In winter, there are no goose footprints on the
snow , so I think it has not come out of its nest. I carried a pot of boiling water, boiled the ice in the basin, and scalded the corn hazelnuts in the food basin. This was breakfast for geese, cats and dogs.
At this time, I heard geese calling “goose goose” in front, and the sound fell over the roof covered with thick snow. I put down the kettle and saw the goose standing under the pine tree where there was no snow. The snow is surrounded by the dense canopy, the pine branches are bent, and a thick layer of pine needles has fallen from the canopy, which looks warmer than other places.
It looked at me and barked twice again, with a broad and powerful voice, like opening a door in the air. I drove it to eat. The snow on the ground has not been swept, and it seems to be blind and unable to recognize the way. It ran to the road between two rows of pine trees, and it was only when it reached the gate of the courtyard that it realized that it had gone wrong, and turned back. I chased after it a few steps, and it flapped its wings and ran, as if it was about to fly. I wish it could fly and be out of sight and we wouldn’t have to worry about feeding it and it wouldn’t be freezing every day. But this is a world of ice and snow, where can it fly? The swans and wild geese flying south had already flown away three months ago. At that time, a group of geese flew over the academy, and the big white goose often raised its head and hooted to the sky, with its wings spread out for a run-up, trying to fly. My mother said that the white goose’s wings should be cut, otherwise it will fly away.
But never cut. At that time, it was fat from eating, and it was difficult to walk, so how could it fly away. At most, there is a desire to fly. Now it is so thin that only a bunch of feathers remain. It ran up and spread its wings, as if it was going to fly, but it hit the snowdrift, its whole body sank in the deep snow, and its outstretched wings were supported by the snow.
I took it out, put it on the ground and pushed it away, watching its red paws stepping on the snow, and its whole belly lying in the snow. I can feel its cold feet.
When it came to the food bowl, it saw a small pile of green leek leaves, and it pecked vigorously. That was the gold that was brought to the goose yesterday. It lay down in the snow and ate vegetable leaves, covering its frozen red feet under its belly. Can it warm its own feet, which are covered with snow and ice? I spread cardboard on the ground for it, and then spread pine needles and leaves, hoping that its feet would not be too cold when standing on it. It doesn’t appreciate it, lying stubbornly in the ice and snow beside the paper shell.
I’m really worried it won’t survive the winter. Every morning when I open the window, what I want to hear most is the cry of the big white goose. As long as it barks, I feel relieved. It seems to know that I wake up at this time, it calls under the pine tree, the sound reaches my ears over the roofs of two houses and the vegetable field covered with thick snow.
Foster care
This is the first winter it has lived with us.
We fostered it at Lao Guo’s house last winter. In April, Jin Jin took my mother to buy two small geese and two shelducks from the farm, and they began to lay eggs in August. The eggs of the big white goose were big and white, and the eggs of the shelduck were as gray and pockmarked as their name. At that time they were in the coop with the chickens. The geese raised their necks all day long, chasing the chickens “geese and geese”, and pecking at the feathers of the chickens that were disobedient. They become the boss of the flock. The two mallard ducks were smaller than the rooster, so they could only stay in a miserable state, neither mixing with the chickens nor the geese.
Jin Zi went to the hen pen several times a day to feed, add water, and collect eggs. Every time he collected goose eggs and duck eggs, he was as happy as a child. She gave the eggs to the kitchen, and she kept the goose eggs and duck eggs, and put them in rows in the basket, saying that she would eat them when her daughter came back. My daughter is young, just a few months old, and she said she will come back next year. As a result, a few duck eggs were put out badly, and the goose eggs were put before the snow.
The weather was cold, my mother went back to Shawan for the winter, and we also went back to Urumqi to live for a while, leaving Fang Ruquan to guard the yard. The chickens, ducks and geese that have been raised for more than half a year have to be disposed of. All the roosters were slaughtered (I’m really sorry for the roosters), and the 3 hens were raised by the chef’s sister-in-law’s family. The two geese and two ducks were sent to the villager Lao Guo’s family for raising. It was agreed that the eggs laid would go to Lao Guo’s house, and two bags of corn would be given. When it was warmer in Xuexiao, two of the three chickens raised by Mrs. Wang died. The two ducks that were fed at Lao Guo’s house died, and one goose died. Lao Guo was embarrassed and sent over the 4 goose eggs he collected and the surviving goose.
When we sent it, the snow-white and plump goose turned into a chicken in one winter, with black hair and dull eyes. I don’t know how it survived in Lao Guo’s house. Lao Guo’s chicken has warm rings. The so-called heating ring is just a small house that can keep out the wind at night. However, dozens of chickens from Lao Guo’s family are crowded together with our ducks and geese, and each chicken, duck and geese is a small warm bag. The geese are among them, it is a big warm bag, they rely on each other for warmth. But the two shelducks and one goose still didn’t survive the winter.
spring
It’s winter again in a blink of an eye, and the fattened chickens in the pen will be slaughtered again (I’m sorry for the chickens again). The goose no longer dared to send it to Lao Guo’s house. It was supposed to be slaughtered with the chicken, but it was left behind. In the winter, the chicken coop is empty, and it looks cold. The chicken went to another world to escape the cold. The goose stayed, alone bearing the cold of the circle and the yard. Under the two project boards standing obliquely against the courtyard wall, there are egg nests made of gold for chickens and geese. Now one has become a nest for geese to spend the winter, and it is covered with thick wheat straw, while the other is occupied by the yellow dog Xingxing. The nest with ventilation at both ends is actually only slightly better than the open air, and can block the cold wind from the west.
The temperature dropped a few days ago, and we had to go back to the city for the New Year. The big white geese, cats and dogs were entrusted to Mrs. Wang’s house to feed. Her husband came over every day to boil a pot of rough noodles, and we all ate together. Don’t worry about cats, they can catch mice. Don’t worry about the dogs, they can always get something to eat. When we went back to the academy the winter before last, we saw the shepherd dog Moon guarding most of the sheep under the pine tree, which must have been stolen from the villagers. Lao Zhang, who lived behind the academy last year, said that he slaughtered a pig and hung its head in the barn. The dog ate it. Jin Jin said that he did see the moon eating the remaining half of the pig’s head. We don’t raise pigs either, so we can’t pay Lao Zhang a pig’s head, so we can only say sorry. These dogs have caused us so many troubles over the years. The year before Moon Day, he bit Old Wang, who fired the boiler of the village committee. Jin Jin drove Lao Wang to the county hospital for a rabies vaccine. In July this year, Xiaohei and Xingxing killed four sheep of the villagers in the stubble field behind the mountain, and we lost 6,000 yuan. Now we have blocked all the holes in the courtyard wall that dogs can get out of, so they can no longer go out to cause trouble, nor can they climb up to the haystack on the top of the slope to bark at the sky at night.
Before returning to the city, I put the corn sticks broken in the autumn vegetable garden in a pile under the pine tree where the geese often go, and put some beside its nest, so that the geese will peck the corn grains by themselves. As long as there is enough food, it can withstand the cold. In the city, I often turn on the surveillance video and see cats and dogs around the food bowl, and see big white geese pacing on the snow.
When I came back after the year, the car drove to the gate, and the moon, stars, and Xiaohei were all guarding the gate. They could hear the sound of my car. When the car drove to the corner of the road, there were still hundreds of meters away from the gate of the academy. , They heard the sound and ran to the gate. I got out of the car and opened the door, and the three dogs threw themselves on me affectionately, and Jin Zi distributed the dog food he brought to each dog.
The big white goose stood under the pine tree and yelled. It lost a lot of weight. When it saw us, it opened its arms and seemed to fly over. The two yellow cats disappeared. Fang Ruquan said that the cats went to other people’s houses to eat, and they would come to the yard in a few days, and they might see that we didn’t come back, so they left again.
I went to the goose’s nest to see that the corn sticks left for it had only eaten half, and there were 4 goose eggshells on the ground. During the 20 days we left, it laid 4 eggs and probably ate them all by itself. . Jin Jin said that the goose would not eat its own eggs, it must be Xing Xing and the little black thief. I took the goose egg shell and interrogated Xiao Hei loudly, did you eat the goose egg? Interrogate the stars again. Both dogs looked confused and pretended to be confused. I guess the stars must have stolen it. It lives next to the goose, and it may just be eyeing the goose eggs. The next goose eats one, leaving us with an empty eggshell. But I didn’t see it with my own eyes. Just eat it.
In the morning, I boiled a pot of boiling water and carried it, and the goose was already watching by the food bowl. I boiled the ice in the water basin with boiling water, and then boiled the frozen feed. The geese dipped their beaks into the water and dabbled with their beaks while drinking.
After eating, it stood at the base of the wall, raised one foot, and changed the other foot after a while. The concrete floor is too cold. The cardboard board I spread for it was thrown aside, but it still didn’t know how to stand on it, maybe its webs were frozen.
Early the next morning when we returned to the academy, the big white goose walked over to see us from the front. I sprinkled some celery leaves on it, and it hadn’t seen green leafy vegetables for a month, and it lowered its head to take a bite, and looked up happily.
At noon, Jinzi saw the goose lying in the nest, she closed the ring door, and heard the geese crowing after a while, Jinzi said that the goose had laid eggs, and asked me to collect them quickly. When I went out, I saw that the stars were also looking towards the place where the geese were singing, and Xiao Hei was also looking there. It seems that they are all waiting for the goose to lay eggs. This makes me a little unsure if Xiao Hei or Xing Xing is stealing the goose eggs. I pointed at the stars and then at Xiao Hei, and cursed fiercely: If I steal goose eggs again and give you away, I don’t want you anymore. Xing Xing knew that I was scolding it, so he tucked his tail and hid. Xiao Hei had a naive look on his face, and I felt wronged again by Xiao Hei.
When I got to the edge of the nest, the appearance of the goose made me laugh. It was lying in the nest, with its whole head and neck sticking to the grass, and it was obvious that it was hiding instinctively to prevent me from seeing it. I used a long wooden spoon specially designed to collect eggs to push its buttocks away, and it twisted its buttocks to protect the eggs. I still took out a large white egg in a wooden spoon. Seeing that one of its eggs was taken away by me, the goose stared round and round. The goose had no expression, but it must be in a mood. Will it feel the same as a farmer who loses a year’s harvest? Perhaps it is used to its eggs being taken away. It started laying eggs when it returned to the academy, and it has laid more than a dozen eggs, but we didn’t leave any of them to hatch children. Thinking this way actually gave birth to some people’s sadness. Will the goose be sad?
At night, I heard geese calling outside the window. It has been dark for a while, so what is it doing instead of going to sleep in the nest? Or what is it trying to tell us? I went out to check, it was dark outside, and there were no lights in the yard. The white goose stood on the snow and looked at me, its eyes reflected the starlight. Maybe its own light. I went over to touch its neck, and it turned around and walked along the snowy road we stepped on to the side of Xiaochaimen. It called back, as if to say hello, and then went back to its pen. .
I was shivering from the cold, and when I returned to the warm room, I thought that the goose had also returned to its nest under the ventilated engineering slabs at both ends. It can only use its feathers as a warm house, cover its bare webs under its belly, and stick its beak into its feathers.
I heard the geese again. Its cry opened a door in mid-air. From the window on the second floor, I saw it looking for food in the garden behind the house. In some places, the snow had melted away, exposing the dry yellow grass. At noon, I carried a shovel to the base of the glass house in front to clear the accumulated water. The melted snow on the roof accumulated in the gutter at the base of the wall, half of which was ice. I took the shovel and knocked open a small gutter to let the water flow down. I have to do this job every year, but if I don’t do it, the ice in the sink will melt in a few days and it will be unblocked. But go for it anyway, one can’t wait for the season.
Before turning back to the restaurant, I saw the goose looking for food in the strawberry field. I thought it was eating the exposed green strawberry leaves, but it was not. Under the half-thawed snow, it found the fine grass sprouts that were exposed first. When it pecked at the grass sprouts, it also ate the ice grains into its mouth, making a crunching sound, like a child chewing candy.
Summer The courtyard that had
been covered with thick snow all winter was suddenly exposed one morning, and a few farm tools that we thought were lost ran out by themselves. They fell to the ground and slept in the snow for a long winter. It gets warm quickly. Jin Jin bought 5 little geese at the market and threw them to the big white goose. The big white goose obviously likes the little goose, but the little goose is afraid of the big goose. After all, she is not her own mother. Do these goslings have real mothers? Probably not, they broke out of their shells in the hatchery and have never been taken by big geese. They are only afraid when they see them.
My mother built a small circle with cardboard boxes in the yard and fed grass and water. Bring the goslings into the house in the carton at night. In addition to being afraid of being eaten by cats and dogs, kites flying in the sky will also snatch goslings. There are at least seven or eight kites in the academy, circling the treetops every day, catching pigeons and birds, and pigeons are often eaten by the kites, leaving a pile of feathers on the ground. I also rescued a pigeon that day. It was knocked down by the kite’s wings. The kite followed closely and caught it. I shouted and ran over. . The kite flew away on one side, and the injured pigeon also fluttered to the tree.
The newly bought goose should be shown to the moon, the stars and Xiaohei first, and told to each dog that this is the goose we want to raise, not wild. Dogs are sensible, and when they see people getting close to geese, they know not to bite them, and they will be beaten if bitten.
The first kitten introduced the moon and the stars when it was brought, and now the cat and dog are the closest friends in the yard. In winter, two kittens and two big cats huddle together with Xiao Hei to keep warm, Xiao Hei lies on the carpet at the door every night, two kittens get into Xiao Hei’s arms, and two big cats lie on Xiao Hei’s back , Xiao Hei remained motionless, hugging them through the cold winter night. One morning, Jin Jin opened the curtains and said that the big white goose was also crowded with little black.
This summer, when my little granddaughter Zhizhi came to the academy, she first brought a few dogs to let them know each other. The dog sees that we treat Xiaozhi well, so he knows that we can’t treat her badly. When Xiaozhi goes by, he stays far away, for fear of accidentally bumping into the child. Zhizhi is not afraid of dogs and cats, so he chases them and catches them. But afraid of big geese, it will chase Diao Zhizhi.
Three of the five little geese we bought survived, and they are now big geese. My mother still herds geese in her electric car every day. They recognized my mother’s electric car, and followed to graze on the lawn in front and the orchard in the back. Geese are timid and only go where my mother took them, and dare not run far.
The big white goose sat in the dog hole in the orchard on the slope.
Last summer, the big white goose sat in a nest once. It occupied the nest where the chickens laid eggs, tore off its own feathers with its beak, and put them in the nest. It laid an egg and kept covering it. Another one came in the next day. It hatches two eggs into goslings. However, the climate here is cold, and the gosling will be cold before it grows up. I’m afraid it won’t survive the winter. Gold took its eggs, but it still lingered. At noon, Jin Zi saw the duck approaching the goose, pecking at the goose’s neck, and talking. After a while, the goose got up and walked away, and the duck hurriedly jumped into the goose nest and laid a small hemp egg. Then the goose clutched the shelduck’s egg and held on. My mother said that geese are the same as chickens. When it comes to nesting season, they will cover even a stone egg.
Jin Jin said, last year the big white goose didn’t hold a baby goose, let it hold a nest this year. I thought she was just talking about it. When I came back from a business trip, I didn’t see the big white goose. I asked Jin Zi, and said that she had been sitting in the nest for 12 days, and the little goose would come out in 18 days. Jin Zi cleaned up the kennels by the pond in the orchard, and exchanged 7 goose eggs from our family for 7 eggs from the villagers. The female goose in their family mates with the male goose, and the eggs laid can hatch goslings.
I took Xiao Zhizhi to the door opening to watch. The goose was lying on a small pile of wheat straw that I closed up with my mouth, looking out at us, and I may have forgotten who I am. Gold put a bucket of water at the door, and it was still full. I asked Zhizhi to wait by the goose nest, and I went to the vegetable field to pick up a handful of wild lettuce that geese like to eat, and threw it into its mouth. It just pecked a couple of times, and concentrated on hatching its eggs again. My mother said that geese, like chickens, do not eat or drink when they are hatching.
On the day when the goslings were supposed to hatch, Jin Zi and the cook went to see, only 3 goslings hatched, and the other 4 eggs were all broken. The little goose just pecked open the eggshell, and was still struggling inside. The gold peeled off the rest of the eggshell. This was done by the big goose, which would peck the eggshell with its beak to let the little goose come out quickly.
The hatched goose was placed in a paper shell with cotton cloth underneath, and Jin Jin put a baby warmer under the cotton cloth, and covered it with another layer of cloth. It was the first time for Xiao Zhizhi to see the little goose coming out of the eggshell. I put the fluffy goose in her hand, but she didn’t dare to move it. She didn’t know how to face this little life. The three little geese spent the night in my study, and they were returned to the big goose the next day.
My mother took care of the big goose and the three little geese like herding the three geese, releasing them to graze during the day and going to the chicken coop at night. They are growing day by day, maybe the little geese also feel that they were born a little late, autumn has come, and they have to hurry up to eat grass and grow their bodies, and grow feathers that can keep out the cold as soon as possible. In winter, they will walk barefoot in the snow and ice with the big geese, and rely on their feathers to survive the cold and long night.
It snowed
heavily all day and all night. Many branches were broken by the snow. The green grass that was still everywhere yesterday was buried by snow overnight. Except for the big white goose, the other geese have never experienced winter. I don’t know if they will panic when they see such a heavy snow. The snow fell so suddenly that the trees didn’t shed their leaves, the fallen apples were not picked up, and the peach trees and grape vines were not buried. People and vegetation are not ready, and winter is coming.
Fortunately, the three goslings have grown to half their size and have grown thick fluff. They were placed in the orchard together with the three goslings that grew up first. When it was first put in, the three big geese ran after the little ones, probably because they wanted to make out with the little ones, and the big white geese followed behind to protect them. Within a few days, they became as close as a family.
In my study on the third floor, I often hear geese singing as they practice flying on the green grass by the orchard. I went downstairs and looked outside the wooden railing door. They spread their wings, and the geese yelled loudly. They ran south to the fence, and then ran back. Three newly grown geese ran ahead, followed by the big white goose and its three children. The big white goose is already 3 years old, and he already knew that he could not fly, but he still spread his wings and followed the flying movements. The two little geese seemed to believe that they could fly, their wings were raised high, and their paws left the ground one by one. Seeing me watching from outside the wooden gate, they all held their arms, as if they were afraid that I would see them practicing flying.
When I opened the railing door to go in, all the geese came around and stopped when they saw that my hands were empty.
Feeding geese is gold. She feeds half a pot of wheat to the geese every morning. Food for geese and chickens is bought from villagers’ homes with gold. The day before the heavy snowfall, Jin Jin heard that the price of corn would increase, so he called chef Liu Ronggui to the sixth team to buy 7 sacks of corn, and then drove to the Xiangshang factory to crush them and put them in the warehouse. Dogs and cats that have no bones to chew in winter have to eat boiled corn grits. Goose also eats. But geese seem to prefer eating wheat. Maybe prefer to eat grass. But the grass was suddenly buried by snow. Some of the wheat for the geese is left every day. Or the beak of the goose can’t eat the wheat grains in the basin. Jin Zi brought back the leftover wheat left by the geese before dark, and she said that the mice would eat it all. On the north side of the orchard is the alfalfa field, and on the west side is the wheat field behind the mountain ridge. When I was walking, I saw many new holes made by mice. There was nothing to eat in the field, and the mice started running to people’s houses. Both cats in our yard have kittens, and the mother cat goes out to catch mice every day to feed the kittens. Even so, it can’t stop the mice from running to the yard. Last winter, the corn sticks used to feed the geese fattened two big mice. They got under the firewood stack and the cat couldn’t catch them. They came out at night to steal the food we fed to the geese. I haven’t seen those two mice for a long time, maybe they were caught and eaten by the cat. It is also possible that after a winter, spring, and summer, they quietly died of old age.
Speaking of old, I think of the 3-year-old big white goose, it is considered old. Although there are 6 geese to accompany it this winter, each goose has to bear its own cold. The fluff under the stomach is only enough to cover its own paws, and its beak that is afraid of freezing can only be stuffed into its own feathers. But they will squeeze together. There will be 7 voices shouting loudly over the sunny academy. At least they won’t be too lonely.
