was a blue sky.

Martin and Monkey truly love watching the birds at the bird feeder right outside the window. It's better than a video for cats because it never ends...until it gets dark dark or when I forget to fill the feeder with sunflower seed.

These boys are still working out their friendship, but I am sure they will make it work soon enough.

New Jessie, BirdBuddy and cat buddies

Jessie has been reliably coming in in the mornings and evenings for a while now. She sleeps overnight in the cozy spot on the floor next to our bed. 

She also reliably wakes me up at 5:45 am to go out for a pee, but the new Jessie comes back in and stays in the house until about 12:30. That’s a big deal!

And yet she still insists on shivering out there on nasty, cold, windy, snowy days like today, until I convince her to come in when it gets dark and she gets hungry. 

The BirdBuddy has a hard time getting good pics on days like today when the birds have a hard time hanging on long enough to catch a seed or 2. That was a white-breasted nuthatch who succeeded. 

Monkey and Martin are getting better at being buddies. They still have a boxing match at least once a day, but then they act like BFFs. 

And the last pic is what happens when I spend too long writing a post. Even in his sleep, Martin tries to get my attention away from the phone (which was in that hand).

Happy New Year!

I didn’t manage to write a Christmas post, so here’s one for New Year’s Eve. 

The barking Keith Haring sign was one of my gifts to The Husband. It was meant for the Music Cave in the basement, but for now it’s doing double duty as a Christmas decoration.

We are headed out to dinner with Julie and Tom. Most likely we will succeed in getting to bed by 10 pm, our New Year’s Eve tradition.

Wishing you all a peaceful happy healthy and wonderful new year!

Christmas helper and Morrissey's Pub

Adding his freshly bathed (in the kitchen sink) mousie to a gift bag

Writing every card with me

My little Christmas elf, Mr. Martin, is responsible for the lack of ornaments (and a tree!) in the house. Trying to make up for his evil ways, he is helping me wrap every present and write every card. He is especially helpful when chewing on the pen I am writing with.

If you received a card (with messy handwriting), you would know that on the front was a photo of the pub and former grocer in my Granny's hometown in Ireland. Husband and I had a great time at the old homestead catching up with my cousins. Tony and Rose served an excellent dinner and there were plenty of stories from them, and Geraldine and Donal, and Liam and Mary. After dinner, we went to the pub for more stories and a few pints. 

We had too much fun there as well, so I sent Morrissey's a card. I was quite pleased when they responded with an email or 2, showing the pub all decorated for the holidays, AND my card behind the bar. It was appropriately draped over some Guinness bottles.

Ho Ho Ho! Christmas is coming!

A nice dusting of snow yesterday made our porch tree look even prettier. The warmer temps today melted the snow and also the ice that was supposed to be water for the tree.

The little Monster of Mayhem (the reason the tree is outside this year) is resting comfortably in the sun today. He pretty much ended any attempts at decorating inside. The only bit that survived is the Christmas lights on the windows. They might have to go outside as well—he stands on the back of the sofa and pulls them off the windows. At least he has not (yet) discovered the cord that is plugged in behind the green chair.

He did discover (and destroy) the one poinsettia on the windowsill behind the kitchen sink that he likes to play in. That's what I get for washing the dirty dishes that were in his way before.

Ho Ho Ho!

Christmas spirit

Christ Church, Episcopal

The Voices of Cooperstown, at Christ Church

The Husband had to do some serious convincing to get me out of the house and into the spirit of Christmas. This was not so much because of my recent sour mood, more because the 2 latest indoor pets have made life...more interesting. And made me more tired.

I was afraid to put a live tree in the house as I have done every year for the past 40 years or so. Martin the Master of Mayhem would not only take care of any dangling ornaments, but he also has a fondness for electrical cords—especially the ones that are plugged in.

So the poor little Charlie Brown tree is banished to the back porch. Maybe I will get some ornaments on there today. Even with just the lights on it is perfect, but I am not sure how to keep it happily watered when it is this cold.

After more than a year of living here, Miss Jess is just starting to get used to coming in the house willingly. She will (still wake me up at 5:45 am) to go out in the morning, but she is just starting to run back up on the porch to come in, probably because it is so stinkin' cold out there. I need to see her through that back porch window, which would be blocked by the tree inside.

So thanks to Husband for getting me out to hear some beautiful music. We joined the other old folks (and maybe a youngster or 3) in 2 very spirited locations to soak up some Christmas joy.

No more ranting. I promise.

The Fenimore Chamber Orchestra at the Farmer's Museum