Is it Spring yet?

The answer to that question is No! even though we've just had a few warm and sunny summery days here.

We woke up at 4:30 this morning to the sound of 70-mph winds. Sounded like a freight train, and the noise reminded me of the windy night when Hurricane Ike marched through downtown Houston. It was so windy this morning that we didn't go back to sleep. I had flashlights and candles ready in case the power went out, but that didn't happen. Thank heaven for little blessings.

The cats are inside and will be going through cabin fever again before the week is out. Gatsby went outside for less than two minutes this morning, then he sat by the back door waiting to come in. And to think the other night it was so warm out there that he slept in his favorite chair on the back porch. Poor cat must be wondering what happened between then and now. So are we.

The wind has died down some, but it's still blowing out there. Most of the tent that I had suspended over the little yard by the coop has been blown to bits. We really need to re-work that space outside the coop-- frame it with wood and put chicken-wire all around it so I can eliminate the fabric-tents that I've been using to keep the chickens out of sight from hawks. And that one side of the coop that faces the backyard..... it would be nice to add plywood sheets there, right on top of the fencing, so the wind doesn't come screaming into the coop from that side. It's the only side of the coop that isn't protected from the wind, and the plastic sheeting and fabric that I've hung up there just doesn't cut it on days like today. I can hear my husband now: These 'free' eggs sure do cost a lost of time and money.

We will have freezing nights until Friday.... then the night-time temperature will go back to 50 or 60 degrees. For the second year in a row, we're having a never-ending winter, along with the rest of the country. Global warming? More like global freezing.