Happy Vernal Equinox!

Yeah, that kind of rolls off the tongue....not!

So, Happy Spring!

With this particular change of season where we come out of the deep freeze and start shedding layers, fur, and examine our claws for the first time since April...and think about clipping them... we seem to have a shortage of common sense. It's like the season for, not your normal everyday stupidity, but an exponential rise in stupidity.

Case in point...the geese. The new goslings are usually flanked by 5 adults, two mamas and three ganders. They choose to go out in the open field beside the farm for reasons unknown. Alfalfa is sprouting. Geese aren't supposed to like alfalfa, but they are there anyway. Very white (and gray) against a short carpet of green. Very noticeable to passersby....those especially who might actually own that newly sprouted carpet of alfalfa.

Whoopsie.

But that's not the point. The point is that these geese are very out in the open, and easy pickings for the falcon that often perch on the fence posts along the property line (obviously the "stupidity" season has not affected them. They know the importance of "location, location, location."). And the goslings are still tiny, still trying to get a handle on how to maneuver their webbed feet on land.

You already know where this is going, don't you?

It's not that we can exclaim...GOSLING DOWN! It's more like GOSLING GONE! So far, just one has been picked off from the nine, and it was a male which I can't help but notice the relief on the handlers faces when they came to that realization.  What is it about my gender....we are just not appreciated!

We have more geese laying, brooding, or still deciding where to nest...as they roam a large area. All this is to say that more goslings will be hatching over the next two months. But what really pleases the handlers is that the grass has not required cutting with their push reel lawn mower since early April when the geese arrived. Every night, when the geese come in closer to the house for protection against fox and owls, they are busy working...cutting one blade at a time.