Back Again

As I sit here this morning, I did not realize I had not blogged since January. 

Oh, for the days when I blogged every single night after supper! 

I just can't seem to do it anymore. 

We have left the frigid conditions of January and February, and we are now at the end of April, when things are looking decidedly springlike. 

There have been some surprises along the way, these last few months. 

Bob's life hung in the balance for ten days. 

On this day, I had actually taken him to be euthanized, as we had medicated and 

given ivs all week to no avail.  The doctor left the room... and the tech was kind enough to take what I thought were last pictures. 

Within a few minutes, the doctor was back with the news that part of his bloodwork had come back early, and the culprit was revealed... feline micoplasmosis.  As it happened, I already had a med at home that Coco had been on... I began it that day and within five days he was back to his normal self. 

Whew. 

All I can say is Bob, Bullseye and Wanda are expensive cats. 

A year ago in March, my son borrowed a 20 foot trailer from his brother in law and hauled some fencing panels for me.  The trailer sat at my house for a year, I mowed around it.  It was pulled out on Thursday of last week.  I am going to spread thickly.... pollinator flower seed in this space and water them in good! 

I have had to start mowing, but NE Kansas is far behind in rain.  We need some, and we may get some later today.  I would love for it to come as steady rain and not tornados, please. 

I thought this two year old Cochin hen was a goner, I kept finding her in odd places. 

What has actually happened is that she has gone broody. 

Oh, yes, I need to rake that hen house out and re-bed it. 

This Wyandotte DID go broody... she is barely a year old... and hatched out two tiny 

little chicks.  I suspect they are the product of Rocky, my tiny mille fleur rooster, but we shall see. 

We have had beautiful nights. 

And beautiful, beautiful days.  

I had to put the mother and babies in the brooder house with the four week old chicks (out of sight to the right).  See how she has pushed straw into the water fountain?  I have to go out there six times a day to make sure she has water, and .... woe betide the older chick who DARES to come near her babies.  My plan was to raise those 17 new chicks in the brooder house, and she has wrecked my plans.  I can't let her out... the chicks will be lost, I have never had luck with mamas raising their own. 

I had a very bad fall on Friday.  Nothing is broken, but I am very sore from it, and Chico and I have been spending time in the recliner under the heated blanket.  It is getting too warm for that, let me tell you. 

Guess what?  The mama eagle must be on her nest somewhere, because the male is the only one visiting! 

It's so hard to get a decent picture on a cloudy day. 

You know I love wildlife but man... I feel like I am feeding all of Leavenworth County sometimes. 

I pour a small pile out on the floor as I pick up the bowls in the evening. 

I actually had to move the big bin holding the cat food into the big hen house... it's a pain to carry it back and forth... because I could NOT for the life of me keep the raccoons out of it. 

That's Teeny the Meany, one of the three barn cats. 

The warming lights are all off now, it's 77 out there today (April 22). 

This beautiful dilute calico is Diamond Lil, named by Kitty Cat Connection, not me. 

She came here six years ago, I have never touched her.  

She came with Coco, who was called Coal at the time. 

Lil lives in Troy's barn next door... but... she eats in the garage on my property.  She has been greeting me every morning for a month or so now, so I take a two piece feeder and I give her wet food on one side, dry on the other, and then the big bowl of dry goes in there, too, you can see a pile from it, here. 

A bowl of water is always in there.  I start talking as I get close to the garage in the morning (I feed her first) and I hear her meowing to me as I get there. 

Twenty years ago here, I planted tulips.  There are a few that still come up.  Every fall I tell myself to plant more... and every fall I forget or put it off.  I enjoy the ones that lived! 

I hope everyone is well and I am sorry it was so long in between posts... life should be getting easier for me but it is getting a little harder to get everything done here.  I am hoping to stay here for a few more years. 

Thanks for reading! 

The Cold January

Paths of ice through the snow.  We had just enough melting for several days, and they refroze and about killed me. 

This one, especially. 

The badly-sited brooder house that I bought last year lays behind the old garage on the property... the original house was on this south end... and next to the barn, because it was cheapest to run the electricity from here.  It is dangerous in bad weather... everything you are looking at is a layer of ice. I spread cat litter on it to try to get some grip.  The back door (where the red bucket is sitting) froze in the worst of the storm last week, and I had to brace the door shut with a fence pole. 

We'll come back to this. 

My guardians have been coming daily. 

Yesterday and today, though, in the bitter cold, they have stayed in their aerie, which I think is down on the treeline near Tonganoxie. 

The starlings finally found my feeders on Saturday. 

They have only been here in small numbers today.  Oddly, I was kind of glad to see them so they could clean up the sunflower seed on the ground. 

It is nine degrees out there right now, and the wind has been blowing all day.  It's awful to be out. 

My girls in the barn are getting through it, thank God. 

That's Mama and Cleo.  

Teeny still sleeps in the straw filled wood stove, even though 

there are two heated cat houses in there. 

I have a heated dog bowl for water. 

This morning, for the first time, I lifted the water fount in the old henhouse, and the lid felt frozen onto it.  Last winter I had fewer birds in there, and I have a deep dog bowl to use if I have to... but... they get so full of debris. 

I have heater bases under all the metal founts. 

We have two more days of this terrible cold to get through, then back to the thirties and forties. 

I'm seeing lots of crows, too. 

I would say about 60% of the snow has melted, but... now we are below freezing for another two days at least.  At least I am not going through 16 inch drifts. 

This happy little dog, Mr. Floofy Ears, aka Chico... has been here exactly one year today.  He was brought here last year on a snowy day with cold temps. 

He has been a blessing to me, even though we keep having to get up and go out at night here lately. 

Bob is still here but wearing on my patience lately. 

(you see the driveway has melted quite a bit) 

My dear old rooster Buddy, in the background standing in the sun here, 

put himself into the little hen house a week ago, and then stayed in there.  He normally was king of the Big Hen House.  He is having trouble walking and getting up the stairs, his feet are missing many toes. Buster, the younger rooster in the foreground, left him alone. 

This morning, he was huddled under the warming light with a couple of older hens in back in the big hen house.  I'm going to drop it down a few inches when I do evening chores. 

Wanda was so glad to get out on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but she was 

glad to go back in last night.  I think it may be Wednesday, maybe Tuesday, until it's warm enough for everyone to come out again.  

They hate the snow. 

These beautiful birds in the Brooder House, Igor the rooster and the two La Fleche hens, the two Putih Ayam Cemani (white) hens, and the two Bielefelder hens have gone to live with a friend from Fort Leavenworth. 

Negotiating the frozen walkway between the garage and the hen house was increasingly hard, and I took my life in my hands every time I did it in the last two weeks.  I carried my phone religiously, but if I had fallen it might have been hours before I was missed.  I finally realized I was really taking too many chances, and I mentioned to my friend that I had some birds to rehome, and he was interested.  He came Friday to pick them up, and I gave them to him gladly, knowing they would have a good home. 

I miss them dreadfully, remember, I raised them from day old chicks... but it has been a blessing not to have to walk back there.  Igor was one of the best roosters I have ever raised. 

I have some plans for the brooder house, but for now, it sits empty, it's water empty, it's food dish removed, and the lights out... waiting for spring. 

Everyone take care in this weather that is hitting our nation on all sides. 

 

BRRRRR! The Polar Vortex has Returned!

That was the view from my front door last Sunday, January 4. 

The storm started the afternoon of January 3rd. 

That was looking out towards the deck... I had tried to shovel a path, it was too soon. 

At least fourteen inches settled on the deck... I did manage to open a  path... and have used it all week. 

I have paths through the yard, but oh, the drifts were HORRIBLE. 

On Saturday and Sunday, during the worst parts of the blizzard, I went out to refill wild bird feeders and take care of my chickens at least six times each day. It was hard.

That is what my parking area looked like on Monday morning.  As you see, Bullseye went out... looked at the deep snow, said "Ooops" and ran right back inside. 

I managed to open up a tiny path and lo and behold... My neighbor Garry and his brother appeared in a Polaris with a blade!  They scraped a good path down my very, very long drive and over to the old hen house, which made my chores on that side so easy (!) this week. 

(What I forgot to tell you is that the car had no heat or defrost for a week, and the dealer could not get it in.  I had a tarp across the windshield to keep it from icing too badly. 

It was fixed on Friday in Tongie at the garage there, and I have HEAT again. )

Then Garry got out and shoveled enough snow that I could get to the car. 

I am so grateful to them. 

As of today, Sunday the 12th, the chickens have been in ten days.  I did open the door to the covered yard of the brooder house today to see if they wanted to come out in the air... 

the answer was... Uh, NO. 

And...I found possum tracks in the covered area... I think it has been under the hen house.  I may go out there this evening (at 4) and find it in the warm hen house with the chickens. 

This is not to say I have not gotten eggs all week. The rockstar Rhode Island Reds and Indio Gigantes did me proud.  There were actually nine for two days (all nine hens laying), one was in the closet. 

I have given away nine dozen eggs in the last three days. 

I am very, very disappointed in the Columbian Wyandottes, and would not raise them again, I get very few eggs from them. 

Yes, I know it's winter. 

I would gladly add more Rhodies and a few Marans. 

Having said that, I have come to understand that I am not going to be able to use the 

brooder house I bought last year another winter.  

Shoot, I did not know we could not load videos from our phones anymore thru Blogger, or I would show you.  I'll take some pictures out there when I do chores and you will see. 

When I bought the house, I intended to put it near the water pump, and near the large and small hen houses on the west side of the yard.  The cost to trench electricity from the barn came out at 4,000.00, and yes, you read that right.  I said no.  We ended up siting it just south of the garage, and next to the barn on its east side, to bring the electricity over.  Be aware of this if you buy a pre-made, and it is not wired, and keep in mind your costs to connect to electricity. 

There is about two feet of clearance between the garage and the brooder house.  It drifted DEEPLY and I had to shovel it in frigid circumstances.  The door froze and I had to shut it all week with a fencepost braced on the barn, until it thawed yesterday.  There are six hens and a rooster in there, but... I am going to have to re-home them, I think.  They are the hens who get out through the fence almost daily... and... this carrying water in bad weather (and carrying feed) has proven very hard for my seventy four year old bones. 

So. Many. Memes. 

We were indeed, closed, all highways were closed and it was terrible driving. 

I was home five days straight, and finally got out for birdseed and feed. 

My two youngest grands were out of school all week... they were supposed to go back on Friday, but there was freezing rain. 

Precip again Thursday night.  Yes, there were moments of beauty. 

I'm over winter. 

I have spent a fortune on wild bird food, and I'm not kidding. 

I'm embarrassed to admit how much.  I am trying to let them clean up some of the sunflower this afternoon. 

Wanda is living in the big hen house for the time being.  It is 34 out right now, and I would let her out... but I am afraid I could not get her back in. 

Our weather is diving tonight, and we will be up and down all week. 

If we could get a little bit of melting, I would consider letting some of the hens out, but... I don't think it will possible this week. 

The two warming lights in the barn, along with the heater and heated water dish, have kept everyone in there (three cats) safe for the week, better than I expected, in fact.  (That's Mama in the picture) 

I have not been dumping cat food into the bin at night like I usually do, I figure anyone struggling in this weather deserves a meal. 

(possums or raccoons) 

NOT KIDDING. 

And now... the pictures everyone was waiting for...

That is a bird bathing in my heated basin in the yard.  BATHING. 

It was about ten out at the time. 

I managed to dig the basin out two days later.  

I have another fortex of water out there I dump at night. 

I have seen a LOT of these guys, a whole murder, in fact. 

And these guys, who don't come in fair weather because the cats would get them. 

Three have been coming and I bought peanuts for them especially. 

It was sure beautiful, if you were not a little creature trying to survive. 

So many cardinals, and I am not kidding.  Probably seven pair out there one evening... they are always the last at the feeders so I put extra peanuts out for them. 

I just stopped typing long enough to go put more peanuts outside and the squirrels came down out of the maple almost as soon as I did. 

The joke is on me... I am watching one eating right now at the foot of the maple, and he is eating sunflower seed with a pile of peanuts next to him! 

Beauties. 

Stranger Creek valley to the east of me. 

Finches trying to eat during the storm.  They are on the balcony rail outside my window. 

Even the eagles looked cold.  

Saturday, Sunday and Monday, they must have been in their aerie. 

Tuesday, they were back on the comm tower. 

The wind was blowing their feathers. 

Looking opposite directions. 

Click on the pictures to make them bigger. 

And... just so you know... Chico runs up and down the plowed driveway to do his business, dragging his 20 foot long leash and MAMA right behind him.  He is not going to be eagle bait. 

I was standing at my back door, which is in my bedroom, trying to take these pictures with the camera and heavy lens, and freezing to death... I did not get very good ones. 

I love these majestic birds.  They were here this morning, but a friend stopped to get eggs about 2:30, and they were gone.  To see them in the air is to feel your heart in your throat. 

My friend Kim, who lives here in Leavenworth County, and her husband Mark, raise cattle.  They have had a week like me.   

She posted this last night and I laughed my head off.  

My feelings, exactly!

Stay safe out there, friends!  

And those who are in California... my heart goes out to you and yours for your terrible losses. 

I am joking about winter, but I am so very, very blessed, and I know it.