The Bovine Bugle

Much too cool for the pool

The thermometer doesn't tell lies on a December morning in northern Vermont.

Yesterday we had the first below zero morning of the winter. To prepare the day before, we covered up all the openings in the barns to make sure the cold couldn't get in, we filled heaters with kerosene to have them ready for the morning, and we put both tractors inside the horsebarn so we could plug them in when morning rolled around.

The breath of the cows came out in great puffs of steam as they lounged in the freestalls while we cleaned the stalls this morning. With all the preparations from the night before, everything at the barn went pretty smoothly. Jack Frost had been hard at work on the windows in the milkhouse. The heaters all ran so it was pleasant while milking the cows, no pipes were frozen, and the tractors started easily. It was good preparation for the months of cold weather to come.

Doors to the milk barn, frosted over.

While I scraped the barn, a red-tailed hawk landed in a pine tree just a couple hundred feet from the barnyard. Twice it left its perch, circled near the compost windrow, and then landed back in the pine tree. The third time it swooped I lost sight of it. I spotted it on a fence post part way down the grazing strip, and I think it had a mouse in one of its claws. It then flew off to a snag near the brook that it uses often. The hawk was beautiful circling in the brilliant morning sun. I'm glad it got some breakfast!!

The backyard pool doesn't seem like a good choice today.

It may be cold, but it's pretty!

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Posted by Blogger Chris at December 9, 2005 10:57 AM