We seem to be running around a lot lately but I can’t tell you much of anything that we have done that was either interesting or productive.  I guess that’s just how things are nowadays.  As a reprieve from the apparent chaos in our lives, I thought I would take a few pics of the critters around our place…some of which I care for, some of which I do not.

Of course, the chickens are as crazy as always.  They are laying eggs but it is pretty haphazard.  I get at least one egg per day and sometimes 4.  I never get 2 green eggs a day as I should be though so either one of my Easter-eggers is not laying at all or they alternate pretty wildly.  I figure I’ll let Spring kick in a little farther before I worry too much about it.  Neither Easter-egger seems to be having any problems so I don’t think they are egg-bound or anything like that.  I figure it might be light or cold related.

My favorite bird is Fezzik.  She’s a nut but super loyal to me.  She runs to me every day and demands to be petted, even if for half a minute.  The other birds, except Houdini, will tolerate petting, but Fezzik demands it.  The kids feel trepidation as they get cornered by her looking for a quick pet.  Maybe it’s good to keep them on their toes!

I looked in on the bees a few weeks ago when we had a really nice day.  Everyone had come out for a quick poop and stretch of the wings.  I’ll look in again in the next week or so and get a better sense of how this Spring and Summer will progress.  It was a super cold and slightly longer than usual Winter this year so this might be interesting.  I suppose the bears are out of hibernation now and still no evidence of one coming by to look at the hives makes me happy.  I know there are bears near my ridge so let’s hope they don’t like the electric fence!

I didn’t order any bees this year.  I had to many last year and it was more work than I wanted.  I plan to just focus on keeping these colonies healthy and hopefully productive.  I will definitely re-queen in the early Fall to ensure healthy stock going into next Fall.

We have a new guest around the house too.  We used to have a neighbor who collected cats.  By “collected” I mean bring home and turn loose in the neighborhood.  She didn’t care for them and get them fixed.  She has since moved away and the population thinned significantly.  Only two of the original 20 or so remain.  With only 2 outside cats wandering around, our squirrel and bird populations have finally started to recover.  I guess I like most creatures and have a live-and-let-live attitude about even the ones I don’t like.  But especially, I like to watch squirrels wander around doing squirrelly things.  I caught this guy munching a hickory nut watching me get ready to take a drive.  Two separate times he watched me.  The second time I got within 3 feet of him.  Maybe the nuts he was chewing was especially tasty.  For his sake, I hope he recognizes that although I am friendly, the remaining two cats might not be as pleasant!