Winter Grooming

Little Gray is now an inside/outside cat.  As I watch him meticulously clean himself, I think about the differences in grooming.
 Especially now, the sheep get hay all over themselves.  Sometimes, they get in the way when I am trying to give them grain and end up with that in their fleece as well, but not to worry one of the other sheep will eat it off.  Other that that, they just shake really hard.  They also go out in the rain and snow and after one of natures showers they look beautiful.

The geese like to go in the pond and duck under to clean themselves.  When the pond is frozen the geese will take a bucket bath.  They stick their head deep in a bucket of water and try to throw it over their shoulder until they are fairly wet.  Then they use their long necks to move the water around.  There has been snow and mud on the ground for several days and the pond is frozen.  But, one day the valve on the rain barrel at the barn wasn't frozen so I could fill the big catch bucket with water.  Cirrus was thrilled.  He watched me fill it and then precariously climbed in.  It is about ten-twelve inches tall so a big step for him.  Once in, he had a blast and took a long wonderful bath.  Getting out isn't much easier than getting in so he was teetering on the rim and as he stepped off he fell forward and his chest hit the mud.  Ug, I felt so bad for him.  I tried to tell him I would wash it off for him but he walked off trying to wipe it off.

The chickens take dust baths when there is dust to be had, otherwise I don't know what they do.  They look pretty clean though.

And then there is me.  I take fewer showers in the winter though now that I found soap that moistens the skin instead of drying it, I do take more frequent showers than I used to.  The soap, we found in a small town on Nova Scotia.  The woman who makes it harvests sea vegetables from the local shore and adds some essential oils with different properties. We still try to take outside showers whenever possible but we have had a long stretch of cold nights and some wind that is the worst when it is already cold.

Back to little Gray,  he follows me into the bathroom when I go to take a shower and I would love to know what he is thinking when I turn on the valves and make it (rain?).