They instinctively and habitually roosted in solitary slumber on the top of stall walls and among the rafters of the barn, suspended in the midnight air where they were particularly susceptible to the extreme elements. But the chickens, with their pea-sized brains, didn’t do any of these. They might have burrowed into straw like the rabbits, or slept crisscrossed and stacked together in a pile, harvesting each other’s body heat like the pigs, or even snuggled up next to a resting cow like the sheep. They were not bright enough to find ways to keep warm. It was our small flock of barnyard chickens that were truly traumatized. The large animals were fairly amazing in that respect. The cattle and horses shivered through, visibly miserable and coated in hoarfrost, but surviving.

That cold wreaked havoc across the farm, laid a frozen bony hand on everything in its path. That arctic blast was enough to send anyone and anything to that dangerous dreamland called hypothermia. Such was the case that particular winter. My unofficial definition of un-Godly cold is when the thermometer doesn’t budge above minus ten ˚F for at least two weeks. Barns on a poor, mid-century family farm were unheated. But at least I had a warm house to retreat to when my work was done.

Sure, my little boy fingers and toes got cold, maybe even numb, when I was sent outside to complete my winter chores – glorious tasks like chopping a hole in the foot-thick ice of the water trough so the horses could have a drink. We all suffered, but it was the livestock that suffered the most. This fickleness took root long, long ago.įlash back (way back) to one un-Godly cold winter during the dark ages on the farm in Wyoming. Did I mention men? I love and hate them the most. I have a similarly convoluted love/hate relationship with most things in my life: with men, school, writing, work, summer, cars, winter, men, sports, dancing. And therein you catch the gist of my fickle life. You will just need to get used to them.ĭomestic Bantam Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis ) Barn Owl (Tyto alba).

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