I'm tired.

The way I know this is that my hands are sore. Don't ask me how that makes sense, but if you'd been doing nothing but working at your job, and sewing, typing, laundry, and egg washing, your hands would be sore and you'd be tired, too.

I've been making egg money. I love making egg money. I just enjoy caring for the chickens -- food, water, egg collecting. I enjoy the "bocking" they do when they see me and when I toss segments of mandarins around the coop. I am currently in the hole on my egg making adventure, but the chickens are starting to lay more because the weather's warmer. They are also laying more because they are getting food and water on a regular and ongoing basis. I also talk to them and tell them they're good girls to lay so many eggs. I think that helps the most.

I wish it was spring and I could go buy apple trees and plant them on the hill. Lately, it feels like spring, but it's a January Thaw, which means that the snow and blow of winter will soon return. The ice will reform on the lake and twittering birds will be deterred, as will fruit tree buds, but while I wait for the wrens, swallows, and orioles to migrate to my acre and for the soft smell of the blossoms on the peach, pear, and apple trees, I have the soft clucking of my hens and the gentle tapping of eggs in my collecting basket as I make the rounds of the chicken coop. And that's enough to get by on.