Hi everyone. The blog invite was sent by master blog-meister, Nancy Dykstra.  :) I'm also perfectly happy sending the e-mails to friends and family who want to read them.  The blog will always be a "no-pressure" blog!  Read it if you want, contribute if you want, ignore it if you want.....It's fun and rather novel thing for me , and--it comes in handy when a friend wants to join the e-mail list but didn't read everything up to that point, but it's not my goal to have everyone checking in every day.....  Signs of spring:  In addition to the few sandhill cranes, I finally saw a few robins this morning.  I've heard them around the property, but didn't see any until today.  Last year, when my bro-in-law Russ was cutting trees and putting up our livestock fence, there was one tree in particular that I had asked him to cut down, but then changed my mind because there was a robin nesting in the top of it.  He commented something like "This must be robin-heaven, or something!  There's practically a robin in every tree!"  and it's true.  Lots of trees, great crop of worms because of the rich soil, and I'm sure that having the house vacant for 2 years gave the robins lots of time to set up camp undisturbed.  (Now they have cats to contend with, so the population will decline, I'm sure). And...another sure sign of spring:  the daffodils are coming up in clumps in front of the barn.  No idea how long they've been growing there, but, last year, the daffodil garden was the first thing I tackled, as far as starting to get the yard straightened up.  It will be fun to watch that garden and a few other areas shaping up this spring. Sly and a....skunk?  raccoon?:  Sly the black cat was in his first fight last night (the first fight HERE!  He got in many fights with other cats in Palatine, and we've probably put at least $500 into antibiotics because of it).  We heard the yowling, and called him in.  It's always funny--he comes in very flighty, with his tail all puffed up.  He almost took a swipe at both dogs because they moved towards him as he dashed past.  I shone a flashlight out under the bushes, and saw two little close-set eyes looking back at me.  We don't know if it was a skunk or a coon, either one could have been looking for chickens to eat or a place to make a den.  Driving Jeff, Jeremy and Michael to Crystal Lake this morning (the train for J and J, school for M), there was a big dead skunk less than a quarter mile down the road from us.  The first thought (and I'm ashamed to admit it!) was "I hope THAT's the skunk that Sly was fighting last night!"  A love of wildlife changes a bit when the property (or garden, or other animals in question) is yours!  I still think that skunks are kind of cute, but I'd really prefer them on the outside of our property line!  Raccoons....I don't really think of them as cute anymore, not after seeing the huge one that was shot in our barn, or after seeing the half-grown babies come hissing viciously out of the hole in the wall. Calf-news: Farmer Bob told me yesterday that I should be able to feel the calf in Bessie's 7th month, so we're getting close.  I'm supposed to press my hand into her lower right-side belly, and the calf will be close enough to feel it.  I tried it today, but I can't really tell if the movement is her digestive tract, her breathing, or really the calf!  Something did seem to kind of roll inside of her, though, so I want to think it was the baby.  ;)  Could be one of those 7 stomachs.... And manure, again: Moms will understand this.  Remember cleaning a game room or organizing toys in your kids' rooms, and finally getting a mess under control?  You feel relieved and there's a fleeting sense of accomplishment.  And that's when the kids think "Wow.  This room really IS great!  Look at all the toys that I forgot about!"  and proceed to make the same mess all over again.  Well, that's Bessie and Lou, every morning, as soon as the nice, fresh straw is strewn out for them!  I clean the dirty straw out of the cow's area every morning after milking (and sometimes before, if it's really bad by the stanchion).  Immediately, they seem to think it's bathroom time.  Not a big deal, it's the nature of the job, but it does make me think of how futile it feels to clean house sometimes.  (I just appreciate it when they are considerate enough to lift their tails while the manure fork and wheelbarrow are still handy, and not after the tools for the job are put away!  And USUALLY, they are facing the pile of new hay, so the fresh food for the day is spared the warm shower....or worse!) Have a great weekend.  Looks like it could be nice and warm.  Great weather for those tulips and crocuses to start poking through the soil..... Laura.