Catching Up

Yikes! I haven’t written since January 2nd. I have a lot of catching up to do.

After several mild winters, we are back to normal winters with cold temperatures and lots of snow. EJ read a couple weeks ago that we had gotten ten feet of snow so far this winter. We’ve probably gotten another foot or so since then. Some of the snow melted on warmer days but we still have a lot on the ground. The snow gets packed down where we frequently walk so we are walking on several feet of snow. Off the paths, I sink deep down into the snow and it’s difficult to walk

It’s been so cold that my trail cam batteries didn’t hold their charge and I had to charge them every day. It got tiresome so I turned off the trail cam until the weather gets warmer.

On the cold nights, we let Theo, our outside cat, into the pantry/storage room. It’s unheated, but warmer than the garage. We made him a nice warm shelter to sleep in. He likes it so much that now he doesn’t want to leave it. We figure that he can stay until warmer weather.

A couple weeks ago I went out to the coop and saw that our older rooster’s back was ripped open. I’m pretty sure Edward did it, since a wild animal couldn’t have gotten in the coop. If it had, it would have killed the rooster. We are not sure of the identity of the older rooster. EJ thinks it was Corey who was the youngest before Edward. I suspect it was Sassy but EJ doubts this since Sassy was our very first rooster, which would make him 10 years old, which is very old for a rooster. The first year I got chickens, I had banded their legs so I could tell them apart, but the chicken’s took them off and I haven’t bothered since. Anyway, let me continue.

We bought a medical spray for Corey/Sassy and put him in a dog crate in the storage room with Theo. Once his back healed, I moved him to a sturdy dog house inside the coop so he could be with his flock but still remain isolated from Edward. I figured I would let him out when the weather warmed and the chickens went outside where the roosters had more room to avoid each other. The chickens don’t like winter weather so they usually stay in the coop even when I open their little door. Corey/Sassy died a week later. I think he (Sassy) died of old age.

So now Edward rules the roost.

EJ and I had some debate about Edward’s name. I originally called him Edward the Third because he was the third rooster we had at that time. I liked that name because I could easily morph it into Edward the Turd when I was unimpressed with him. Most of our roosters have been sweethearts. Edward is a bit of a turd. EJ changed his name to Edward V because he’s the fifth rooster we’ve had since we got our first chickens. I remarked that technically he should be called Edward I because he’s the first one named Edward. But I conceded when EJ told me it was easier to remember how many roosters we’ve had if we name him the fifth. Ok. Point made. He is Edward V. We decided that from now on we will name our roosters after British kings (since Americans don’t have kings). The next one will be named Richard (or William, Henry, John…) the Sixth–and so on. I’m glad we got that settled.

Our new kitten, Clara the Impossible Cat, is settling in.( FYI: Since she is named after a Doctor Who character, her name is pronounced Clahr-ah rather than Clare-ah.) It’s fun having a playful kitten in our lives. Clara has created her own little games. She loves to attack Timmy’s tail. I was able to capture it on camera the first time she did it. I was reading in bed and Timmy was on my lap, purring and contentedly swishing his tail…when Clara saw it. This is what happened next:

Another game Clara has created involves her hiding under our bed and attacking our feet when we walk by. Since she is mostly black, we never see her until we suddenly feel a sharp pain in our foot. I got this game on video too: Clara’s Attack Game. I enticed her a little to get it on video, but usually she attacks without warning when we least expect it.

So that’s how I’ve been spending 2025 so far.

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