more Irish pennants
In early May, I posted about various items of interest about the farm, calling
them Irish pennants of the mind. “Irish pennants” is a phrase I picked up in
the Marines, originally meant to describe pieces of green string hanging off
one’s utility uniform. Please commit the phrase to memory, as I’ll likely use
it again when I don’t have any major scoop but still want to check in with you.
And so it is today. Jude and I were outside a lot last weekend, buttoning up
outdoor projects for the winter. It’s been cold lately. Not prairie-province
cold, but enough to congeal my senior citizen muscles. The days have a
dreamy, transitory feel as autumn hobbles away and we brace for winter
proper. Only ten more days to the solstice and the return of the light.
I draw much solace from knowing that the days will be longer soon. I seek
succor as I count down to the college football bowl games, especially the
LSU-Alabama rematch for the national championship January 9th. The
exceptional season the Bayou Bengals has put together has me jonesin’ for
that game.
Anyway, Irish pennants. Faithful dog Slinkee has never been shy about
barking when she wants to go out or wants me to go out with her. But today,
I swear, she said “bored” in her Wookie moan, which has roots in her wolf
howling ancestry.
She might be wanting to check the duck census on the pond. I told you re-
cently that Biff the male bufflehead was back with four females. He adds one
every year. More recently I’ve seen him with another male, and I’m not sure
how I feel about it. Is it healthy male bonding, or is he out of control? He even
swims around with a pair of hooded merganzers.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I fear Biff may be in over his
head. You’ve got to expect that to some extent with a diving bird, though. If
he is in fact in trouble, how would we do an intervention? By kayak?
Our four chickens are doing well and still producing an egg a day each. We
thought they might be slacking off by now, but apparently our efforts to let
them range free is keeping them happy. We have plenty of room in the coop
to add more, but we considered it prudent to wait until spring as we continue
to learn poultry stewardship.
Here’s what I woke up to today:
I hope your day and week started this well.
