CHICKENS! It's what brings Fathers and Sons together?

CHICKENS! It's what we're doing on the farm right now...preparation, anticipation, building, and raising.
CHICKEN fencing, CHICKEN waters, CHICKEN feeders, CHICKEN brooders, CHICKEN houses, CHICKEN-egg washing, CHICKEN butcher dates, CHICKEN chicks, CHICKENS roosters, CHICKEN...CHICKEN...CHICKEN....
So it comes as no surprise to anyone around here when the current project is the CHICKEN house.

Dear Farmer and Honorable Son No.2 have been plugging away at the creation of the new CHICKEN house.  They had the spent one day grating and leveling the area where the house will go.  Now they are in the shop building the frame...because that's a good indoor activity during the cold rain.
Dear Farmer is loving getting to work with Honorable Son No.2.  The two are very alike in ability and practical thinking.  Honorable Son No.2 anticipates what is coming next, measures everything correctly, and laughs at the same jokes as Dear Farmer.

Dear Farmer came in from work...after day number two of working together...very happy!
Dear Farmer is anticipating the work taking half the time, and turning out to be correct from all angles in the end.  Those alone are reasons to be happy...but the best part is working, laughing, and spending time with his son.

And Honorable Son No.2 has found out...he really likes Dear Farmer too.

This proves two beautiful facts:

1. Neither Dear Farmer or Honorable Son No.2 are CHICKENS themselves.
2. Real men aren't CHICKENS about mending relationships.

Late-Night Hay Feeding

Dear Farmer was all in a tizzy...rain was coming!
 Lots of rain, over a relatively short time, makes the fields very sloppy for the tractor.
Sloppy for the Farmer.
Sloppy for the feeding process.
Dear Farmer HAD to get fifteen very large square bales out into the fields before the rain came and he would not be able to traverse the tractor-path due to rain.
Hooking up to the hay-forks and loading a helper(WhizBang!Farmer's Daughter) onto the tractor, out they went....two bales at a time...this means they would need to make ten trips to get the cows the needed fourteen bales of hay and three new-to-us feeders into the fields.
They started the process at four-thirty in the afternoon. Tractors don't move very fast.  The process of just picking up two bales can be time consuming.
By five the rain started coming. Little drops can feel really big when you're in an open cab riding in the open fields.
By five-thirty the temperatures started dropping. The two made a quick dash inside for winter coats and gear.  They were feeling the cold chill quick!
By six in the evening the wind kicked up. They were on trip six and just hoping to get in before...
By six-fifteen it was pretty dark.
By six-thirty it was dark and the family was sitting down to dinner...feeling a little bad that we were eating grilled pork chops(Dear Farmer's favorite meal) and he was still on a tractor working. DONE!  Now they just had to park the tractor back down at the machine shed and walk back home in the cold, dark, rain.
Dear Farmer and the WhizBang!Farmer's Daughter sat down to dinner.  We had the food warm, the woodstove hot, and the fellowship lively.
Dear Farmer won't be doing that one again soon.  He can sit back and enjoy the rain...

Waiting for the Rain

Every day, without fail, Dear Farmer is checking the weather. Using his instinct as a farmer, his skills as an untrained meteorological professional, and the ache in his sinus cavity: he interprets the various websites that predict weather, reads the forecast in the farmer's almanac, and watches the animals.

The old-saying is true...cows will lay down when it's going to rain.
The cows feel the change in the pressure system, and when it gets too heavy, they lay down(probably because of the throbbing headache...have you seen the size of a cows sinus cavity?).  So usually we see the cows lay down, and then they get up-move to high ground, and the rain starts.

The goats will smell the rain coming and run inside the barn.  Goats hate to get wet.

Our farm dogs will beg to come inside.  They are wimps when it comes to rain.  One of our dogs will hide in the hallway...the sound of the rain on the metal roof scares her.

Dear Farmer hasn't started to ache in a joint or "feel it in his bones"...but he does get it right more often than the weatherman.