Around The Farm In Early Springtime

I'd been opening the pigeons' window for quite a few days but they refused to go outside. Then one day I saw this bird flutter out the window and across the yard, crash landing on the front lawn, near the county road:

I knew it was confused and disoriented, so I shooed it back toward the barn. It flew up onto the roof, where it stayed for two days and one night. I eventually coaxed a couple more birds out to join it and show it how to get back into the pigeon coop:

Sunrise over the manure pile, a picture of beauty and foul smells:

The chickens love being outdoors and, in fact, it's generally an ordeal for me to get them back indoors at dinnertime so that I can relax for the night. They'd stay out until dark if I let them:

The cows refused to come into the barn for grain for a week because the miniature horses were in there. But one day a few of them got brave enough to come in and touch noses with the little equines:

After that, a few of them got brave enough to come in for breakfast, though a few still stood at the door and worriedly peered in:

The miniature horse stalls I'd built were woefully inadequate, so I began building a new one, big enough for them to stay together:

Here it is, almost completed, with its own florescent light:

I looked around for some sign of spring, but the best I could find were the swelling buds on my old fashioned lilac:

I looked for signs of spring until one morning, the farm looked like this:

It would have been beautiful if it wasn't supposed to be springtime. These were the trees which bordered the north field:

And the apple trees. I had to content myself with the assurance the spring would surely arrive - someday: