Welcome February!

Oh those mornings I remember standing on the side of Elbow Drive waiting for a break in the traffic so I could run across to Woodman Jr. High School.  Those mornings in February when it was -40 degrees F!  Those mornings when I promised myself, once I was an adult, I would NEVER AGAIN be found in Calgary in February.

Well, this morning I was most definitely NOT in Calgary.  Instead, I was in my backyard, here in Paradise.  (Otherwise known as Florida...) 

It was a GLORIOUS morning - just enough "crisp" to the air that I didn't get too hot feeding the horses.

My sweet next door neighbor did some clearing on his property yesterday and gifted us with a GIANT pile of freshly cut grass!  This pile is about half of what there was last night... but since I didn't get home until after dark, I couldn't take a picture of it then. 

The horses were SUPER happy to help get rid of it!  (Even what you see there is only about half of what was left... there were two more piles on the other side of the pasture!)  Of course, I had already done my workout for the day, so my arms were TIRED after hauling all that using our pitchfork... 

The flock of sandhill cranes came back while I was finishing up spreading the grass...  They are tough to miss - each has a wingspan of probably 8 feet and when they fly they make this SUPER loud call.  They flew into the neighbor's yard, so I grabbed the iPod and headed back to snap a picture.  I took 8 or 9 of them, but since I don't wear my glasses out to the barn, only one of them actually turned out!  (sigh... it's tough getting old...) 

Sorry, it's not as good as I was hoping for - but you get a good idea of what a beautiful morning it was!  LOL

Here's a stock picture from Wikipedia - in case you've never had the pleasure of meeting a Sandhill Crane in person.   The neighbor's son showed up to feed the horses and chickens.  As soon as his truck pulled in the yard, they started walking up to the barn, honking the entire time.  He said they eat right out of his hand!  (They "clean up" any spilled chicken feed...)  They have 4 "chicken tractors" (coops on skids so they can be moved around the property as the chickens eat down the grass/bugs in one area) so whenever they move one, the birds flock over to tidy up anything that might be left.

Here's hoping February continues to be this lovely!  (And I hope yours is lovely as well - with or without snow and freezing temperatures...)