Hope is the Thing With Feathers

Life is always a rich and steady time

when you are waiting

for something to happen or hatch.

From Charlotte's Web

E.B. White could have been describing life on a farm in the spring.  Randy has been planting corn. We've again opened the pasture gates that were slammed shut and padlocked last fall. Next week, even more mamas and their babies will begin to dine on tender green grass which blankets the pastures after timely spring rains.

Those scenes are part of the ebb and flow of a spring season on the farm. . 

On Saturday, Randy had noticed a nest on top of the 4-wheeler ramps. He excitedly told me about the two pretty blue eggs nestled inside the precariously perched nest in the storage shed. Since it wasn't at our house, I didn't take time to look that day.

However, on Sunday, we needed those 4-wheeler ramps when we had cattle out. I snapped a few photos of the nest, even with the urgency to get the cattle back to the confines of the fence before church.

Randy gently moved the nest to a nearby wheelbarrow ...

... while we used the 4-wheeler ramps for their intended purpose - loading and unloading into the pickup.

 

When we got back to the shed,  Randy again arranged the nest back on top of the ramps.

 

He hoped that the temporary change of address wouldn't bother the birds.

It's one of the things I love about my farmer. Though his hands are big and rough, he is gentle with children and kittens and bird's nests. No scrambled eggs if he could help it!

On Tuesday, we moved another group of mamas and babies to the Ninnescah Pasture. And we also discovered a surprise. The nest now held four beautiful blue eggs!

We still haven't seen any birds tending the nest. I was hoping for robin's eggs, but my friend, Pam, thinks they are starling eggs since we didn't see a mud cap on the nest. (Neither Randy or I are experts in bird - or egg - identification, and Pam is a good sport to help me out long-distance through photos.)

So the nest and its precious contents remain perched on the metal ramps, above an array of farm necessities like net wrap and 4-wheelers and fence chargers and cattle supplies. And we watch with anticipation.

Hope is the thing with feathers 

that perches in the soul.

Emily Dickinson

Hope can even happen before the feathers. Hope can be bright blue eggs in a cluttered farm shed. It's just what we needed right about now.