A Frigid Weekend and a Short Rant

And on top of it, the Chiefs lost.... again. 

It was very cold here this weekend, and frankly, Keith and I have already had enough of it. 

We kept the dogs in most of the weekend, and the goats had shortened hours out of their pen. 

I was busy doing water up to five times a day, trying to keep open water in front of everyone. 

The only place that seemed to do well was the deck, where the dog waterer took care of the wild birds. 

I did water at least four times yesterday during the day.  The pool was frozen, of course.  

I had not emptied it before we had the hard freeze the other night. 

I kept the fortex filled for the ducks. 

You see all the ice that I have been breaking out of the waterers? 

I dump the water in the old henhouse now nightly.. if we are going to go below 32.  I have so little power in there now that I can't run a heater base for either of the waterers. 

Keith says we will tear into the henhouse and repair everything if we are ever out of birds there. 

We can't move those 8 roosters in with the other roosters of the henspa, though. 

You see how bleak and cloudy it was this weekend. 

Except for right around the time Winnie decided to climb Mount Chevrolet again. 

This is Mary, an elderly chicken I thought would not be with us long clear back in August.  She was clearly bothered by the cold, and all puffed up, to keep herself warm. 

She is standing in front of the duck house, in the old henyard. 

And this was Mary, about 30 minutes later.  I was able to get one socket to work, and hooked up a warming light in it for Butch, my pet rooster.  

I  put Mary in there to keep him company, because she had looked so cold all day.  What did Butch do? 

As I left the door between the two sides open for a minute... he voted with his feet and ran over and hopped up on the roost with the other birds, so Mary got to soak up all the heat. 

So here is what I found in the back of the duck house this morning.  There were actually 19 eggs.  I wondered where two of the ducks had been laying in the last two weeks.  They had drawn a lip of straw up so that I could NOT see these eggs at all.  I felt back there with a rake this morning and started pulling them out.  Yes, they all broke, but I intended for them to. 

I'm going to re-bed the house, and see if they want to keep laying in there. 

It has gone up to 42 this afternoon, and you see I was able to get the ice out of the pool.  I also connected the hose and refilled it, and the ducks were overjoyed. 

(Donald being overjoyed) 

Here I am with Abby and Lilly last night, watching Denver and San Diego, and I bet I look tired in this picture, as I had carried buckets all weekend. 

I was ready to curl up on Abby's pillow and go to sleep with her, believe me. 

Your hair gets flat when you have to jam a knit cap down on it so you don't freeze in the 18 degree temps. 

So, here's my little rant. 

Last night, I ran to the grocery store in Tongie just at dark.  When I came out, I saw a sign on a car in the parking lot, and realized the car was running.  I'm nosy.  I went over to read it, and realized a lady was sitting in it. 

She had a sign that said "Free Puppies".  

I looked in her back seat, and there were four sleeping puppies, BIG... about 3 months old, past the "cute puppy stage".  She said their mother was a husky and they looked to be husky/shepherd... very attractive dogs and a good mix, but .... 

I asked her what she would do if no one wanted them and she smiled at me and didn't answer. 

I said "You aren't going to dump them, are you?  It's cold out and they would die quickly".  

She just smiled again. 

I asked her to please call Leavenworth County Humane Society before doing that, and they would put them in foster care and find homes for them. 

She only smiled at me. 

I did not recognize her from the store, church, etc.. 

I told Keith when I got home, and he assumed I had a puppy or two in the car as I told him, but I did not. 

My rant is... these puppies will be living rough out here before we know it (if they weren't dumped last night) because everyone knows that if you dump a dog in the country, someone will take it in. 

Not true.  They are shot, many times. 

My heart went out to the beautiful sleeping puppies. 

Finally, the lady told me she would "try again next week" if she couldn't give them away. 

My gosh. 

Friends.  Don't let your pets breed indiscriminately!