Surprise Visits

Yesterday happened very quickly, changing all my plans in a moment. One phone call rearranged them and sent me off in another direction from where I had planned to travel. Buying groceries and running errands would have to now make room for a much needed haircut, when an appointment came open for the same day. I knew I would have about 3 hours before my apt. time to get things done, but hadn't counted on the 3 hours spent afterwards too. But you never know when opportunities will pop up and I wasn't going to miss out on seeing Leah. Her parents had dropped by to see Lon at the station and gave me a call, stating someone wanted to see "her Nana". Of course I stopped by, wouldn't have missed seeing my favorite granddaughter. Though the surprise visit had me arriving back at the farm well after dark. With feeding chores still to be done, along with unloading the groceries I was out in the cold for quite awhile. My toasty fire I had left going before leaving home had gone out in the course of the day. Leaving me with a cold tired body in a chilly house.

I did find one surprise in the chicken coop when closing them down for the night. A large possum was feasting on their hanging feeder of layer pellets. We have had some living in the trash pile near the house for awhile now. I had already moved both the garbage can and the compost bucket out of their reach on the carport. So I guess it had gone searching for other dinning options. On previous occasions we had seen two hanging out in the trash pile, but only one on a regular basis as of lately. I wondered if the "barn bandit" was one of them or someone new to the neighborhood. It was afraid of the blinding light from my flash lite and took some coaxing to get it out of the roosting area. Seeing it now explains why the floor feeder was always torn up and empty in the mornings. Although I had been blaming it on either a raccoon or the always ravenous turkeys. Now I am curious, do they eat chicken eggs too? I guess this means I will have to read up on them. Seems my reading list keeps getting longer and longer. Something I have hoped to do during the winter down time I had envisioned. Instead now I foresee a lot of activity between now and the new year.

We have officially entered our season of lows, with our mornings being in the mid 30's. Which is only slightly warmer than the 27* we woke up to yesterday. Both rain and sleet is forecast for this evening. Making our Sunday School class Christmas gathering a little challenging, but typical of the holidays. Wouldn't feel like Christmas if it was in the 60-70*, temps that those living in Florida see each year. Don't know how they do it, sunny,warm and Christmas decorations just doesn't add up to me. I still need to finish my ornament for the exchange at the party. I am hoping the ribbon I bought will dress it up and finish if off at the same time. It looks like the ones pictured left.


Enjoying this time of the year,

Deborah