All the Leaves are Brown

Actually, all the leaves are gone, since most of ours are skinny mesquite leaves, not so good for piling up and jumping on.The piling up and burning of mesquite wood is very useful, though, for knocking the chill off a cold winter night.

I am very worried about our chickens and this cold weather. Mr. Husband keeps saying "They have feathers". I can see that. I'm sure what he means is that they're like any other bird and will survive the elements, come what may. If it were up to me, they would have a brick chicken house with a fireplace. Instead I will just decorate their pen with heat lamps.

For those of you who know your poultry, I'm sure you have counted five roosters in the accompanying photo. I know what time five roosters wake up in the morning. 4:30 a.m. To tell the truth, I'm used to it. Those first warm up crows are pretty funny, too. It sounds like "Er Er Er Er, Aack!" Like Bill the Cat coughing up a hairball.

There is a pecking order, haha, among the roosters. It's entertaining to watch them fight. They get all puffed up then jump at each other in the air, claws out, but never collide, like there's a piece of glass keeping them from actually touching each other, or like two opposite magnets. Now, when a rooster gets on the wrong hen (yes, I mean chicken sex), the managing rooster will knock the other off like a baseball that's been thrown. Really, like a rooster ball. No fight after that, the point has been made. You can see the rooster that's been hit trying to shake the stars out of his head.

Well, enough of this titillating chicken talk. Maybe soon I will tell you how the cats are trying to ruin my marriage by scratching up our expensive new couches. They really have it in for me.