Chickens on a Frosty Morning

Here we go round the mulberry bush,
the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush,
Here we go round the mulberry bush
On a cold and frosty morning

 

This morning it was frosty on the grass, on the trees, on the roof of the chicken coop. Alice stared at the white stuff, all crackly under her feet. When she pecked at the water in the bucket it had a hardness like glass that broke in pieces. And it was coooold!

Alice: Whoa! This must be ice on the water and...that white stuff on everything must be frost!

 

 

 

Twelve Kinds of Ice

 

Alice: It's just like in the book - it's the --

First ice...

"The First Ice: The first ice came on the sheep pails in the barn--a skim of ice so thin that it broke when we touched it."

Joanie B: Cluck, cluck, cluck - First Ice is the only ice in Milpitas, California.

(Having experienced 3 1/2 winters, Joanie B. knew her Milpitas, California kinds of ice in winter - one.)

Joanie B: ...but...first ice might come again -- a second or third time this winter - if we are clucky, er lucky.. braawwk!

Alice: Wraaaeeell - it's a good thing we have the Milpitas Library and library books or we wouldn't know about the other 11 kinds of ice - or even - what snow is - like these chickens do somewhere in Minnesota, North Dakota or Maine:

Notes from Laurenjoan

As Terry Golson of HenCam.com states on her blog - "An average chicken has 8,500 feathers. That makes for a warm coat. Like her wild bird cousins, a chicken will fluff up, trap air under her down, and stay cozy, even in below freezing temperatures."

So, no worries about Alice and Joanie B. in the cold....

And, when I see the frost and the ice on the water trough, I feel a sense of wonder and joy - especially because it is so short lived here in the Bay Area. Once the sun hits the frozen water - it is melted in a blink - whoa - where'd it go? I guess that's why I liked Twelve Kinds of Ice; I can experience the other 11 kinds of ice in the comfort of California!

Also, its nice to find images on Google that look like Alice, the chicken of the snow -

But by reading Twelve Kinds of Ice, I realize that maybe we can have another kind of ice here in Milpitas....

 

 

Dream Ice

"This ice came in our sleep. We never knew when it would come, but when it did, we could skate anywhere we wanted--down roads, in and out of yards, and over the tops of trees..."

even in Milpitas, California.

Twelve Kinds of Ice