Rami and Jackie, Two Of My Ramshorn Snails

My biggest Ramshorn snail has grown so much since I got her.  I decided to call this snail Jackie after my friend who gave me the three Ramshorn snails in December.   At first it was hard for me to tell them apart, but Jackie is so big now there is no mistaking her.

I took this video yesterday and found it rather elegant how her spiral shell twists and moves as she does.   Snails moves with such grace and fluidity.  It’s one of the reasons I love to watch them.

Rami, the snail born in the tank, is getting bigger too.

I can now see the marking on his shell, which are small dark spots.  And the shell, though still transparent, is growing thicker.

Ramshorn snails live about one year.  I don’t know how old Jackie is, but it will be interesting to watch both her and Rami live out their life span.  I’ve never had a snail since birth.

I have two other Ramshorn snails in the tank.  Next I will figure out how to tell them apart and give them names too.

It was only last month that Rami was almost too small to see.  Here he is with Jackie.

The Donkeys and Hens Sunbathing

After yesterdays snow the donkey are making the most of this warm day.  Lulu and Fanny laid down together dozing in the sun.

When they do I always want to go into the barnyard and sit next to them.  But they usually get up before I get to them.  Every once in a while Fanny will let me sit next to her.  I think I like doing it because it shows the trust between us.

I rarely used to see the donkeys both laying down at the same time.  Usually one stands guard while the other sleeps.  But I see them doing it more often. I like to think it’s because they feel safer.

The hens were also enjoying the sun and taking a dust bath next to the apple tree.

They have worn away the grass next to the tree and dug  a few holes the size of a nest they might lay their eggs in.   They wallow in the loose soil, dusting their feathers to keep away the parasites.  But they also seem to be really enjoying themselves.

Snow And BlueBirds

 

Fate on the hill in the barnyard this morning.

This morning there was enough snow for us all to leave our footprints.

I saw where Zip circled my studio then went over the fence into the barnyard.  His footprints stopped in a dustup about 18″ round, then moved on back to the barn.

Maybe he caught a mouse or mole moving under the snow.

By this afternoon, the snow was melted except where it lay in the shadows.  The pond and marsh met at Lulu’s Crossing and the Gulley Bridge was under water.

I’ve never seen the water this high.  It makes more space, at least for a while, for the geese and ducks to land, but I saw none of them.

It was the bluebirds that showed up today.

The first I saw a streak of purple that turned  dusty blue with and burnt orange flash when it landed on the edge of the marsh to drink.

Later a few, sparkling iridescent blue, flew as if dancing.   Then one sat on the fence post wrestling with something worm-like in his beak until he swallowed it.

The barnyard this afternoon

Insect Eddy, Thirty Second Meditation

I didn’t know the small circling cluster was made of insects until I watched my video.  I couldn’t see them with my naked eye. I though they were tiny leaves or plants.  But then I saw them move.

Insects eddies occur in streams.   Insects or larva get caught in an a vortex of water and become an easy meal for fish.

Naming The Birds, Or Not

The bird flew over the apple tree and and landed in the stand of trees on the edge of the pasture.  Two smaller birds flew from the branches and one stayed, keeping its distance.

I don’t know what kind of bird it was.  The curve if its wings looked different from a hawk.  And it let out a small  scratchy sound as it flew.  Maybe some kind of falcon?

I tried to get a closer look by zooming in with my iPhone, but it was still too far away.  And then I thought that I didn’t need to name to bird.  That just seeing it, watching it was enough.

Like getting to know the trees in the woods, sometimes its enough to just know which are different and which are the same.

I have a friend who said  when she was young she would look for pictures in the stars and make up names for them.  She never learned to name the constellations.  But that doesn’t diminish her love of looking at the night sky.

I would guess the bird in the photo above is a Raven.  I don’t even remember taking the picture.  I just came upon it in my photos and thought the shape of  long black bird in the tangle of white and gray branches was striking.

It’s as much about the branches as the bird.

Just as the feeling of awe I got watching  the bird flying over the farm this afternoon seems more important to me than knowing what to call it.

Robin

Robin has a way of looking at me that none of my other sheep do.  It seems to me questioning but happy.

It always makes me think of when he was born and his mother Lori didn’t want to nurse him.  I was frantic to get him to latch onto her. I knew if he didn’t we would have to bottle feed him and it’s always better if a lamb makes that connection with his mother and gets her milk, especially in the first hours.

When I think of it now, I wish I were calmer and maybe both Lori and Robin would have been too.  Then maybe Robin would be easier with me.  He still shies away from my hands unless I have a treat.

It’s not that he’s afraid of me, just cautious.

Robin was a surprise.  We didn’t know that Lori was pregnant when we got her.  I’m just glad I went into the barnyard when I did, otherwise I’m not sure that Robin would have even survived.

That was three years ago on a cold March day.  I remember it seemed a miracle.

Jon holding Robin, just after he was born.

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