Well, the skunks are awake.  We’ve been warm enough that the skunks have come out of their semi-hibernation.  One o’clock in the wee morning, really nighttime, our farm was inundated with skunk perfume.

Gag!

Terry thought the dogs must have stirred one up; not our dogs as they were sleeping inside.

I got worried about the poultry so the dogs and I headed out to see if everyone was fast asleep and safe!  They were.  I have Night Guard lights on the house, but one never knows what a hungry critter will risk.

The poultry house is extremely safe, locked door, cement floors, wooden walls — still I like to make sure those things that are in our keeping are secure.

They were.

The smell was horrid…lasted until morning when the air shifted as the day warmed up.

That evening, when I was gathering firewood for the night, a string of birds (I couldn’t tell if they were Canada Geese or the Sandhill Cranes) lifted up from a field about a mile from us….very swiftly they flew closer and closer to our farm, forming their v, on their way to some other corn field for the night.

These birds sure do make winter bearable.  I love watching them as the stream across the frozen heavens, calling loudly to one another—gather up, gather up, we are heading over there, come fly with us….come fly.

The sounds fade as they get further away.  I then load my wood and head back to the house.  The winter shades of pink, lavender and shadowy blue fading into dusk.

Your farm friend,

Linda