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02/13/2007: "February Means Spring, Right?"

Happy Birthday Rebecca!


Flowers and leafbuds are popping out all over the farm. It's turned into the typical Western Oregon early Spring and it's delightful. Let me share some pictures and stories....


To start with, I had three midterms in the last week. I had one on Monday, which you can see me studying for here. If you look closely you'll see the notecards have gibberish like "GnRH", "TSH" and "Angiotensinogen". The exam was in endorcrinology, or the study of hormones and boy, first it elevated my ACTH, then it jacked up my E!

I also had two exams today, and by the time I got home I just wanted to take some pictures and enjoy this perfect afternoon!

The snowdrops are in bloom!!


I put out feed for the winter bird flocks. My cat and I then sit together by the window. I watch the birds and she "chirps" at them as she imagines eating them. Lately, the lonely hen has been coming over to help clean up the birdseed. Since the two roosters are no longer with us, she has been caught hanging out with the ducks, too.


The rosemary is also in flower!!! It smells great. The bush is over my head, (which means it's over 5 and a half feet tall), and flavors many a meal at the farmhouse.


We ran out of the beautiful wood we had cut and hauled around in the Sidekick. The wood Ed graciously provided us with is not quite dry enough to give a good, warm fire. So.... we had to import. Now we have a better idea of how much wood it will take to heat the house next winter. And, the stove has dropped the gas heating bill down to the point where it's cheaper to buy the wood than to run the furnace. It's certainly a lot nicer!! This is seasoned ash. Ash is what we're growing primarily in the woodlot and we think it's fine.


I went out to visit Aura. It was close to milking time. She had herself positioned so she could watch the house door through the barn door. She gave me a looking over, but then returned to her vigil at the gate. She has no interest in anything but grass when it's milking time. But, she's been giving over a gallon a day, so no worries.


I started to walk back towards the house and a huge group of geese flew overhead, divided into small squadrons. They honked and honked and started to come down low. More just filled the sky. Eventually, the all turned and settled into Ed's east facing field.


I happen to be sporting a brand new pink shirt from the dear neighbors that reads "Find Your Aura". I'm not sure if Aura got the joke, but I appreciated it!!!

Did you know star magnolias have fuzzy buds?

And I had to figure out what this is:

It's the bleeding hearts coming up!

Any time now, my new neice will enter the world. I'm on high alert for the call to head off to Southern Oregon to meet the new addition and help out for a few days. We know it's a girl, but her name isn't quite worked out yet. I think we might have to call her Violet.


I'll be sure to take lots of picture. Nate and I are off soon to have a celebration dinner with Rebecca and wish her a happy birthday. Just maybe it'll be someone else's birthday today too! I'll relate to her how considerate she was to wait until I was done with midterms to make her appearance.