Some Words For Strange Birds

You belong. Even if you’re an ancient African bird transported into whatever fresh hell this white stuff is. Your community is better with you in it. — This one really pissed off Guinea

---

Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm

A few newsletters back, I mentioned that I’ve been worried about Nurse, who is thinner than I’d like for it being the depths of winter. (She’s on the left here.)

Now maybe my problem is that my favorite shape of sheep is round… (Juliet never misses a meal.)

But still: I thought a nice little dog blanket would be a good idea—especially with snow and ice in the forecast.

A few days before the last snowstorm, I went out to find Nurse having a nice sun nap. She was happy to just lie in the grass while I scratched her head.

Great! This is the perfect time to slip a blanket on, I thought. The second I came back, blanket in hand, she got up and took off like a rocket. So much for that idea.

The next day, as I watched the snow-and-ice forecast worsen, I knew I was going to need backup to execute. So I enlisted Claire, the teen who helps around the farm, to help. Claire is a world-class sheep wrangler, and together, we finally had success!

The great thing about sheep is that once you catch them, they basically decide to die. They almost always just lie down on the ground and give up. We slipped the blanket on and thought we did it!

Spoiler: We miscalculated.

The moment Nurse decided that she had not, in fact, died, she got up, felt something on her back, decided it was a mountain lion, and lost her mind. Taking off at a full gallop made the other sheep follow suit. This then made the cows run too, because what fun new game is this??

Pretty soon, it was mass chaos: Animals running everywhere. We decided our best option was to catch Nurse before someone got hurt. Working together, Claire and I cornered her. More sheep wrangling ensued.

With Nurse now naked, we went to plan B: Extra hay. Those rumens produce tons of heat as they ferment fiber.

Todd set two 1200-pound bales of hay set up next to each other as an edible wind break. (Eagle eyes will spot a certain oversized hat in its natural habitat.)

The coldest nights of the year have (hopefully) come and gone, and Nurse has fared just fine. A good reminder that we’re often heartier than we think.

---

Here’s What I Loved This Week

We’ve been watching Abbott Elementary and loving that it’s super low-stakes (I can’t handle a stressful TV show at the end of a stressful day), and has clever writing. Highly recommend!