One of my beloved mentors keeps calling 2020 “this rock-n-roll year.”

I love it.

Is she right or is she right?!

I’ll tell you what has kept us sane (or at least semi-sane) this year to date - each other.

It is hard to get too out of yourself with anxiety or stress or anything else, really, when a certain feathery “alpha” flock member starts shrieking for his warm rice dinner at exactly 4:42pm no matter what.

The more things change, the more (some of them at least) stay exactly their wonderful same.

Bruce, of course, is in hibernation FOR REAL right now. We had a super-cold snap at the very end of October and he went down for the count right then and there.

I have to admit I am getting slightly better at this whole “hibernate the box turtle” routine - if by “better” we mean I only do safety checks once every few days instead of once (or more than once) every single day.

In fact, it was so cold during that cold snap that Malti slept for two days straight, sandwiched in between two warm and cozy heating pads in her posh indoor big girl tortoise “She Shed.” And - here’s the real news - during those two days she didn’t even want to EAT.

Her mama almost got worried. Almost.

Pearl was fine with this, by the way. With Bruce snoring and Malti snoozing, it was almost like things finally got back to normal - the kind of normal when there were (count ‘em) no shelled flock members at all and he had his large featherless assistant all to himself again.

Sigh. Those were the good ol’ days for sure.

In other news, isn’t it lovely that November always ends so reliably with a big dose of gratitude? We sure feel it! We are feeling grateful for every thing. Every. little. thing. A burst of sunshine? Grateful. Waffle seconds (heck, waffle firsts)? Grateful. Warm morning coffee and warm evening wine? Grateful.

YOU? Oh so grateful.

How are you? How is your flock? What are you feeling grateful for right now? Please don’t be shy - we love to hear from you. Your good company, friendship and connection is a true blessing and a gift, both in this crazy COVID year and every single day.

As always, we send you all our love.