Onward!

Turning corners in many ways these days.  G has recovered from surgery, our hen Cornish who had surgery for her impacted crop is recovering, and just this week my vet friend and I did surgery on my hen Aubi.  Today finally I think she may be turning the corner with her digestion and appetite.  When I came in from morning chores today I found that she'd squeezed under the pet gate and was roaming around the living room.  Unfortunately what we found in surgery was not something we could fix. She has cancer, just like Granny Rose did.  This is especially disappointing since she has so many attributes that would make her a perfect hen to breed for Minnesota climate, but now that can't happen.  She is the daughter of our beloved rooster Wedge who was killed a few years ago. Aubi isn't even three years old yet. 

I'm also hoping we are turning the corner to spring.  This week we had -28 Celsius, and once again I had to move some birds from the backyard coop to the garage just to be safe.  It's snowing now, and the wind will turn it into blizzard conditions in the next few hours, but it's a merciful -8 C.  A few hens from the chook palace ventured out this morning to forage, but when they took shelter in the horse stalls as the biting south wind picked up I caught them and put them back in the coop.  This is still frostbite weather after all. 

Apparently this is the dangerous time for the bees.  Right now the queens will start laying eggs, and the nurse bees need to keep the brood warm.  If the bees are on a frame without enough honey stores, they will starve, because they won't leave the brood to look for food. As of a few days ago I still heard a hum in hive 2, so tomorrow when the temperature gets up above freezing I will get in there with some winter patties and hope to find the majority of the colony still alive.  Just a few weeks ago I was so surprised at the number of bees in there and thought it was a really good sign, that I might even have to split the colony in the spring.  But then I realized that there were likely not enough honey stores for that many bees.  So my stronger colony may not make it simply due to too many bees. 

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G is building a slow feeder for Oakley.  Hopefully I will get some photos later.  But today is Valentine's Day, so we might go out for a lunch date.  Or what is perhaps more likely is that we stoke the woodstove up hot, and finally put our seed orders in. Really romantic, I know. But honestly, as I've said before, I think we do a pretty good job at showing our love and appreciation for each other every single day.  We don't really need a holiday to remind us to do this. He made risotto for me last night for the first time.  He used our Marina Di Chioggia squash, some curry mixes he'd made. It was incredible!  It was a very nice treat.  He's been so focused on making biochar in our woodstove I thought he'd lost interest in cooking! Just a joke if you are reading this G.  

After 33% of his company staff was just laid off two weeks ago, I can understand the need to play with fire and zone out for a while. Thankfully, he and his immediate team are safe.

Good new on the money front too, our tax return will almost pay for our new deck!