Saturday, July 20, 2013

A Dusty Saturday

Around here, we need rain. 


Driving down the road, you can see that the trees, etc. to the sides are covered in a coating of heavy dust. 
Ugh. 


Permanent state of my back window. 


I came out to do chores this morning to this, but it was all for nothing.  Despite some thunder boomers... not a drop of rain here.  I heard at the feed store that they got two inches this morning from the storm, close to Lawrence (13 miles from here).  While I chored, the storm moved off to the south. 

Right now, at 11:30... there is another to the north of us, but it is not moving down. 


Something is getting some of the tomatoes.  I suspect hornworms, but have not found any.... but I am even finding some unripe ones fallen... you can just see one in the upper left.  The tomato you see "open" was turned to mush. 

Not panicking yet. 


We are going to have at least 3 whole ears of corn... there are two on this stalk.  What an experiment this has been! 


Okay, if this isn't the most unflattering picture of me I have ever seen, I don't know what is.  I look like a beached whale here.  However, we had a great time at the New Theater last night, and really enjoyed the musical "The Buddy Holly Story".  The lead was tremendously talented... and my gosh, the second act... they finished the last 40 minutes with hit after hit, played by the "band from the Surf Ballroom", where his last show was played.  The young men playing The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens were equally as talented, and wow, what music! 

You can see the tables are very cramped, and we were on the far left, but we still enjoyed it tremendously.  The food was great, as usual. 

Now I want to thank all of you for your kind comments about Nugget yesterday, but I have a "revelation".  I am not emotionally attached to the chickens here. 

There are one or two I am more fond of... Butch, my white rooster pet with one eye, and Speedy, the tiny rooster, and a few others... but no, I'm not bereaved when we lose a chicken. 
And yes, I do name a lot of them, but not all. 

This morning, I found a red hen who appears to be starting her dying process in the big henhouse.  Some of you remember that I bought 16 hens from a friend last year that were supposed to be 18 months old, but I found out were actually 3 and 4.  This hen is one of them.  

I am going to have Keith check to make sure there is no egg stuck in her... but I don't believe she has laid an egg in months. 

The extreme heat this week has taken it's toll on all of them.  Despite carrying ice to them, and changing water frequently, it's still stressful.  Last night for the first time in a year, we left all popholes open so that some breeze could come into both henhouses. 

Now it's time for me to end this post and get some work done around here. 

I'll leave you with a picture of the cousins at Panera yesterday! 


Me, second from right
Sharon, Mary Frances (Fuh Fuh) and Patty, all first cousins. 
Pretty good looking bunch of old gals, huh? 

12 comments:

  1. Glad you had a good time. It's nice to get out once in a while.

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  2. Oh how we wish it would rain for you! We feels so bad for your garden and animals- and you. We remember last year- how dry it was at your farm., and we worried for you. We are good at worrying.
    God let the rain drops fall!
    love
    tweedles

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  3. I sure hope you get some rain soon! We've had a lot this summer, but it's time for us to get some again soon too.

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  4. Looked like the dinner theater was great fun. Great to be close to cousins. I'm finding the long I have chickens the less I morn a loss. That's just natural, I suppose. Hoping rain stops at your place and then moves down here. We get dark clouds, wind and lightening but it blows on through.

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  5. It looks like you had a wonderful day. Hope you do get some rain soon. We did get some here and it has cooled down somewhat. What a blessing! Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

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  6. i hope you get some rain! it is so frustrating here...we are drowning one week and scorched the next. what a summer. your corn is much bigger than mine! i will be lucky if i get 3 ears from my bunch! you girls look like you had fun!

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  7. Hi Mary Ann,

    So nice to meet you! I can SO relate re: dust storms and lack of summer rain, living on the island of Crete. We have had very strong winds, non-stop now, for at least, two weeks; you can't even sit outside for more than a few minutes! Lovely to see cousins reuniting for an all girls get-together!

    Happy Sunday,

    Your newest follower,

    Poppy

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  8. We are having hideous heat here too. Sorry to hear about you chicken. I guess it's part of the circle of life. Love Buddy Holly and his music. Sounds like a fun date. Mimi

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  9. Nice to meet you, Mary Ann! I see that you just visited my blog and started following, so I am now following you as well! I think many of us are commiserating over "heat" to one degree or another. This is our monsoon time here in the AZ desert, but that doesn't always mean we get much rain -- heat and humidity for sure. I am over-joyed that we got a pretty good shower last night, accompanied by lots of lightening, and we are getting some sprinkles right now -- sure hope it turns into more than that. Once in a while during a rain storm, the temp actually drops enough that we can have the doors and windows open for a bit -- love the smell of the desert when it rains.

    That looked like a great dinner-concert! We have been going to some Sunday afternoon concerts here and they are very enjoyable. There is a performing arts center on the property of one of our high schools (the kids get to use it for plays & concerts, too), and they have some excellent programs.

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  10. Glad that you had a nice night out! We need rain here too - which is very unusual for England's normally green lands, they are suddenly brown.... If we find some we'll try to send some your way!

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  11. Looks like you had a great time the theatre!

    It sure would be nice if we could get some rain.

    : o)

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  12. I'm not attached to mine either cause everything likes chicken..... And you know what that means.

    Glad ya'll had fun at the show.

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