Hello, sun!!

It's a beautiful day today. Sunny, sunny, sunny. Things are melting and dripping and all the chickens ventured out of the coop to huddle under the front porch. That may be my fault. I couldn't resist. While getting ready this morning, I may have opened the upstairs window facing the open coop and I also may have did my little "I am your god" speech for giggles which usually gets them quite excited and expectant. Like, I can't just be a chicken-god. I have to provide things. Like left over salad and too salty homemade Bavarian pretzels and stale Rice Crispies. They don't like the snow on their feet, though. So they do a sort of fly/hop thing across the lawn to the house. Lots of wing flapping and airborne puffs of snow when they land. What can I say? It amuses me.

Bruce, the rooster and Pippin the bunny have been at each others' throats all morning. Well, figuratively, since what actually happens is that Pip head bumps Bruce's chest as he runs through the roo's legs while Bruce pecks wads of fur out of Pip's back and behind. All this conflict seems to be over the use of the porch. The porch is Pip's domain, at least for the winter, but the chickens like to sun in it on days like this. As Bruce is maturing into a masterful Rooster (w/a capital R), he is beginning to get a bit aggressive w/Pip. Who is pretty spunky for a rabbit. Pip is a pretty complicated fellow, alternating between petulant, foot thumping peevishness and irrepressible affection and binkiness (a binky is that happy, exuberant twisting leap into the air that rabbits do when they are especially joyful). Yeah. So the testosterone level in my porch ws to high, so I put Bruce out with his hens and closed the door. After which Bruce and Pip each stood at the door on their respective sides and stared at each other...mournfully? Triumphantly? Who knows?

Ooops, Sandy & Karen are here. Hurrah!

Later, gators....