every day is a good day
You’d never think these eggs came from the same species of bird. The one on the left looks like a fairly normal chicken egg. The one on the right? What is it? The egg of a stork? It certainly doesn’t look like a chicken egg … and yet it is.
Looking at chicken eggs in the store, you would never know how varied they are. They come in infinite shapes, sizes, and colors. That’s what makes having your own flock of chickens such a joy, chicken eggs in all their glorious variety.
It’s a great time to be a fern. The weather is cool and wet, the sun is weak, they can let their leaves breathe in the moist air without worrying about drying out or getting burnt by the sun. Their moss beds stay soft and fluffy day and night. This time of year, the forest belongs to the ferns and their mossy beds.
Yesterday, I heard Nina’s chicks peeping underneath her. Soft, happy peeps of chicks drying their wet feathers under their mother’s warm feathers.
Today, I saw two of them. Here is one. The other one snuggled underneath her before I could take it’s picture. It’s not unusual for a hen to hatch chicks in December. The past few years, I’ve had at least one hen raise a clutch in winter. Luckily for the chicks, this December is warmer than usual.
Yesterday’s respite from the daily storms revealed a wet, blue world. Many fields have turned into duck ponds. Swans are having a field day romping in all the mud. How do swans stay so clean when they spend hours wallowing in mud?
After the rains comes the rainbow. After the rains the trees are left stranded in the overflowing slough. When they see their reflection in the glassy water, do they ooh and ahh, saying, “Oh my, am I that beautiful? Look, that man is taking our photo. Which of my limbs is the most beautiful?”
After the rains comes a sky, bluer than before. After the rains, Margaret decides that it’s time to sleep on the roost again with the other chickens. Her chicks aren’t sure what to make of it. Why is their mother up so high? Why aren’t we sleeping in our usual bed? After the rains, the whole world changes.
