~ THEN THERE WERE SIX~

 What began as a lovely March day...sunshine...snow melting...continued sunshine...lunch with family...Travis catching 40 winks on the return drive home...radio on...car window cracked...fresh air... note... local Dairy Queen  open for the season...perhaps a good  afternoon for the "girls" to stretch their legs...  locate a blade of grass...find a bit of dirt...good mental health weather...

After pulling into the driveway... while Travis slumbered... I headed to the coop...mercy me...what I encountered was beyond belief...a hawk...a large...no... huge hawk had made it's way into the coop...yes...inside the coop...as I neared...the hawk flew out of the  hen door ... up between the roof netting and off across the field...tragically... the remains of a massacred  hen  lay before me...Rosie, a prized egg layer and pet...I stood there momentarily dumbfounded...soon realizing I needed to find out the well being of my remaining flock... but... afraid of what I might discover...were they slaughtered too? ...thankfully... huddled together  in a corner...traumatized...but safe... six  hens...six ladies with all their feathers and toes were accounted for...

Sometimes life at Dog Trot Farm is a little too close to the Wild Kingdom.....I fear this saga has just begun...hold on girls it's going to be a bumpy ride....  

~MY APRON STRINGS~

As the March wind blows the sun peaks in and out among the clouds... today the temperature nears fifty degrees.. snow is melting...there is a slight but noticeable change to the morning... stepping outdoors...I close my eyes and tilt my face toward the sun... a bit of warmth can be felt...songbirds sing...daylight has lengthened... there is  new found energy all around...winter's grasp is slowly letting go...

also letting go are my apron strings... now, I do realize that the men folk in my family will not be too happy with me...but, you see...winter has been long...very long...and those long snowy winter days put me in a baking mode...but unfortunately for me... I also love to consume what I bake...I come by it honestly... I grew up in a family who love their sweets...some of us can manage this sweet indulgence...while others go amok.. I go amok...so for now...temporarily... there will be no sweets coming from this girl's kitchen...no cookies, no cakes, no brownies, no pies...and when my favorite little one says "granny I've come to steal a cookie"... I'll lovingly hand him an Oreo and leave it at that.~

~SPRING THOUGHTS~

"Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle...a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream."

~Barbara Winkler~

 Here in New England we remain buried under a sea of white... spring is but a tease and remains firmly out of our grasp...but we dream...we dream of those warm dewy days and starry nights... where the peeper's song serenades us... blooms open...the air fragrant...a lingering scent...

 

until then...I hook tulips...