Friday was very warm and mild. I decided to get outside to go on my daily run, early. The weather was nearly perfect. No wind. Just sun and the lovely beauty of the prairie. On the run I saw a few Wooly Bear Caterpillars. Most of them had a lot of brown rings around their bodies. More brown showed then black. Research or folklore (whichever) has indicated that seeing more brown fuzz could mean we will have a mild winter. I mused about the caterpillar forecasters as I ran. How clever the caterpillars are if they are right about the coming winter. Brown color absorbs less heat than black. So they are pretty smart to grow more black fuzz for the colder winters that they "forecast". Each time I saw a caterpillar I began to fret that I may not notice the next one that came along in the grass. I worried that I may miss it and accidently smoosh it with my shoe as I ran along. Luckily, and to my knowledge no caterpillars died during my run. After my run a few hours later, the weather had already changed. Strangely the wind was blowing out of the south, but it was now really cold. I spent about an hour outside freezing to life. There were some snarky pheasants in the field. Each time I passed by one of them they would fly up in the air and make their scratchy squacks. I have noticed that a lot of male pheasants have moved into the two fields on the west side of the property. I attribute their moving onto the property to having planted natural grasses this past spring in the fields. I believe the pheasants have also moved in because we no longer cut all of the hay in the fields. The pheasants now have a natural habitat of tall grass to hide inside. The pheasants are so pretty and also very clever. But they scare me each time they scratch a squack. Everything is so quiet and then they jump up and scratch their call. I recognize their call because it is simple to realize. Not only the call. I can also see them flying in and out of the field calling and jumping. They also like to run back and forth in the tall grass. They appear very whimsical because their tails look like swaying grass. They blend like a dream. I have tried to wade into the grass to look for them or flush them out. I always at these times wish I had a hunting dog. But nevertheless, I do not want a dog so I just flush them out myself. I try and make them fly upward because I would like to get a nice picture of a pheasant with my camera. But they are a little smarter than that and can conceal themselves and hide very well. Pheasants I have discovered are genius at disguise. After the pheasants I went inside the house and dumped some hot chocolate all over the counter and onto the floor. It was a real sight. Later after it was all cleaned up I felt my shoes sticking to the floor as I walked in the spill zone. More action was needed for the spill area. I spent the rest of the day freezing to life in my house. I had a cold protein drink that set me into a chill that an emporer penguin could respect. I decided to put more clothes on to warm up. I put so many sweatshirts on that I think it was hard to tell if I was a clothesline or a human. Besides all that jibber. There is still lots to chat about at Coteau Valley Farm. I will write more later. Please remember to keep the heat up on the thermostat. I secretly imagined what it would be like to set the thermostat to one hundred degrees. I would do it right now but some folks think it is to pricey. As if. It would be so nice and warm at one hundred degrees. Like Arizona or someplace of the like. More soon, friend. Keep cozy. And watch out for those Wooly Bear caterpillars.
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