waiting for the other shoe

From: Caroline
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 11:17 AM
Subject: waiting for the other shoe

Last night when I went out to secure the chickens I could smell the honeysuckle - even though it was below freezing. During the day, there was a different sound from the little birds, just a subtle change in their notes but enough to make me realize that we are marching toward spring. As I write, the first red winged blackbirds are on the feeder. Only one has his red shoulder patches showing and I think he must be the alpha male. Must ask Dunbar if this is possible. But of course we still have a week to go in February, the coldest and nastiest month of the year, and so it is possible that we can have some severe weather, but where is it?

Two of the little hens are busily laying eggs every day. Nice nesting boxes, built according to specs, are all ready for them in their little house, but guess what? Of course they won't use them, instead they rush around the house uttering plaintive little cries until I open the garage door. Then one of them makes a dash for the hanging cupboard which held a lot of garden stuff. They threw all of that down on the floor, and when I put a nice little box in there, they deemed that too small and threw that down as well. A larger box seems to be ok and there they go, except when one of the roosters decides to try it out and then what a squawking and yelling. The hen stays in the cupboard too but fusses and fusses until he gets out. As the garage makes a good sounding board, you can hear them all through the house.

Friday I go up to the Paso Fino farm in Middleboro to inspect a free mare which has been sent to me on trial. She is 16, and is no longer being bred or ridden, so the owner is looking for a good home. Martha Tarradash is coming with me to give her opinion as to whether we will make a good match. As the mare will come down to Martha's farm its important that Martha like her. I am told that she is a dark bay and very cuddly. The only drawback is that she is considerably larger than Dueno. We shall see.

My plans for my trip to the Manu Reservation in April are all in place and this will be another great adventure. To get there we will descend through a cloud forest, a fairly rare phenomena - look it up on the internet if you want to know more. Peter Matthiessen's book on the subject wasn't much help - in fact I thought it was a waste of his time and mine.

My great grandaughter, Nia Elizabeth is home and doing well. Her father sends me wonderful digital pictures, so that although I don't expect to see her until July, I can keep track of her.

This Saturday I will be a docent in the R.I Wild Plant Society's wild garden display at our Providence flower show. Last year the garden was so like the woods at Topsfield that I was taken back through the years. I hope it will be more of the same this year as I have promised to spend four hours in it, identifying and protecting.

Love to all Caroline