"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

"Snowy and Rainy Days"

Howdy Folks,

 

Snowy and rainy days have a different feel about them for me than clear sunny days. Of course all days are beautiful, for their own reasons, but the "bad weather days," as we called them on the dairy farm where I grew up as a foster kid, are extra special for me. To me, they are cozy.

As a kid we had plenty of work on those bright sunny days. I would be busy hoeing thistles in the corn field, picking beans in the garden, mending fence, thinning hedgerows, maybe carrying water for wash day, or any of the other many tasks needed to be done on the farm.

There was plenty of work on snowy and rainy days, too. We still had to milk the cows, tend the horses, pigs and chickens, but the in between time, those hours when we would do the extra work, were a bit more relaxed.

Our barn was big old Pennsylvania Bank Barn with the milking stable in the middle, flanked by horse stalls, each with the splendid wooden feed troughs and hay racks above them, and box stalls for young stock when they weren't out in pasture. Between the horse stalls and milking stable was our feed room. Along the back wall were wooden slant topped feed bins for the loose oats and corn for the horses. One of my jobs was to keep the bins full. Sacks of ground feed for the milking cows were stacked along the side wall. I can still smell the blackstrap molasses in that ground feed. I loved that smell! So did the mice!

This barn is very similar to the barn to the barn on the farm I grew up on.

Back then, burlap bags were really made of burlap and no match for the enterprising mice who made certain nearly every sack had a hole of their own design chewed through it. On bad weather days it was my job to hand stitch those holes closed with a long curved needle and white cord. Some days ol' Bill (the man who raised me) would join me in the stitchin' party and it was kind of fun gathering there, working a little and talking. I suppose it was our version of a quilting party. Whether Bill was with me or not, the horses and cows were, and it was cozy in that feed room, and sort of a day off. There were other bad weather day chores, but that feed room, between the horses and cows, stitching up those sacks, well that's my treasure.

For a long time now, bad weather days, have not had much to say about my daily duties, but often they'll carry me back to that cozy old feed room between the horses and cows. I suppose at a young age I was conditioned to the gentler feeling of rainy days.

The Coffee Clutch family enjoying this rainy morning.

As Kessy, Tigger, Saturday and I enjoyed Coffee Clutch this morning, rain danced lively on the tin roof. And while my routine won't be stirred, my memories were.

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry

"Snowy Morning in the Barn"

Howdy Folks,

The snow laid nine inches deep, smothering all sound, and bending bough and branch. The Chickens huddled round Kessy and me inside the barn. Even though the sun glistened bright on the covering of white outside, a lone bulb offered a welcoming yellow embrace inside the barn. The contrast seemed to make the morning a bit magical. Outside brilliantly bright, quiet and frozen, almost devoid of any color other than intense white. Inside the calm, subtle light from the single bulb managed to hold the powerful white at bay at the barn's edge. Two worlds, both charmed by their own beauty touched each other there at the open ended wall of Kessy's barn. 

Knowing the wild birds would be extra hungry this morning, I'd pushed aside the snow to bare ground and scattered chicken scratch, at the usual place under the trees just outside Kessy's fence. By the time we all settled down for Coffee Clutch, Juncos, Cardinals, Wrens, Nuthatches, Doves and a White Throated Sparrow accepted the invitation. I thought about the Phoebe we'd heard just two days before, when the temperature was over sixty.

Kessy stopped munching hay and made dash into the snowy woods to check out the scenery. I'd had her barn gate closed ever since the snow started yesterday morning, I like to keep her under roof when the it's heavy weather, and she prefers her freedom. Her fist romp through the snow was quite a show of high flying heels and squeals, sending snow swirling like tiny blizzards around her. Satisfied all was okay outside she rejoined Saturday the chickens and me inside for the rest of Coffee Clutch.

We watched the birds at the feeders and corn as Kessy munched. The chickens roamed every inch of the barn pecking, scratching and clucking. They surrounded Kessy, who seemed not to notice. Roosters lined up on the halfwall and crowed to the snowy forest. The train whistle blew in the distance.

This snow won't last more than a few days as it is forecasted warm up again tomorrow, but it was sure a wonderful snowy morning!  Have a fun day!!

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