Yesterday the snow fell on and off for the whole day. But it did not have any kind of real resolve, It was just there. A half hearted affair. Showers, flurries nothing much.
So I cycled through my list.
Getting the collars on the Dutchies so they could learn Phase Two of the milking routine: being tethered to the feeding station for some munching. Elsie is still the more apprehensive of the two. Lady A is very calm. But both of them came in one door, paused for the feed, received their milking collars without too much fuss then walked out the other door. They are doing well. 
I am checking for any signs that Poppy is going to come into heat though she is not due for another week or so. 
She will be bred on her next heat. That will be interesting. I have never AIed a pig before but I have a mentor. She will teach me. 
I am working on clearing out the North pen in the barn – also known as the Black Hole of Calcutta, (though it is draft free) this is the pen I like to keep clean in case some silly cow decided to give birth before the fields clean up.
I will clean it out and close it up just in case. Though it is frozen solid which makes for a decent work out!
As an aside my bedroom as a teenager was called the Black Hole Of Calcutta too (for obvious reasons!)
Yesterday evening as the Cadet and I were doing the chores she gasped and pointed upwards. There hovering above us in the evening light was a brilliant Godot-like pure white Owl. He was huge. Right there between these two trees. High up. Caught in a shaft of evening light like an angel. His wings were outstretched as he flew into these trees but seeing us he must have turned. So he looked straight at us and we were right underneath him. I know I saw it. The Cadet saw it too. But all my reading tells me that they should not be down this way. They are Arctic owls. 
His belly and under his wings were pure white and he definitely was an owl. In my memory he hung there watching us for long enough for my eyes to swoop over him taking in every detail. Yet it must have been parts of a second. Then he was in the trees. These trees are old Dutch Elms, they are hollow. The White Owl is migratory he may have a resting place in there.
I stepped backwards into the barn to grab the camera but of course he was gone when I turned back.
But you know how I am with owls. They have strong magic in my life. My hands were clasped like a Madonna’s prayer in front of my face.
I went here and reported seeing him. Just in case this is something someone should know. But you know how your mind takes photos too? I can still see him. Large as life. Pure white and terrible.
I adore these little piggies.
And this big one – all snuggled up. 
Looking at me out of the corner of her eye.
Last night the eggs in the incubator were turned for the last time. They are due to start hatching on Sunday. We cannot count the chicks yet of course. These eggs were laid in the freezing cold with juvenile roosters. It is a long shot. But I have chick starter feed and today I will prepare the brooder. Nothing like a little bit of optimism.
Winter is hanging on. Not budging yet. 
There is work to be done. Best I get out there and do it!
Have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
68 responses to “Turns”
I know completely the feeling you had seeing that owl. I have exactly the same feeling and still have exactly the same snapshot from a day walking down to the village in Oxfordshire, looking up into some black oaks and seeing a pure, great white egret, which is supposed to be in Africa, right there in the trees. Unbelievable and magical sitting there like a child’s fluffy rag kite caught by some breeze and hung in a tree far away from where it’s supposed to me. 😀
That must have been an extraordinary moment.. c
Oh, the piggies. Tima, the Master of Mischief, and Tane, the Apprentice of Mischief, and Sheila the Great.
You love them too, don’t you!!.. c
What gave you that idea…? I must confess, they are totally, by miles, my favourites…
laugh!!
It’s white here – SNOW is falling….. in Texas….. and I’m at work. HATE driving in this crud, but it didn’t start until I got into the office. My little VW bug will be hard to start (28 is our high today) and will take a long time to warm up….. if you didn’t know, Texas shuts down during snow and Ice. Or at least he DFW area does. We average 4 days of winter crud each year.
But – I’ll survive this storm also….. I wouldn’t last a week on your farm in the winter. Maybe not in the summer either…..
Love the photographs today. The owl sounds beautiful, but I agree, they seem to feel like a bad omen when you see them.
Yes, i have a VW also and it Hates winter weather.. I just have to climb (climb being the operative word) into Johns very ancient snow plow truck and be delivered. Luckily I don’t have to be anywhere else. and yes, there is something deep about an ghostly white owl in daylight.. it makes me shiver. c
Ha ha ha , Kate, you’re not kidding. I too love TonTon in nearly every shot. Gives us perspective.
That Ton! c
Artic owls have started to show up in numbers in Minnesota for the first time. It seems they’ve run out of food source on the tundra. I’m fascinated by owls too.
Just after the start of the year, we heard the two great horned owls who live near us hooting their mating sequence in our back yard. We went into the glass sunroom and I spotted the female in our Cottonwood tree and the male was two trees away. Their hoots got closer and closer together until the male swooped over to the female (we’re seeing this in clear silhouette against the night sky) and mated in a fury of wings. What an incredible sight to witness.
wow. Violet, what a fantastic series of images.. that was a sight to see.. will they nest close-by?
I wonder also if the warmer temperatures in the Arctic during the past few winters are causing them to move where it is colder further south? I lived, and have friends above the Arctic Circle, and the temperatures there have been warmer these past couple of years than they have been across the northern states in the Lower 48 states.
Which of your guests had the goat who used one ofthe animals for a steps tool? Was it Sherry? I tried to go back into the archives but am not so adept. I loved that little goat.
Yes that was Sherry the goat standing on the kunekune. That one is a fainting goat I think.. cute.. c
Celi, this is an interesting blog this morning! We have been watching a pretty kestler bird here by our house high up in the tree ~ at the end of a dead branch as if he’s sitting in the sky!! and last nite we watched the “Nature” program on TV ~ it was about the white owls! It was a great hr long program! A couple of these pictures this morning are fabulous!! I want the piggies! the special Kunes! they are so fun together!! love how good ole TonTon is in with Sheila and Poppy ~ love the look on his face!! All the animals on the farm just chime in with each other! Those are well raised and lovey animals on the farmy! Stay warm today!
carol .. you cold have a wee kune you know.. Tima is sure to be bred! c
Oh Cinders…that is unbelievable that you saw a snowy owl right there over the Farmy! Maybe it will discover all those b. minks and stick around for awhile! Dave made me a great horned owl nest box for mother’s day last year and from what I hear they start scouting around for a place to nest about this time of year, so I better get it up! Yes, they are truly magical birds. And everyone probably knows this but their wings are designed as such, to allow them to fly without a sound, so as not to alert their prey.
A nesting box for owls Wow.. can you send me a shot of it or the link? sounds amazing… c
If anyone is interested, the Decorah Eagles have.aidtheir third egg this week. And just before the egg-laying there was a fight for theirnest.owls tried to take over the next. It was pretty dramatic. Theowlswould hoot to each other then the eagle would swoop down and try to chasetheowl away. All on live streaming.
These weren’t snowy owls though. Just regular ones.
Naturalists have been watching the snowy owls’ migrating more south for a year or two. They go where there’s easiest living and hunting. MAybe they did hear about the minks. There was a really good BBC nature show on about owl research recently. Now I worry when it rains so much – their feathers are designed for silent flying, and their eyes for night vision, but if it’s raining/foggy at night, they have difficulty spotting their prey and their feathers do not shed water so they get soaked, cold, and grounded.
Seeing one is significant. So many legends and myths. A white one appearing between trees there. Perhaps it heard (they have very good hearing) about the farmy being organic and decided it was a healthier hunting ground. It’s bartering small mammal control for nice place to live.
(Lovely Dutch ladies. Somehow they do have a Vermeer air about them.
My childhood memories return when looking at your beautiful photos of Elsie and the Dutchies. After my dad married my mom and moved to her farm one of the first things he did was improve the dairy. It was next to the barn so that the hay and wheat for feeding the cows could be thrown right into their feeding trough. The cows had to stick their head through a wooden contrabtion to eat. We also had a milking machine with a cooling room for the milking cans . The dairy was a warm and cozy place for me when I was a child. We had about 12 milking cows and I got to watch some of them give birth. I tried a couple of times to milk them, as I remember the cows did not like my touch. In the summer, fall , and spring the cows were grazing outside but had to brought to the dairy for milking. Thanks Celie for bringing back alll those memories.
We have had Snowy Owls here too (Vermont) …and I have the same “thing” with owls that it sounds like you do. I had a dream once that an owl and a hawk fought in mid air, I knew they were trying to get to me, though I didn’t know why. The owl won and perched on my shoulder. Ironically I have this uncanny ability to spot hawks all over the place, when no one else notices them.
Celi, is Aled the same thing as AI, artificial insemination?
Yes oops.. AI ed.. yikes.. typing TOO fast now! c
Snowy owls are migratory and sometimes go further south. They’ve been seen in the Southern US before, though not often.