Almanac

Mom, this is your Christmas cactus that I have had since I still lived home
It is really outdoing itself this winter!

Though we go deeper into January day-by-day, there are signs if scant, that times may change quite soon.

This morning the scent of Pepe le Pew floated on the early breeze. Time to start making sure the dogs are always leashed....although they pretty much are anyhow. Between Mack's tendencies to chase bulls and kill chickens, he surely can't be free, and Finn's recall leaves something to be desired....like maybe him actually coming when you call him.

Anyhow....

Tis the season of love for the smelly little weasel allies, therefore they, frankly, stink. They do have a pretty fascinating reproductive cycle though.

Soon many of our local raptors will be laying eggs and hatching chicks. Just this morning the darker of the two local Red-tailed Hawks crouched in a Cottonwood Tree between here and the river as a half a dozen American Crows screamed stridently and dive bombed its perch. Eventually it flew off to the other side of the valley to another Cottonwood, where hopefully the crows got bored and left it alone. We have had Red-tails nesting here since I met the boss, over thirty years ago, even when the nest trees went down and they had to choose new ones. When they are not actually eating chickens we much enjoy them.

This winter the little brook between the farms is tinkling cheerfully whenever I walk that way. Some Januaries it roars like a thousand lions, while others it is either dry completely or locked down in ice and therefore soundless. It never fails to surprise and entertain me when I hear it. Not so much so though, back in the days when it sometimes took out the entire bridge between the house and cow barn. Then the tanker couldn't get in very well and we had to drive a truck between the buildings, down to the road and back up again, to get over for chores and back. You realize just how often a dairy farmer goes to the barn when something like that happens. Nice to have the bridge in solid working order...even if there is only one beef bull over there to feed and water each day.

Anyhow, it was nice in a way to smell that skunk this morning....at least a little bit..... a gentle warning that better days are coming, even if it was in an olfactory message rather than fine print.