"Coffee Clutch is back!"

Howdy Friends! – Coffee Clutch is back! – Today is the first day Coffee Clutch is officially back since my heart attack, surgery and recovery! And the Hummingbirds knew it and welcomed me with much fanfare, buzzing and squeaking all around the feeder just outside Kessy's bedroom. It felt so good to once again settle in my old chair next to the finest mare I've ever known, sip a little steaming Folgers (decafe) in my brand spankin' new Coffee Clutch mug sent me by our friend Darlene Hohensee (Thanks Darlene) and listen to her munch away. My new mug has a picture of our Coffee Clutch and my name!

First Official Coffee Clutch Day Back - With my new Coffee Clutch Mug -

Oh sure I've been out in the barn spending time with Kessy, brushing her and following Ravishin' Robbie as she does all the chores, for weeks already, even sat with Kessy in the barn and woods. But morning Coffee Clutch is a special time I've missed so dearly. Our barn is tucked in the woods bringing birds so close as they dine with the chickens at the cracked corn scatterings. Cardinals, Towhees, Chickadees, Titmice, and other seed eating birds swoop in to hop about and eat, and the chickens never mind their company. Most mornings the wild birds stay longer than the chickens!

This morning was a very active bird morning from hummers buzzing their feeder, to everyone at the cracked corn and treetops filled with Robins trilling, a Scarlet Tanager, and in the distance even a Wood Thrush joined in while a Bluebird sat high in a tulip tree letting go his sweet notes to float down to me.

Since walking every day is part of my morning routine now, and forever they tell me, I had to make an adjustment to my routine. Gotta get up earlier! Sometime just before six I roll from under the covers, head out and walk first lick. It's good right now to beat the heat and bugs at that time anyway. Our grassy trail through the woods is just over a half mile, which I now walk in 25 minutes. The bird watching is top notch there too, and I'd probably walk it faster if I didn't stop so often to search the treetops and underbrush.

Ravishin' Robbie, Saturday and I walk our "Recovery Trail" together then go to the barn. I'm helping a bit with the chores now, the easy light stuff like Kessy's soaked Timothy cubes (Kessy's on an all forage diet) and the chicken scratch. Walking and chores finished, I settle in my chair next to Kessy, and pour a cup (I'm only doing one cup now instead of a pot), and enjoy the start of another beautiful morning. It's so wonderful to be back where I belong!

God Bless, Thank you all for your prayers, love, cards, letters, and support! … Have a beautiful day, and life ~

Gitty Up, 

Dutch Henry

"Snowy Coffee Clutch Morning"

Howdy Folks,

The cracked corn shouted as loud as a flare atop the ice glazed snow calling birds to fill their depleted gullets. The juncos were first to arrive, then chickadees, titmice, doves and cardinal. Settled in my chair, sipping Folgers I was taking in the show with Kessy, when the shrill cry of a blue jay bounced on frozen limbs. Again and again he called, inching his way closer to the buffet. Mr. blue jay is not a regular so he was polite in his approach, I suppose he thought he should ask permission to invite himself to breakfast. The problem with that is, a blue jay's "call note" is very similar to a red tail hawk's screech.

Kessy looking for the hawk -

His calls not only worried the gathered feasting birds, but Kessy too. She stopped munching hay and marched with purpose to look out and investigate the threat. She did this several times, once she even snorted! Usually when a red tail screeches, or other hawks are in the area, the guineas raise a fuss and Kessy learned from them her precious chickens are in danger and runs to save them. Speaking of the chickens, they slept in this morning … I had to give them breakfast in bed. They don't do snow. We got about ten inches last night, with a coating of ice this morning. I think it's beautiful, the chickens are not impressed. – Have a lovely day!

Some of the chickens did leave the chicken house, but then flew right into the barn!

Of course Kessy eventually had to check out everything.

Gitty Up, Dutch Henry

"A Grand Old Stump"

Howdy Folks,

There is a grand old stump just outside Kessy's barn, only a few feet on the other side of the fence. It's near where I scatter the chicken scratch each morning and the wild birds drift in for their breakfast of cracked corn. They are the birds I often mention in my Coffee Clutch stories. The birds who visit there vary slightly with the seasons, such as Juncos in the winter, Towhees in the summer. But the grand old stump is always there. It was there when we cleared the place for Kessy's barn and fence. From the looks of it, it had been here years before that.

Every morning chickens and wild birds use the old stump as a resting place while waiting their turn at the goodies. Squirrels, too. Almost every day a Chickadee, Junco or Wren will poke its cute face out the stump's only hole facing the barn. It always brings a smile.

The old stump is of good size and while I have no true way of knowing, I'd guess it must have been over 200 years old when it was felled. It was certainly here for the Battle of Appomattox during the Civil War. It would have been a good sized tree even then. Did weary soldiers rest beneath it that hot and brutal week?

It takes a lot for an acorn to grow to a massive oak. Simply surviving its first winter is a challenge. Deer love to browse the tender shoots of young oaks. In fact all the early years are a struggle for any sapling. From surviving the random deer browse or trampling hooves, to pushing ever upwards toward the sun under a canopy of tall trees blocking life giving sun's rays. But somehow this oak managed to survive and thrive throughout those early years.

Was this old stump once one of the few oaks left to stand in fields here to provide shelter from the sun's sweltering heat while the farmer worked his crop? Did it provide a welcoming shade to a man and his horses? How many birds, squirrels and raccoons raised their families in its massive spreading branches? I remember one time counting five different species of birds nesting in the same oak that towered along a blue bird trail I was monitoring

Surely it was witness to many changes throughout the countless years it stood regal and proud. Living surrounded by other oaks, poplars and hickories in a forest only visited by deer, foxes, bear and birds, to standing alone on the edge of a tobacco field. From seeing no human to watching the forest cleared all around by humans. The woods have grown back now, surrounding and sheltering the stump.

Today, the grand old stump watches the birds, our chickens, Kessy and all of us. It joins us each morning for Coffee Clutch and I wonder at the stories it could tell. Its spirit lives on.

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry

"Sounds Of A Snowy Morning"

Howdy Folks,

 

An almost invisible snow floated down. It didn't cover the ground or the pines, rather it laid a delicate lace blanket over them. Snuggled in the barn with Kessy, Saturday and a few chickens, I took in the back-lit gray sky, and the beauty of the morning. The air so calm the large snowflakes drifted like so many feathers dropped from a window, slowly gliding left and right to finally settle on bough, branch or ground.

Juncos, a few of them sporting a lacy snowflake or two on their slate gray backs, scratched at cracked corn scattered for the chickens under low sheltering branches. As the snow grew heavier they were joined by Cardinals, Doves and Chickadees. Soon a few White Throated Sparrows stopped by. The snow never got so heavy as to change lace to blanket, but it did encourage a few more chickens to dash under roof and join the Coffee Clutch. One by one they wandered in and stopped just inside to shake the snow flurries from their backs. Too many chose to do it next to Kessy's hay as they entered, and when she'd had enough, one poor rooster was greeted with pinned ears, a glare and a shove and sent him squawking and scurrying away. She caught the poor fellow completely by surprise and he ran almost to the far end of the barn before he risked stopping again. Saturday, asleep beside my chair woke up, sort of, to see what the sudden noise was all about, then tucked his head and sighed.

Did you ever notice how peacefully quiet a snowy morning is? On mornings as quiet as this we're always treated to the far away train whistle. It serves as a back drop to Kessy's munching hay, the chickens' clucking, rooster's crows and the Cardinals', Juncos', and other birds' chatter just outside the barn. Ah the sounds of a snowy morning. Nothing quite like it. Well until the spring brings us the serenades of song birds.

The Coffee Clutch Gang, Kessy, Saturday, Tigger, Miss Kitty, & me.

 The Coffee Clutch gang hopes you have a perfect day, and have the chance to take in a few happy sounds today.

Gitty Up,

Dutch Henry

"Cold Coffee Clutch"

Howdy Folks,

Kessy's breath streamed upward around her frosted whiskers as she greeted me at the porch. A chicken pecked fruitlessly at a frozen puddle, others strutted about complaining about my slow pace. From its perch on an oak branch watched a chilly Chickadee who looked like nothing more than a gray-black ball of puffed feathers. The past two mornings have been the coldest in two years, according to the news. Of course what's really cold here in central VA is not nearly as cold as other places. Kessy and I understand it's all relative, but here yesterday's 20 was plenty cold. This morning's 12 made that seem warm! I told Kessy a friend in northern PA who told me it was 2 below there yesterday morning. She nodded.

Scattering chicken scratch, checking the heated chicken waterers, and Kessy's too, took longer than Kessy and Saturday liked. Saturday bounced and howled in his silly beagle fashion. It’s a dance he's perfected, sort of, certain those ungraceful moves and notes will get him breakfast quicker. It doesn't. Kessy followed my every step, occasionally offering a stomp of a hoof or a well timed snort. You see I've got a few things to tend to each morning before we pull up the Coffee Clutch chair and crack open the thermos, and though the routine almost never varies, Saturday and Kessy try every day to hurry me.

Finally the chickens were feed and watered, Kessy's hay bag, filled and her bedroom straightened up. Saturday has inhaled his breakfast, and Kessy's had her 4 ounces of grain. Ready for coffee.

This morning I strategically position my chair in the corner, to be behind Kessy and out of the wind which seemed to be building. Should have worn my earmuffs. My gloved hands hurried to open the thermos and pour that all important first cup of black gargle. Steam rose from the thermos like smoke from a fire. Saturday huddled behind me. Where are Tigger and Miss. Kitty you might be wondering?  They both had stopped at the door and never made it outside when the saw the steam raising from Kessy's breath. Kind of fair weather Coffee Clutchers, they are.

Mr. Chickadee, I noticed as I sipped, had been joined by several Doves and a small herd of Juncos, and they had taken possession of the West end of the chicken feeding station. A few squirrels joined them, too. Half the chickens strolled into the barn, a few joined Saturday and me behind Kessy. We were a cozy group. Kessy munched, I sipped, Saturday dug deep in the hay, and the chickens pecked, scratched and clucked all around Kessy's feet. Until Kessy, with her ear pinned head toss, invited them to leave. A Nuthatch called in the woods. A faint train whistle drifted in.

Most of the weekend's snow was already gone. Kessy and I had enjoyed riding in it Saturday and Sunday, but it had been near 50 then. Our forecast calls for a few days of this 20 to 30 degree business so I reckon we'll get used to it. Ah the seasons of Coffee Clutch. Won't be long until we are hanging the hummingbird feeders. And Phoebes start new nests in the barn.

Gitty Up

Dutch Henry