This is not a rhetorical question. Are these from a rabbit? 
Have to be a rabbit.
Our snow hung around for most of the day but it was one of those calm, warmish cold beautiful days that slowly melted into the afternoon.
Here is the Bobby Blanc.
Now I bet you wish you could do that with your tongue don’t you!
Hairy Maclairy has been banished to the back paddocks for breaking down yet another barn door, so he has gone to live with Queenie until Daisy is in the fields. He is the epitome of a Battering Ram!
He is showing off his muscles for you.
Queenie Wineti is impressed on the inside.
She is not a demonstrative cow.
The Coupe, our outrageously wonderful granny flat/guest house/ writer’s retreat, is 
getting its first layer of roof this week. The Matriarch has done the maths and worked out that the cost of her little house is equal to just under two years of 24 hour care in a retirement home. Looking after the elderly is very big business. It costs a lot of money. We would prefer that she grows old out here on the farm where it is not so expensive. Two of her friends have recently sold their homes and cashed in everything they owned to pay for going into care. Their whole lifes work. And still they will be dependent on the state after a very short time. That sounds scary.
The chooks (chickens) are laying NINE eggs a day. 
Good chooks.
I thought you might like to see what goes on behind the scenes..
when Kupa spreads his train. And yes I get that close. He really is very tame now. 
Sheila and Charlotte were allowed out to play in the snow.
And Daisy as usual just stood about and watched the world go around. She gives an average of 25 pounds of milk a day. That is about two and a half gallons. 
What a lovely day. Just a little sun and out we all go.
I have ordered two packages of bees from a beeman about 100 miles from here. Bees are sold by the pound which seems logical when you think about it. We will have two three pound packages of bees arriving with their own queen in April. I will take you with us when we go to pick them up.
Have a lovely, lovely day.
And don’t forget – if you see a picture that you would like to keep just grab it. You are most welcome. If someone admires it tell them where it came from.
Have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
86 responses to “Whose tracks are these?”
Yup, I’d say that’s a Wabbit come to visit…Peter Wabbit!! 🙂 Kupa looks like he has feet like a turkey! Maybe they’re related! 🙂 I was thinking C. and that’s always dangerous but what if the bee boxes were kept inside somewhere (during the winter months), like a basement or in the barn or garage…somewhere unheated of course but more sheltered…would that help? Of course, I know nothing about keeping bees, so if that sounds completely ridiculous…just ignore it!
No you are not ridiculous, in fact some bee keepers have been houses that they store the hives in for the winter, I think I may have to consider some kind of shelter.. c
Will your hot house be too warm a spot for your bees to overwinter?
What a FINE specimen of a ram…and I dare say he knows it. But of course, why not?
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
I am sure he agrees Linda and I am so glad you are feeling a wee bit better.. c
Thank you, I am. Sure has been a long struggle, but I am determined to make it. The sun is shinning (with a cold breeze) so I shall be off here soon for a wee walk.
Linda
you became unwell at the wrong time of year, lets hope that we get some wee glimpses of spring in a few weeks, that would be nice! c
C: just came across my desk from i think Change.org; excerpted this:
Bayer has gone so far as to fund biased studies that it claims “prove” its chemical isn’t a problem, but scientists at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have just this month discovered that Bayer’s chemical, part of a class of toxins known as neonicotinoids, is a high risk to bees.
breaks your heart doesn’t it.. and they will sit at their fat dinner tables and say “Oh yeah, I haven’t seen a bee in years, something to do with a collapsing disorder.” Colony Collapse Disorder is like Global Warming. It is a disempowering anachronistic label for a symptom , not a specific. They are not the ending. We can do better if we own up to the problem. Pollution is bad for the earth, sprays and GE modifications that are designed to kill insects are bad for bees! How can they say otherwise. Oh yikes.. there!. you set me off on a tangent!. c
Thanfully Kupa wears more under his tail than a Scotsman does under his kilt!!!
Christine
oh good god, that would have been a shock! christine, you naughty girl!! c
Ms C, you have the most unique blog out there! I love Sheila and Charlotte, have always loved pigs. You take great photos of your “Farmy” animals. Keep up the excellent work. Your blog is one of the 6 I read daily. By the way, this is the first time I ever saw a peacock from behind the scene. Facinating.
Morning spike and thank you so much for being a reader, it is brilliant for me to know I am not alone out there.. I am fascinated by Kupa at the moment, his feathers are very active! miss c
Thanks for permission to borrow a photo from your blog. I really like your Good Chooks and have borrowed their photo today. I will save it and probably use it for reference in a watercolor. I appreciate your lending them out as models since I have no access to a flock here in town. If anything comes of this I’ll email you an image.
Awesome Leenie, I will keep your project in mine when I am capturing images of the chickens, i have a variety on breeds and they look so much better when the sun is out.. hopefully it will come out soon, so just go ahead and gather them as we go along c
The Good Husband, being the prairie boy that is is says “looks like Jack Rabbit”. The Coupe is taking shape. The Matriarch will have a warm and caring place to live in the so called “golden years”. V.
And should anyone pop down from cold canada in the meantime it will be a lovely guest cottage for them!! c
I’m with you on the bees and the pesticides… do you know about AVaaz”s campaign to influence the EU to ban them? They’re getting signatures now… and want lots… if you’re not there, just google Avaaz….
What a wonderful peep behind the curtain that is Kupa!!!
morning valerie, i shall go and find the campaign! but we are up against really really big money.. can’t give up tho./ c
Oh Celi, so glad you’re getting onto Avaaz- they are one of the biggest ways to influence the big boys, with millions of people like you and me supporting them, they are, and have done great things…I’m always trying to spread the word about them, as they actually do achieve change……..
we need people like this.. heaps of them, thank you for the info Valerie.. c
The coupe is beautiful and methinks the Matriarch will be very happy to spend glorious twilight years there. We have a home for the elderly in my community: well, here almost everyone gets a state pension – comes once a fortnight and most people call that ‘payday’ 🙂 ! Now, if you enter the home here, all you are left with is about $40 per week for whatever you may need/want privately and since the bottom line is always the moot point, I surely would not like the dull, boring and not really healthy food which is served! Besides which I have made myself unpopular more than once ‘en passant’ when hearing perfectly well even if elderly people treated like naughty children!
Oh, forgot to agree with valeriedavies re AVAAZ: I have supported many of their causes for a very long time: I don’t know how much difference we have made, but it surely has felt good to help make up that million or two!
Yay! More bees. I am happy to see this is for a respected elder. It is indeed difficult to see people who are at the sunset of life relegated to concrete buildings that smell like pee.
Morning Rumpy, I know some people do not have the means to look after others. And sometimes the elderly are just too sick to look after by oneself. We are one of the lucky families. Fingers crossed it works out the way we plan.. and of course there is room for her little dog too! c
Another brilliant post to brighten my day–Thank You!! As we’re an aging world, we’re going to have to find more and more tenable solutions to caring for our elderly (after all, we’ll BE them soon enough), and those who have loving companions able and willing to do so are the true fortunates. You won’t even have to bundle up the therapy crew from the farmy to visit the Matriarch! 🙂 Another consequence of our having more people last longer is that we’ll need more significant ways to keep the minds of the less vigorous physical specimens among us still active, and I can’t think of any better way than coming by your blog daily: wisdom, adventure, beauty and heartwarming kindness abound–all things the world can stand to have in greater abundance. So thanks again! xoxo, Kathryn
I like how steadfast the sheep is! It’s like he’s holding his own against the strong wind!
Hairy Maclairy looks very buff and impressive. I remember thinking that his name sounded like something out of a children’s book and then I ran across the book itself — and it has become a great bedtime favorite! The things we learn from blogs. Like the dark side of Kupa’s tail…
Oh I am thrilled that you are reading a NZ book all the way over there.. excellent. ! I have changed the spelling ever so slightly .. I am sure there is some kind of copyright on the names.. c