joesmithreally

Farm Fresh Eggs – $4/dozen

Happy, healthy, naturally raised chickens. Australorps, Barred Rock and Rhode Island reds. Very hardy. After a very slow period from mid-November to the end of January when the days were shorter, the girls are laying 15-18 eggs a day.

Beauty is too skinny

We abandon what only annoys us, take our faba and melon alone and early in such as light as the curtains allow, purchase the weather from checkered gentlemen, sketch lilies in the margins of unread flight novels and barely speak of how our days went. C’est la. Take the print from that wall. It isContinue reading “Beauty is too skinny”

LGD Puppies

Boz & Isla became parents on November 23, 2022. They’ve grown SO fast. This is from morning chow time on January 19th. 5 females are available to the right country home to people who are familiar with LGDs and have a purpose for them. There are so many restrictions at Facebook, Next Door, craigslist andContinue reading “LGD Puppies”

There

An abrupt abutment of wide earth and broad air is a line that draws him without end to the boundary – of wide earth and broad air. He plows a square on the plain without end to the boundary: the bent hedgepost by the sun. – He plows a square on the plain he inheritsContinue reading “There”

My dogs sleep in holes

Dogs like to dig holes. Fair enough. But this seems weird. What’s that poking out from under the dog house? It’s Isla, resting in the hole she dug. Odd pup. I’ve built two dog houses so far. Each time, the sheep have moved in and the poor dogs have to share their inside space. OrContinue reading “My dogs sleep in holes”

Barn Swallow Delight

I have an inordinate affection for barn swallows. These tiny birds, weighing less than 1 OUNCE (~28 grams), fly thousands of miles from the northern to the southern hemispheres in early autumn and back again in Spring. They eat only insects, usually in mid-air, and their amazing aerodynamics is a sight to behold. I loveContinue reading “Barn Swallow Delight”

Icelandic Sheep

Way back in 1988, after spending several months in France (where I was a migrant worker, picking strawberries and apricots — a unique experience and story for another time) and several weeks in England, I spent two days and nights in Iceland when my flight out of London was delayed because a bus load ofContinue reading “Icelandic Sheep”

A Welcome Recess

After nearly 3 weeks of frigid, sometimes sub zero, temperatures and consistently accumulating snow, the thermometer reached a balmy 45 degrees yesterday with the sun shining brightly. Finally, some welcome melting of snow that has reached an average depth of 2-3 feet. I won’t call this a sign of spring. It’s merely a recess. It’sContinue reading “A Welcome Recess”

HughesNet? Don’t Do It!

Before I moved to the country, I knew my internet and television options would be limited. There would be no cable or fiber service as there is in the city. In the city, I used to switch between Spectrum cable and AT&T, regularly switching from one to the other when they offered a good dealContinue reading “HughesNet? Don’t Do It!”

In Admiration of Animals

This cold is getting old. It’s -5 degrees today, Valentine’s Day, with a “feels like” wind chill of -23 F. It hasn’t been above 15 degrees for 10 days and it’s not supposed to “warm up” to a HIGH of 20 degrees until Wednesday. On a day like today, I can’t be out for moreContinue reading “In Admiration of Animals”