15 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours

Need I say more...?

Brantly wearing a hat I crocheted for my brother

Now if that just isn't the CUTEST thing, then check out this....

Life in the "Bachelor Pad"

Here is a picture of the Buckarooster and Monty in their new home. They seem to be getting along fine with the ducks and geese. They want hens, of course, but you know what they say-- "you can't always get what you want...."

Wiccus watching the puppies play at the Cottonwood Inn

Many thanks to Graham's Grille in Taos for helping the hungry!

As many of our guests know, we've been taking in quite a few rescue birds this past year. As the number of beaks have grown, so has the demand for items like fresh greens and tasty snacks (especially when it's minus 9 outside). We are so fortunate to have found a friend in Leslie Fay, owner and chef of Graham's Grille here in Taos. Not only does Graham's continue to offer fabulous fare to their human guests, they now have generously donated their scraps to the hens (and toms and roos and ganders) of the Cottonwood Inn.

We are so happy to be able to give our birds something fresh and healthy to eat-- and something so different from the usual old scratch. Collecting and saving and storing leftovers for our birds is quite a commitment to make. We are so grateful that the folks at Graham's have given their time to helping out our hungry birds. Not only do the birds make out like bandits, but the local landfill benefits as well.

If you're in town and hungry for the best green chili cheese burger or decadent dessert that Taos has to offer, don't drive by the Taos Plaza without paying Graham's Grille a visit.

Here are a couple of photos of our birds enjoying their food-- Ms. Squawkers, Za Za and Wilhelmina have a bit of something green, and Wiccus, our Midget White tom with evidence of his snack still on his beak.

Whoops!

Wow, just realized that people have posted comments on this blog. I didn't know people could do that. Yes, yes, yes. I know it's very sad. To all you folks who've commented since 2009, very sorry to have (inadvertently) ignored you. I'll do better in the future, I promise. Now, if only Barney Sharp Talons would drop me a line....

Today is the second day for the "Rooster Bachelor Pad" experiment. As I've continued to take in random strays I've realized that that the majority of the unwanted birds out there are roosters. This year alone I've added 3 to the flock(Bernard, our head Roo, doesn't seem to mind, actually).

Since the barn is sitting huge, vacant, and insulated, we've decided to try a bachelor pad. Over in The Bach Pad right now are The Buckarooster and Montgomery (Monty, for short. Monty started out life as Monique. Surprise, surprise.)

People say (I've already heard it) "Why do you want a bunch of roosters??" Well, I don't particularly WANT a bunch of roosters, but I do love chickens and these guys play a really tough role in the current backyard chicken trend-- nobody wants them and the rules say you can't have them within most city limits. When they are sans hens roosters are actually quite calm (I can hear all the comments from here). Inside the Taj Mahal (read: barn) with its foot-thick walls is the perfect place to keep potentially noisy critters. Let's put it this way-- The Buckarooster can crow his brains out at 3 a.m. and nobody can hear him. Except for his unfortunate housemates, of course.

The above is a picture of The Buckarooster.

Notes from our time away from the Cottonwood Inn

In addition to not writing blog entries for the last 6 months Brantly and I also went on our first vacation in two years. We took a leisurely drive from Taos to the Oregon Coast-- we drove my Father's VW Eurovan, which he left here last Spring. On the way, we left a vehicle in Denver so we could take the Amtrak back from Oregon.

The drive across country was absolutely stunning-- highlights were Yellowstone (we nipped through on the second to last open day of the year) Coeur d'Alene (BIG summer houses with NOBODY there!), the Washington Cascades, and Port Townsend. Port Townsend is CUTE!

Along the way we were able to stay at a variety of different types of places. From the truly great bargain in Walden, Colorado (the North Park Inn) clean as a whistle, outrageously cheap, and in the perfect place in our time of need (after 11 pm, freezing cold, and we were exhausted) to the over-priced and underwhelming Denver boutique hotel that charged for everything except the oxygen in the building-- extra $$ for WIFI, parking, breakfast (holy cow-- $9.00 for a cup of yogurt with granola), no in-room coffee/tea/refrigerator, not enough shampoo in the dinky bottles for 2 people to wash their hair, and most unbelievable only one nightstand per bed??!)

Did I mention $259/night and only one nightstand??

Maybe this won't bother most people, but as readers, we were a bit nonplussed to have to put our drinks (purchased from the in-room wetbar-- a soda for $4 can), books, and reading glasses on the floor.

I was also eager to try out the much-lauded Frette bedding. I have to say I wasn't impressed (much to Brantly's relief, as he didn't want to have to buy bedding sets for 1K plus). It might be that the harsh chemicals and laundering they go through in a commercial laundry take away from the softness, but they merely felt thin and scratchy.

Of course my conclusion is that the smaller places offered much more for the money.

Lot's of great bird watching both on the way and in Oregon. Mass Canada Goose migration was a fantastic event to behold. Also a HUGE flock of Trumpeter Swans occupying a pasture in the middle of nowhere just outside of the Washington Cascades.

Back at the homestead we've got lots of bird-watching opportunities, ourselves. Wiccus, our White Midget tom turkey, has figured out that we live behind the windows he sees each day. He has begun to lurk around outside our bedroom window, peering in and making contemplative clucking noises. Truly a Peeping Tom....

Today we had a good 5 inches of fresh snow on the ground, a first for several of the younger hens. Our hen Lavinia refused to come out of the coop, instead standing a few inches inside the door and screeching disbelievingly at the snow. She is usually the first one out in the morning and is very good at flying out of the coop and ranging the entire property at will. Welcome to winter in Taos, Lavinia.

There is more snow on the way, hopefully a good 5-10 inches for us and more up at the Taos Ski Valley.

Okay, here are some pictures to accompany the post below:

Here is one one of my Michael Kluck chickens, Schmoo and Sparky acting cute, Dinky Van Duuck Schmoo looking brown.

For shame! For shame!

It's been 6 months since my last blog post (feels like confession....). What can I say? We've had our best (read: busiest) year ever here at the Cottonwood. It's finally slowing down for a few weeks and I'm going to catch up on EVERYTHING (well, maybe not EVERYTHING) that has happened in the past 6 months. Lots of activity over on the new property, the little house is finished (pictures to come) and we've continued to work the land this year. New native grasses have gone in and we're hoping they will give the thistle some competition. The explosion of our duck population (yes, Anne Duuck hatched another group-- Inky, Blinky, Pinky, & Floyd, to keep young Dinky van Duuck company) has been good for bug and weed control. Having two giant dogs trampling everything has also been good for weed control. Even with the dogs over there we've been able to plant a spruce, two cottonwoods and an oak. They seemed to do well this last year and benefited from the weekly draining of the duck/goose ponds. We've been expanding our fencing venture to allow the fowl and pooches access to the other acre of the property. Unfortunately, the pooches are expert escape artists. There must be 20 miles of fencing around the land, but they continue to find ways under, over, through it. We're going to take a fencing breather and then hit it again in the spring. We've also been busy here at the inn. Lots of new furniture in our rooms and several nice "face-lifts" in the rooms. We acquired a delightful hand-carved desk from a Santa Fe artist as well as a Jim Wagner cabinet with guess what painted on the front....Yes! A chicken!! Local Santa Fe artist Michael Kluck has also contributed to my growing chicken collection with not one, but two hand-carved beauties. Yes, his name is Michael Kluck and he carves chickens (but lots more, too! This was part one of the update, part two is underway.

A new baby duckling!

Yes, the duck/duck/goose trio (Anne/Jean Claude Van duuck/Bridgette) have produced offspring! We believe it is a duck, but it could be a cross (??) Suggestions for a new species name range from Gooyduck to Doose. The little girl/fellah is cuter than a bug in a rug. However, there is some confusion over exactly HOW to raise him. Mama goose Bridgette is trying to imprint goose behavior while Duck Mommy Anne is busy trying to pass along her duckyness even though she is quackless.

Van duuck, meanwhile, chases his offspring, chases the geese, and generally terrorizes the occupants of the poultry yard.

Pictures to come soon....

Okay Barney, What Gives??

Yes, I've received another letter from Bernard's wild cousin, Barney. He is dealing cards on a riverboat on the Mississippi. He's had an unfortunate incident as a result of some time he spent in the back of an 18-wheeler sleeper. I'm thinking it's time to take up a donation for the Barney Patrimony Defense Fund.

Of course Barney is always welcome here at the Cottonwood, where he could spend his time with some REAL chicks.

Barney, Barney, Barney.

Okay, lots of updates in single post

I absolutely can't believe it's been 4 months since my last post. So many new and exciting happenings. Where should I start??

The weather has been a bit screwy this winter, snow then hot, then snow, then hot-- well, you get the picture. What's that annoying saying, "if you don't like the weather in __insert geographic location here___ then just wait 5 minutes!"

Lots of new critters-- 2 ducks, 3 new geese, 3 new turkeys, but no partridge in our pear tree yet.

The ducks were are rescue from a college kid in Santa Fe. They are a mallard and a Muscovy hen, with another Buff American goose. I named the Muscovy Anne, as she is very dainty and well-behaved.

The goose is Bridgette and the mallard we initially named Maurice, as he is a suave little talker who keeps his two females happy. However, we had no idea how "Maurice" would fit in with our other 5 geese-- Squanto, Mr. Joshua, Yvette, Susie and Snarky. Well, we needn't have worried about the health of Maurice. As soon as he got into the pen he began chasing and attacking the ganders and trying to chase the geese into his little harem. Well, we had to change his name. We decided he was much more of a Jean-Claude Van Duck. Yes, he continues to live up to his name.

Our turkey population, too, has exploded. We brought in a White Midget Tom to keep Thelma and Louise company. He is a very sweet and friendly bird who came from a home with 5 toms. He was at the bottom of the pecking order there, so they needed to find him a new home. He is still a bit pecked on looking but has gained confidence as the biggest fowl in the hen-way.

About 3 weeks ago we received our last (and that means last for a while. I've finally got my hands full!) additions-- two turkeys so emaciated and featherless that we weren't sure of their gender or breed until about a week ago. We believe we have a tom-- Sniraga and hen-- Nettie, of the bronze breasted variety. They are both incredibly friendly birds who protect me from Bernard when I come into the pen to feed them in the morning. They are bulking up nicely and very pleasant to the other birds in the run (except Bernard, who deserves it).

The flowers are starting to bloom and we finally had a bit of rain this morning and I can HEAR the weeds slurping it down. The blossoms are out on the plum, pear, apple, peach, apricot and cherry trees. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for no heavy frosts for a bit & hopefully the fruit can set.

The work on the barn progresses slowly, and we are just about to finish the poultry room and move all the chickens and turkeys over for a few months to give their current run a chance to recover from all the grazing. I will miss getting to look out the front window and see my girls, but they will enjoy unlimited access to 2 acres of grass and bugs!

Pictures of everyone to follow shortly....