Our great temperatures continue... and I am going to show you a picture and see if you notice something in the background!
See the background? The first crocus are up at the old house!
I forgot to take a picture directly of them. The iris in the overgrown
bed behind these birds need to be dug up and separated, but they are already raising their
green shoots. In the last three days, the tulips have all started up, too.
I had no one behind me on the levee today, and was able to stop and take a picture of
this limestone building that is slowly crumbling on the century - old farm.
The people who own that building also own this one across the road.
They renewed it two years ago, and did a great job.
I hope they can do something about this old building.
This beautiful old barn on the outside of Tonganoxie is also
deteriorating rapidly. There were two towers on it when we
moved there ten years ago. Little by little, it's falling apart.
This was a famous barn in it's time. It saddens me, too.
This girl lives a few miles from us, in a mixed herd of cows.
There is a large farm here that runs a big herd of longhorns, I'm assuming she came from there
Pretty big rack, huh?
The little chestnut girl and her friends are all ignoring their hay bales and going for the new green grass coming up. Trouble is, they will have it grazed down to dirt in no time.
Here's our friend with the hurt wing, but as you can see, he can get up high now!
I'm glad.
And here's our dark guy... isn't he magnificent? I rarely get
pictures of him, because he will not hold still for me to sit and
take shots.
He's much darker than the others.
Double click that first picture, and you can see him clearly.
As you can see... I am finding eggs everywhere these days. There was another under the steps up to the henhouse.
As of last night, the Kansas Dept. of Agriculture has announced that there is a presumptive positive report of Avian flu in Leavenworth County in a hobby flock of chickens and ducks.
We have not heard if the annual Heart of America Game Bird Breeders Association auction today in Gardner was cancelled at the last minute, but Keith notified the emergency management dept for which he works that there was a huge poultry auction today, as soon as we heard about the pronouncement. Leavenworth County flocks are quarantined until they determine what is going on.
Bad news for small chicken flock keepers.
It's so sad to see those great old barns go. We lose more and more around here every year. It's such a shame, we sure don't build anything so well these days.
ReplyDeleteNo, Dancing Donkey, they don't build 'em like that no more! Good pics, Mary Ann.
ReplyDeleteI love old barns. If only they could talk,,, they would have so much to say!
ReplyDeletelove
tweedles
The barn was incredible, thanks. I was hoping you would comment on the AI in LV county. Im in an adjacent county, we just bought our first little acreage, and were days away from ordering our first ever chickens to patrol our first ever garden... now I'm wondering if we should hold off. What will you do differently, if anything, with your birds in light of the illness being in the area?
ReplyDeleteI love looking at old barns. They had so much character compared to the new ones put up today. Glad to see the one restored. I hope that avian flu is held in check and doesn't spread. That would be bad news for sure. Hope your Sunday is a wonderful one and the good weather holds for you.
ReplyDeleteHello all ..... this is Keith. The strain of AI that they reportedly found doesn't usually spread in small flocks ... but can be tough on large producers. Also, it is not an extremely bad virus for humans, even if it crosses over species. This is the strain that we had a couple of years ago where lots of people got sick but there weren't any more deaths than in a normal flu season. BTW, virtually every flu virus starts in Asia as an avian influenza and is spread to North America and Europe by migratory birds that co-mingle at the Arctic Circle with migratory birds from Asia. Best thing you can do is get your flu shot every year.
ReplyDeleteIf only walls could talk....they would be full of incredible stories! Love all your photos today, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt always hurts me to see old buildings neglected and falling into ruin, like the magnificent old farmhouse my grandpa grew up in, as did my dad. On a different note, how I love the limestone buildings in that part of Kansas, especially the old houses!
ReplyDeleteWe've had confirmed cases of bird flu in the Pacific Northwest, too. :-/
That is a neat way to use the stone to make a building. I've never seen one of those up close since stone is not a common building material around here.
ReplyDeleteI love your chickens. Their color is beautiful.