Welcome new life and goodbye to a old friend

I think spring has finally arrived! It was a long hard winter Uncle Ken said it was the hardest in the twenty six years he has lived here in Bainbridge. We had our water freeze up a couple of times and even lost it at one point for seven days, and the wind was brutal which it seemed to have howled everyday. It was so cold that I lost all my honey bees this winter, but with all this the worst thing was we lost one of my dogs. Doc the misfit Beagle, which I did not think at the time I got him would amount to anything other than a floor thumper. He had become a great rabbit running hound, I would listen to him run every morning and evening almost like clock work. Tari and I would watch come up the lane toward the house just at after dawn and he would hit the brush. Kenny Ray had saved him from falling thru the ice on the pond only to caught I believe by a pack of Coyote,s as he never returned from trips to the brush as I searched for days and could find no trace, Tari and I still watch the lane in the mornings, we miss him very much.
                                                          But with spring we are surrounded by new life, as the land comes alive from it,s long slumber. Almost everyday the woods become greener and something else begins to bloom. A Buff Orrpinton hen has become broody this past week and is sitting on her clutch of eggs. All the hens are laying and we get right at two dozen eggs a day. Our California rabbits had there litter about ten days ago and they now are haired over and eye's open. Kenny Ray and I picked up our newest farm member yesterday 'Pork chop' the pig. She is a wonderful addition here she is four months old and weighs about 80 pounds and I am planning on having her bred possibly next December or January. I have purchased two additional pigs for May delivery and one is for the freezer and one for sale. I sat out at the hog lot this afternoon with Belle the wonder Lab,as she said hello to Pork Chop and tried to play tag with her like she doe's Skippy the rooster, but Pork chop paid no attention to her and she moved to the pond for a swim. As I sat there watching the pig root around in the mud I thought back to my childhood, of my Grandpa Patton and how he walked down the lane
with slop bucket in hand toward his pigs. He would be whistling or singing" Ruby don't take your love to town" and it brought a smile to my face. The spring was my dad's favorite time of year as he said you are surrounded by new life, while I still prefer October spring is a close second.