Almost the End

How I miss this sight in the morning... the view down the hill 

to the Spehar's ponds.  Mr. Spehar (the elder Mr. Spehar) has returned from 

Croatia, and has put plastic over his greenhouse frame last week, and 

plowed his half acre garden that sat idle last year.  He pumps water 

from the closest pond to the garden during the summer. 

Here's one last picture this morning of my beautiful Ferdinand, he of the 

loveliest of crows.  

While in the cable office the other day trying to straighten out our service, a gentleman heard me 

mention that I had some chickens to re-home. 

He piped up and took my name and number, telling me his son in law kept chickens. 

The upshot was, the son in law and his little two year old, Ms. Josie, came over 

last night to see what we had. 

This morning, I met them there, and they took Ferdie, God Bless them, because I was 

dreading having to give him away in the parking lot of the feed store... 

The beautiful Henrietta, friendliest of girls....

Mama Hen, though she was old, went with him too, because she is 

a good mother to the little chicks and hens. 

And my dear old Polish girl Buffy, seen here with her three now-bereft swains. 

He also took the tiny Speedy, my second-favorite little rooster. 

Fancy and Folly are gone. 

Snowball is gone, because she will set anything and stay on the eggs. 

You see how determined she is. 

And Fleura, the little bantam hen in the middle, is gone too. 

These two, Moe and April, are all that is left on the henspa side. 

April is a porcelain D'Uccle, but she is bonded so tightly to Moe I just could not 

separate them. 

 And Fluffernut... no one has wanted the year old Fluffernut, laying daily... and just the happiest of 

little chickens.  

I think she is still there. 

So three, where there were nearly 40. 

I left them alone, penned in their yard today, to recover from the trauma of their 

friends leaving. 

The man who took them is a very skilled chicken keeper, we had a long talk about 

his "operation".  A short haul truck driver, he and his family live on 6 acres on the west side 

of Tongie.  I knew I recognized his older daughter yesterday... it turns out she is one of the high schoolers that volunteer at the Good Shepherd, so we had a good talk about that, too. 

He has, in past years, raised upwards of 10,000 pullets for resale at 8 weeks... wow. 

I am confident my birds will be treated humanely and with consideration. 

Yes, God has blessed me again in this dispersal, to find loving and caring 

people to give my pets. 

So, what is left? 

The three bantams may come with me here.  I had decided against it, but 

if there are indeed just the three, then the small Orscheln's coop would work. 

It would not take up much space in the yard, and I could still have my birds. 

In the old henhouse are the three Porcelain D'Uccle roosters.  One has a bad leg. 

They are all about two years old, they were from the same hatch. 

I am going to take them next Saturday to the parking lot of the feed store, and give them away. 

Yes, I know they may go to people who will have them for dinner that night, but they are small and pretty, so they may have a chance. 

That leaves only the three elderly roosters, and the little hen with them in the rafters of the old henhouse. 

I am going to give them a while to be able to come down on the floor of the coop, and go out in the sun and have a few weeks of normal chicken life.  Then, when we are finished with all the clean up at the old place, and it is about ready to show, we will make a decision about them. Ideally, if someone were to want the place soon, they would accept the roosters as their new pets.  

Yes, it hurts me. 

If I can catch the hen, she will stay with me. 

I also have an offer from the mother of the goat people that she would take 

any I have left... but not the three old boys, so I have that in hope in the back 

of my mind. 

It has been a long, hard process, and not one I would wish on ANYONE. 

When you have pets... not livestock, pets... you become the steward... and it is up to you to treat your pets humanely and wisely to the end.  I have tried to do that with my flock that rewarded us so richly with eggs for the food kitchen for three years, and for family and friends. 

Here is little Abs this morning, laying in a patch of sunlight when I got home. 

She has an infection in both eyes, which we are now treating with drops three times a day, and she seems calmer already.  How itchy and miserable she must have been, plus the move... she must have been just beyond herself.  I moved the kitchen rug out to the door yesterday for Lilly to step on, as the yard has been muddy... I'll brush it off and put it back today... and...

Keith showed me how to operate this! 

Can you believe I could not figure out how to "bend" it to push it along?  

I'm empowered now! 

Winter Returns for a Day

Thank heavens only for a day. 

It reminded me of what November to February was like... 

Ugh. 

It was only a dusting, but at 29 degrees with the wind blowing hard... it felt like 12 inches as I did chores. 

Yesterday, a family came here to look at chickens. 

Mother, father, daughter, who thought she wanted baby chicks, but was 

willing to look at older chickens. 

It was 71 degrees out, and I took them into the new henspa yard. 

She loved the D'Uccle's, both porcelain and Mille Fleur. 

She wants this one. 

April, who is never separate from Moe anymore.  It hurts me. 

However... see these guys? 

I did NOT pay attention when the parents were here with the ten year old.  I went over and let the goats out. 

They proceeded to run to the strange people to check them out, and began nibbling at their clothing.  The people backed up, clearly afraid, and I realized I had made a huge error.  

One of them either nipped at or stepped on the gentleman's foot... and then I realized they had FLIP FLOPS ON. 

On a farm. 

They had gone into the henhouse like that. 

Ugh. 

I should have warned them. 

The upshot was that the man went and sat in the car the rest of the time... and even though they said they would be back to get four chickens after their spring break trip... I doubt if I will see them. 

I'm not doing very well in the rehoming area. 

Spring has, indeed, sprung. 

And tulips are coming up everywhere, finally!

Geese are going back...

and forth. 

Abby had been helping me with chores yesterday, and it was 72 degrees out.  She had a nice, long drink of cold well water as I filled the duck's pool. 

While Lil laid in the shade of the car. 

This is a naughty Winnie, who got out of the pen and came up to the house with Abby and me. She likes to butt the dogs, so I wanted to get Abs in so she wouldn't get hurt.  She had a look and smell at the taco bar on the counter, I had had to eat before running out to do chores.  

You mean I can't stay in here where it's WARM????

No, Winnie, you can't! 

(She got lots of crackers). 

And here it is, folks, the first look at our new house... out in the county, but in a bona fide "neighborhood" of 

houses, all on one to two acre lots, on a farm that was cut up about 15 years ago into 

these large lots.  The house is fourteen years old.... needs some updating... and was never fenced, so 

we are taking care of the fencing first, before moving Abby and Lilly. 

We anticipate moving on the 29th. 

However, I will still be coming here daily to clean, paint, etc. etc. and care for 

any (all) of the animals left. 

I have to get busy and rehome. 

It's hard, that's all I can say. 

Everyone stay warm! 

My Farm Help

Here she is, her steely eye fixed on this: 

I threw some wild bird seed in there for variety. 

She helped inside, too... in fact, for a long time.  

Abby's on Day Five of her diet... she is getting carrots and greenbeans cooked with a little bacon for flavoring, for filler at mid-day.  Yes, she's hungry, and barking to let me know it... but we are going to get the weight off her! 

She now goes out three or four times a day, even just to walk around the yard for excercise.  

April thinks she's doing a good job, too! 

Pooped Out Sunday Night

Well, we made it through the weekend without severe damage from a storm, and I am very grateful for that.  Except for some chairs blowing off the porch, little damage was done.  We did have very strong winds all day, and tonight the temps dropped from seventies to fifties in the space of less than an hour. 

I had intended to plant a daylilly and two sets of swiss chard (Bright Lights) that I had stopped and bought after church, but gave up on that notion, as the wind would have sapped the life from them after I had them in the ground.  Instead, they are in the hoop house tonight, where they will be safe until we can plant them this week.  I only wish I had bought cabbage plants too, as Keith offered me one of his beds.  I have not planted swiss chard before, but I always admired Bright Lights, and I'm willing to give a shot at preparing it for dinner.   I am planning to divide a huge patch of monarda too, this week, and put some in the mirror bed across the arbor from the first.

Mountain bluets are blooming now... I almost bought some deep blue ones this afternoon.

Here is something else blooming now

The first of the irises.  The little birdbath flew into the flower bed during the winds last night, but it is back where it belongs... the birds use it regularly.

I have a bed literally chock full of irises I transplanted last year, they are the old-fashioned yellows and blues... but I love them anyway.  They are also swelling at the bud and about to bloom.  The flowers I bought from the Iris lady last spring did not do as well, I'm afraid.

I have more irises in the above bed that are also swelling.  As you can see, I need desperately to pull about twenty small tree seedlings, and right in the middle of the bed... beyond this camera view, there is a clump of grass that has already formed seedheads, so it's GOT to come out in the next day or two.

Keith, just before going to bed, informed me that the newsman said we have no appreciable rain coming in the next two weeks.  I'm sad to hear this, as we need it, and got very, very little last night.  Keith watered everything in the hoop house tonight, and his outside beds.  I'll wait til this terrible wind dies down to plant my new plants.

Gratuitous picture of April taken this afternoon... as she chattered to me.

I tried to upload some more videos tonight to You Tube, but Keith has reminded me (again) that in doing so, I use all our satellite bandwith.  I am going to see if I can save some to a stick and use a computer at the library (where they are on DSL) to upload.  I'll find out the rules this week, and if I can do so, I can take 30 minutes to upload some, and add them to the blog.  I have some amusing ones, and I think people would enjoy seeing them if I can ever get them to load.

Have a good start to your week!

(130 days to go, not that I'm still counting or anything).

Christmas Eve

What a wonderful Christmas Eve we are having here at Little Calamity Acres.  Keith has gone to put tires on his truck... he waited one week too long, suffered a blowout, and took my car this morning to get that tire mounted.  I have baked and cleaned and baked some more, for treats for son Jeff and his roommate tomorrow.

This is a familiar scene around here lately.   I think I have baked more this Christmas than any other in years.

This morning it was very cold out.  I carried out some warm water to the birds in the little henhouse, as they do not have a heater for their waterer.  They were so grateful to get it. 

Then I came back in and got some more warm water for the outdoor fortexes.  The wild birds EMPTIED these yesterday!

The birds in the big henhouse were lined up ready to go outside when I went in.

The nasty marks on the drywall are from starlings.

I read an article in Bowtie Inc's latest copy of "Chickens" magazine last night from someone with a backyard coop, who advised insulating and drywalling it to protect your birds in the winter.  Well... let me explain what we have found out.  See the mounted nest boxes for the bantams on the wall just under the roost?  See the holes above them?  That's what rats and mice do to drywall.... and then the snakes go in and out.  Nope... next year, when we remodel this building and rebuild the eaves of it.... the drywall is coming OUT.  When the rodents have nowhere to hide,they won't be so ready to come in and be at home. (and chew through the wires to four of the five outlets!)

One of the two remaining ameracaunas is gone.  I have no idea... maybe she has actually been gone since the last day before we captured the hawk... or maybe we have been hit again.  I looked everywhere for her this morning, and she is gone.   They had never even started laying.

Here is my beautiful April, who has finally started laying!

The llamas dug into the hay buffet... ooops... something has ticked off Inca.

Lil was on guard against something she saw down at Spehars.

And on the deck, there is a promise of spring waiting...

Way down at the bottom of the huge mum plant I got during the farm tour this fall, the mum is alive and waiting!  It was so good to see the green when I watered it this morning.  In a few more weeks, I'll cut those long dead stalks and then we'll transplant it into the garden. 

I'm going to take a break from posting and run in to see my little sister Kathleen and her husband, and take them some treats.  I have to come home and make stew and bake some more, so will set out right now.

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!