Oh my gosh, December 20th already, ...tomorrow is the shortest day of the year, by the time we get down to the barn and do all the stalls it will be time to start evening chores !!! In the Winter we watch dawn break and then scurry down to the barn, 5 or 6 layers of clothes, that gradually get shed as we start to steam. In dawns early light, horses start to stir, whinnies and whickers, bleats and baaas, low,deep mournful moos and Adolf the rooster cockle doodle dooing as we open the ranch gate. Destiny hangs her pretty grey head over her stall gate, nose wrinkling as she quietly welcomes our arrival. Tiger and Shy the resident barn cats sit perched on the fence posts and then leap onto the warm truck bonnet almost before the engine has been turned off. Lucky, the black cat, always aloof and generally a loner ( except at feeding time !) lounges on the horses blankets, ears pricked and one eye cautiously watching the door to the feed room. In the barn kitchen ( ranch control room ) Greg busily starts the woodstove and soon the smell of woodsmoke and a thin whisp of grey smoke curls out into the early morning sky, Bran the dog finds a warm spot to wait for the action to start. Apart from the gentle sound of animals stirring, all is so quiet and still. In the distance an eagle calling, a cayote family yipping and howling and sometimes the noise from the highway breaks the peaceful morning. I love the mornings.....then the day begins and everything changes ! Ooops, got to go,...it's still pitch black out there and the cuckoo clock just told me it's time to move. Take care, enjoy that coffee, M
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