And This Will Be Our New Playroom

If you have been following along with the saga of the Feral Kittens, either here or on Facebook,, you will know that ten days ago, the Raccoon Crew broke them out of the Little Red Henhouse in my old henyard. 

The game camera has proven that they are hanging around, and their litter box is still in the 

henhouse. 

However, three days ago, I saw one watching me outside the old henhouse (larger building) and 

when I stepped towards it, it literally ran UP the door, and into the henhouse through the torn screen. 

That night, I put a little food in there for them, and a water bowl. 

Because of this: 

The kittens couldn't even get near the food because of the 

wild birds.  I did get ONE large cat, the gray and white, 

coming into the henyard to check out what was going on. 

First sighting I have seen of any of the three ferals in my yard. 

The raccoons were still coming at night to check things out, though I am 

taking the food in at dark when I go shut the hens up. 

So, last night I decided to put the camera IN the old henhouse, and 

I left some food and a bowl of water for them. 

It was 101 here yesterday and heat index was about 114, at one point. 

I have water in numerous places around the yard. 

There are three of the four, I am not convinced that the fourth is still with them.  Remember, it had only been in with the others (it's siblings) for two days before they were released. 

And then, at 10:13, someone reared it's head. 

And at 10:14, it entered.  The camera was knocked over, shortly thereafter. 

NOTHING is raccoon proof. 

Well, maybe the henspa, so far. 

So tonight, there will be NO food left, there is Kitten Chow there in a bowl today. 

Fresh water, there and on the porch of the little red house. 

I also put the continuous feeder IN the little red henhouse, where it used to be... thinking that 

might make the birds go elsewhere instead of into the dark henhouse pophole. 

I'll pull both feeders tonight. 

So, this is also happening: 

This is Tim Vaughan, of Stranger Creek Fence Company.  We live in Stranger Township. 

Tim is fixing the support posts for the pasture gate, which were left broken off at the ground by our tenant ON BOTH SIDES, which I had not realized.  The gate was propped so that it appeared that it was okay.  As you can see behind him, Tim is re-doing the braces on both sides, and will hang the gate on a wheel so I can open and close it easily.  He is also welding the front gate's wheel so that I can open it easily... the wheel slipped down.  He is also measuring the front deck to bid for power-washing and then a water-seal finish.  

Tim is also a bull rider, and won the Leavenworth Fair bull-riding last year. 

I put a post  on "Next Door Stranger Creek"
 and was given Tim's contact info, and I'm glad to know him.  He is going to be helping clear some of the other fence lines. 

As of this morning after church, when I stopped by to do chores... the fence line behind him was completely cleared. 

You all know how scared I am of strong chemicals... but sometimes I have to use them. 

The kitchen floor is in, and Mike the Contractor stayed late and did a first 

sanding of the mud.  YAYYY. 

And this... this makes me inordinately happy, to see happy hens wandering around in the yard and eating bugs.  

I can't tell you how much. 

The Screamer (Cornish) confronts Emily (Production Red) . 

Got It!

Remember, I started working on the Briar Patch this week, the patch with the terrible cockleburs. 

Ugh. 

So, today, the dogs desperately needed a run, and off we went. 

When I got there, the gate to the pasture was wide open, and someone had clearly been 

coming in and out. 

Yes, I freaked a little.  We have been so lucky not to have anyone bother our place for 8 months. 

My helpers immediately started sniffing around and inspecting the whole pasture.  I am so grateful to have them.

I turned back to the car to get my gloves... and when I turned again... here came 

Troy in his pickup out of the pasture. 

This is what he has been doing, bless him! 

He is going to put all that wood to great use. 

The smaller branches, like the one to the right in this picture, I will drag down to the 

brush pile.  

I know it's hard to see, but where you see the straw color in the middle of this photo... 

is the chicken wire that has been caught in the grass since March!  I finally got it 

all loose, without having to cut it! 

You can see it a little better in this picture.  This was tie-wrapped all around the sides of the dog pen that the Mille Fleurs lived in.  Those are my Fiskar's big cutters, not wire cutters, but... I pulled up almost all of those horrible cocklebur stalks.   They were dumped out on 

the burn pile in the driveway.  I am going to have to spray Roundup on this spot (you know I hate to do it)... but I have GOT to kill these burrs.  There are also two landscape timbers I need 

to dig up and move, and then Troy said he would come over and mow it even with the rest of the pasture. 

The wire and the grass in which it was entwined are going into the back of the HHR to 

go to the dump.  

"The Tree" is still beautiful, but it's color is fading.  The hills behind it are fading, too.  I had the 

little camera in my pocket (always). 

I had left the light on in the henspa two days ago, and Troy reminded me, so I ran over to turn it off. There is a metal cabinet in there that needs to come home with me this week, too. 

It won't be tomorrow, as we are expecting rain.  

I snapped this picture as I went by the garden... it's my white lilac... look at the buds on it! 

Beau's tree in the pasture has dropped all it's leaves... and the others are dropping, as well. 

November... doesn't seem possible it has come already. 

A word about the blog... 

last night, I had a nasty entry in the comments, which I have deleted.  I suspect 

it was put there to entice people to it's source, because it was a hacker, etc.. Always be careful 

of clicking on those links. 

I have also noted that blogs that have never had Word Verification before have it now, and I need to 

see if mine does, all of the sudden.  I suspect Blogger did this... because of perceived problems across their network. 

I hope everyone's month has gotten off to a great start! 

Keith is feeling pretty well... he will be seeing a specialist within the next two weeks...

and following up with a permanent implant for his dialysis.  Yes, it kicks his behind, but 

he thinks he can live with it easily. 

Thanks for all your prayers. 

Mama, Don't Let Your Fencelines Grow Up to be Grapevines

To wit: 

Oh, yes. 

That's a fenceline. 

My bad. 

There's a pasture behind there. 

I cut and I cut and I cut. 

That's what some of the grapevine trunks looked like. 

Those are grapevines!  Whew. 

You can see the pasture again!  

That's the brush pile way down there. 

These are mushrooms growing on a dead tree.  I'm going to take a better picture of this tree tomorrow. 

I worked on the pasture side of the fence, too.  This tiny beautiful little red plant 

is a young Virginia Creeper vine. 

Several of these guys were on the house porch (wooly bears). 

I stopped to take this picture on the way home... got out of the car.... The trees are getting so beautiful.  This pond is so peaceful. 

This barn sits above the pond. 

This farm is right across the road from the pond.  There are several barns and a granary. 

But the house is gone... it clearly was in that copse of trees... and the pasture had 

peacefully grazing cows in it.  There was an additional barn, I didn't get it in the pcitre... it is behind the trees, and would have been behind and a little to the west of the house. 

On the way home, I went by my friend Diane's to give her a sack of egg cartons I had found in a storage building at the old house.  This made me laugh out loud.  It's a BIG Angus bull.  

He is standing in between the supports of a sign that says "New Haven Angus", large 

cattle breeders here in Leavenworth County. 

There was a truck behind me and I couldn't stop (see him in the side mirror?) 

Here is what's really funny... he turned around pointing NORTH in the time it took me to deliver the cartons and chat for a minute... so he was facing me again as I came down the road.  This time, I pulled into a driveway, and calmly took the picture as I got the stink eye. Now you can read the sign that says "New Haven Angus". 

He's pretty photogenic. 

Jester likes his daddy a lot. 

Keith is going back into the hospital either today, tomorrow or Monday, he is finding out now. 

This is getting to be part of our lives.  

Please remember him in your prayers if you think of him this weekend. 

And these guys live about a mile from us, right down the road.  How I always would 

have loved to have had some alpacas.  Maybe in my next life.  

 And now I'm going out to cut grass for the last time this year. (I 

HOPE) 

Spring is Peeping Through

It is so windy here right now, that 

things are blowing across the yard!  

If either of the big trees... black walnut or maple come down...

we are going to call it serendipity and go with the flow, we've already decided! 

Look what's coming up?  The iris, the tulips, the hyacinths, 

the crocus, and I hope and pray the hostas that we 

planted in Joel and Brandon's memories. We are taking those two hostas 

with us. 

And those little tiny curlicues in the center of this picture are one of them.

But look what was going on at Home Depot when I ran in for spackle and a putty knife!  Yowsa!!!!

Here's Mr. Harrison of Harrison Fencing in Basehor, Kansas, 

working on our fence today.  He had a cold, breezy day yesterday, and 

a very windy day today, but he is making progress. 

This gives you a better idea of where it is.  We just do not have the money to fence the entire acre at this point. 

Our yard actually goes all the way to the pole on the left.  

Maybe someday. 

Nice level place for a garden, isn't it? 

Ooops.... Wrong Way Corrigan!

The winds have finally subsided, thank heavens, because they left us feeling battered and worn out yesterday evening. 

Today, the fencers came to put the new pony pen fence up. 

They used no-climb horse fence, and put chain link over the gate, so that nothing can get through it without trouble. 

The three man crew had the old fence down in ten minutes... and then it took about five hours to put the new one up. 

Guess what I discovered? 

It's on the wrong side of the poles.  When I asked them what happened, they said that's how they found the old one, and they thought that's what we wanted. 

The old pen was one of Keith's first projects here and he didn't know, he had never kept horses of any kind in his life.  

They asked me if I wanted them to re-do it, and I told them no; as well as it is stapled, I think it will hold two ponies or a pony and a mini donkey.  

I'll be more careful the next time we have anything fenced. 

 Another traffic jam at the nesting box.  It cracks me up that the little hens all want the same box at once.  The white hen, a home bred, is going broody.  She chirps angrily when I take eggs out from under her. 

Our little doll Abby has a favorite stuffy toy that she loves to play with. 

I had to do a lot of entertaining today because they all wanted to go outside and "help" the fencers. 

This evening, Lilly got loose while Keith had his back turned (he was working on the gate to the road).  He realized it, finally, and I went out and called and called... we always worry when one of the dogs is out, because they are not used to being anywhere but here, and the highway is so close. 

Anyway, she appeared immediately in Spehar's pasture, to our north.  As both are fenced with livestock fence, we couldn't figure out how to get to her... but I had a leash in my pocket, and I had her come to me and hooked on.... Keith precariously climbed our fence (whoa) and then walked her through the pasture to the Spehar's chained tube gate, where we got her out and he was able to climb over much more easily.  

We were just grateful she was safe. 

No pictures of that adventure, I'm afraid! 

That's it for today from Calamity Acres!