Domestic Bliss

Yesterday,I went on a beautiful walk. The sun was shining and the early morning air was clean, invigorating and bright! We still have a lot of snow, and so long as I stayed on the animal trail, I was fine but if I walked on the snow crust, every once in awhile, I would sink up to my thighs.

Animal tracks criss crossed the snow and the ice on the lily pond. It is so pristine and beautiful, no signs of spring, other than a break in the ice on the streams here and there. It was quiet, so quiet that I could hear water running under the ice.

The tracks included coyote, fox, all sorts of duck and geese, elk, beaver, musk rat and deer, moose and rabbit. So much had been going on while I spent my winter in the cabin.

I felt so grateful and prayed for my son, his safety and peace. He needs additional strength now especially, and I hoped he could feel me thinking of him. I headed back to the cabin, crossing the meadow, Nickie's meadow, stopping by Calvin's tree for a moment and then crossing Gabe's bridge and looking for more tracks in the bank of the stream still crusted with snow and ice. Crossing Oupa's Bridge, I listened to the water gurgle through the Beaver dam underneath it. The mud peeked through the trail here and there while I headed up past the horses and cow to the hay barn. The cow gave me a steady look and mooed softly, I know that Brittany, one of the ranch hands, says that she is doing nicely and Gabriel says that he has petted her "18 times" but she didn't look too friendly to me. A couple of the rabbits scampered past me and I watched a hen nestle into an old cardboard box to lay, making a mental note of the newest hiding spot. I started gathering stray eggs, two in the greenhouse bathroom sink, one in an old planter and another two on a shelf, in the coop I found enough to round up a full dozen. Four hens crammed into two laying boxes eyed me out and I left them alone. Cats were curled up on the hay with David's dog, Layah. Ducks and geese played in the puddles and bathed in the mud. A golden sea bright rooster tried chasing me off and I had to chuckle at the tiny determined chicken. The pigs were snuffing in the yucky hay and the sheep were out in their yard, enjoying the sun. Beautiful, Beautiful day!

I focused hard on the snow, the trees and the killer turkeys when I got to the driveway, because the junk under the snow drives me crazy. The mud, I can deal with but I hate the bits of trash that magically appear, layer after melted layer, in spring.

Lots to do, plenty of time to do it. I am blessed! I love my life, my crazy, crowded, one room cabin life.