Owls and a walk in the park

A sighting up by the pond has me concerned for my chickens which I had planned to free range in the front field this summer. As we passed by the pond on the UTV two owls took flight. One landed not far away and Tim was able to clearly see that it was a Barred Owl. We are guessing that they are a breeding pair. With an owl family so close I may have to rethink my chicken plans and keep them in a pen.

It was a beautiful spring day so we took two dogs over to the nearby state park for a run. The park officially opens later this month and until September it will be overrun with campers and families. Until then we locals enjoy the quiet and beauty of the offseasons.

Tweed enjoys getting out for a run.

She seems to think she can run on water too.

Ditto is bored with spring so she decided to point some tweety birds.

She briefly indulged my request to pose nicely for a photo.

A Winter Visitor

We are still in winter's grip here at Fireside. On a drive down to Albany, NY yesterday we were surprised to see bare fields not too far south of us, winter is slowly losing the battle. The forecast is for reinforcements tomorrow though, hopefully more snow than ice.

Mid-morning today the dogs were roaring at the back door. I looked out to see what first appeared to be a white Shepherd in the field, up by the treeline. As I grabbed the binoculars I realized it was a coyote and it sat down and proceeded to watch the house. It sat there for at least 5 minutes before heading away. We don't see or hear coyotes very often here so did not feel compelled to shoot, I hope it doesn't ever give me reason to regret that decision.