We call this the Pink Chair; it is a rescue chair. We found it at the town dump; it was about to be hauled off for garbage. We couldn’t bear to see it go, so we took it home and put it in the barn. It has excellent presence and dignity. The Pink Chair is a favorite napping spot for the barn cats.

The big barn is where old chairs retire, get burned during bonfires, restored and used, or just forgotten. There are all kinds of surprises and mysteries in old barns, and ours is about 200 years old.

We went out to the pasture to do the chores together while scouting for today’s photographs. Afterward, Maria and Fate, and Zinnia headed out into the back pasture and the woods, on the trail already left by the sheep and donkeys as they searched hungrily for something to graze. Maria loves those woods, sits by waterfalls, talks to trees, does sketches, makes videos, looks out for fungus and tracks. The woods are here cathedral.

Fate always looks back, hoping for a better deal.

On these cold days, the sheep root around the feeder for seeds, which they love more or more than the hay. They are much more aggressive and pushy on bitterly cold days than any other time; they need the energy food.

We opened up the roost – the chickens haven’t come out for several days – to feed them some old barley in the refrigerator. They gobbled it up, except for the red hen, who hung back. The roost was built six or seven years ago by local members of a religious community. They did a great job; it withstands wind, snow, ice, and rain. The white hen gave me a good go-over with her eyes and then ate her barley.

They’d rather be out pecking around, but it’s not a bad life. They even have heated water and a heat lamp.

The donkeys are usually easygoing and generously share their hay with the sheep. Not in this cold wave. They stomp and butt and hiss at the sheep, who back off and respect the donkey’s space. The donkeys are grazers; they take the hay out of the feeder and dump it on the ground, which is their most comfortable eating position – heads down. The sheep stayed clear.

It is warming up a bit, and I’m easing up like the donkeys. Hopefully, in a day or two, I’ll be able to wander more. We’re putting off the weekly Bishop Maginn visit until next Tuesday – the roads are a mess in Albany. I’ll do the Mansion Meditation Class Thursday morning.