This and That

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.  I am still here and doing well.  I do confess to being a very bad convalescent, which leaves me feeling grumpy and useless with little to say.  Little that anyone might want to hear at least.

Still, life goes on and there are things happening on the farm.

The small white chick (who is not so small anymore) has gone to a new home.

This was planned from the start, as the friend who gave the chickens to me wanted him to grow up with his mom, but another friend wanted a rooster.  Now that he thinks he is too grown up to have a mom, the white chick has moved on to a new flock.  I can't say anyone is sad to see him go as the hens (except Mom) all hated him and were rather unkind to him.  That is the way of chickens.

The beehives seem to be doing well.  Both hives have had a large population boost and their numbers seem to be growing steadily, as they should.  Hopefully, they will be strong enough to make it through the winter.

I have figured out where the grass carp like to hang out in the pond and I have been seeing them more regularly.  If I sneak up on them slowly, I can watch them and they are very interesting.  There is a group of 4 that almost always hang out together while the other two go off and do their own thing. Sometimes they mingle and break off into ones or twos, but usually the Fabulous Four stick together.

I have always felt that the intelligence of fish is greatly underrated and I find their behavior fascinating to watch.  My dentist office has a number of very large aquariums with several species of fish in them.  The way they interact with each other and the people who come near them is fascinating.  I sometimes even look forward to visiting the dentist just so I can see what the fish are up to.  I confess too that I always shudder when I see fish bowls, they seem such a small, deprived existence for creatures who are so obviously curios.

The hay sheds are all full of hay thanks to a new hay supplier who not only delivered hay, but brought helpers along and stacked it for me since I can't do it right now.  Kind of amazing and a bit disconcerting to have hay show up in the barn with no help from me - aside from writing the rather hefty checks.  Quite a novelty.

Tessa and the donkeys are doing well, although they are unhappy with the strict diet they are all on.  A barn full of hay and grass everywhere and they are stuck eating last year's low sugar hay.  Life is very unfair.

The friends who gave me the chickens have listed their farm for sale.  The listing can be found here just in case anyone out in blogland might be looking for a beautiful, organic and historic farm nestled in the hills of central NY.  They are about 20 miles from here and a whole growing season warmer than it is here on my hill!