Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 05:02
Lovely Weather
The past few days have been just lovely here at Rural Route 2: highs in the 60s and lots of sunshine. All but the biggest of the snow piles have melted. I have heard robins and killdeer and Sandhill cranes and geese.
Unfortunately, I have been unable to enjoy the weather as much as I would like. I have developed infections in both eyes. The good people at the clinic in town think it is a sinus infection (or just a general upper respiratory infection) that has gone into my eyes. I have antibiotic eye drops and an oral antibiotic to take to for 10 days.
This is by way of saying that the upcoming edition of Rural Route 2 News, which I had planned to send out March 15, may be a couple of days late. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
Friday, March 12, 2010, 15:49
Geese(!) and Mud
One evening a few days ago, Randy and I were out feeding the horses when we heard it: Geese!
Geese flying overhead and then turning to head north. It was only a pair of them, but they were still geese.
And then, Friday morning when I went out to the feed horses, I heard the sound of geese again. Their honking cries were very loud. And the sound did not appear to be moving. It was rather foggy Friday morning, and I could not see very well, but it seemed as if the loud cries of the geese were coming from the neighbor's corn field.
I went to the corner of the lean-to to look, and sure enough. The geese were standing in the neighbor's corn field.
The ringing cries, that echoed off the hills and the pine trees to the north, were too much for my old Morgan-Arab cross, Kajun. He came running out of the barn, snorting and prancing and staring, head held high. Only moments earlier he had been eating his grain.
Eventually the pair of geese took off. They circled around the house and then over the horse pastures before heading south.
It was all just a bit too much for Kajun. I managed to coax him back into the barn to finish his grain. He came in, grabbed a mouthful and ran back outside to see if those vicious geese were anywhere around.
My little black mare, Isabelle, on the other hand, hardly looked up from her grain. (sigh)
The days have been warmer this past week, and the snow is really melting. Not a fast melt, though. Just a good slow steady melt. Will we have more snow yet this month or next? Time will tell.
It has been raining off and on all week, too. I think we've gotten about an inch so far. And it has been foggy.
Actually, I would have preferred, if it were going to precipitate, that it was snow. The horse pastures are ankle deep mud and will continue to get worse until the frost goes out. When Isabelle and Kajun stand by the fences in their pastures, you can't see their feet because they are sunk so deep in the mud.
I am wearing my tall rubber chore boots every time I go out to feed the horses. I almost lost one boot in the mud the other night. Reminded me of when I was kid, trying to navigate my way across a muddy barnyard. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph