Friday Roundup

I took this at 6:10 this evening: 

This is what cracks Keith and me up...I can work around this guy now without him going anywhere.  He was sitting atop a pole, looking for mice, etc... and he looked at me once, saw whom it was... then I went about pulling the game camera and fixing the card that I had accidentally locked when I inserted it.  I got the legend "Locked"... thought it might be the SD card, and came inside to look up the specs and double-check.  When I went back out, it was truly dark, so I had to take a flashlight.  The owl glanced at me... as I came through the gate from the yard, and then turned back to the east, and didn't look at me again.  I was able to take a couple of pictures of him without bothering him, so did.  I think he is a barn owl of some kind, and not a great horned, because his head is round, with no tufts of hair.  He is brown and tan, or brown and white, with black bands on his tail.

Added at 7:09 PM: 

Photo by Bob Gress	Barred OwlStrix varia Measurements: Length: 19 - 20 inches Wingspread: 42 - 44 inches Weight: 14 - 18 ounces

Comments: Barred owls are found in deep deciduous woodlands, commonly along river valleys. Their distinctive “who cooks for you, who cooks for you all” call is heard more often than the birds are seen. When several birds are vocal, they can provide an entertaining chorus of calls accompanied by cackling and barking. The barred owl, along with the barn owl, are the only dark-eyed owls found in Kansas. They normally nest in tree cavities but will sometimes use large stick nests built in previous years by hawks or crows. Distribution: In Kansas, barred owls are found throughout the year and occur primarily in the eastern third of the state. They are found erratically further west. Food: The bulk of this owl’s diet consists of rats and mice but it will also eat a wide variety of other animals, including birds, fish, insects, snakes, turtles and crayfish.

Thank you, website... http://www.gpnc.org/owlba.htm Owls of Kansas! 

I took this picture for Keith this afternoon, between the two henhouses, we got 20 eggs again. 

As you see, the girls are using two rows of the henspa nestbox.  I am going to put fresh straw in them tomorrow.  I stood off to take this... but they love the lower boxes with the deep insets.  I am going to try putting curtains on the upper row, to see if some of the little girls will use it. 

Herd Dog on Duty 

The moon is beautiful through the branches of the walnut tree. 

Lilly and the Owl are keeping the mouse population here under control. 

If you did not have a chance to read "The Cranky Puppy"  yesterday, 

please go read their blogpost about the new neighbors, there is lots of good information in it.  They have just restored a beautiful old Victorian house across the street from theirs... and it has been sold to the most interesting new owners who have a very neat blog of their own.  (I guess that word "neat" dates me, huh?) 

I'm following their new neighbor now. 

Also... I want to publicly thank Ramsey's mom Kris from "The Dancing Donkey" , who was kind enough to take time out of what are incredibly busy days for her during Ramsey's rehab, to answer questions of mine about donkey care, in case some donkeys come to live here this spring. 

I've been pinning on Pinterest this afternoon, as I am getting ready to paint our living room and kitchen, and having so much fun looking at what people have done with their interiors.  I like almost everything that Brenda from "Cozy Little House"  has ever pinned, I admit it.  And I also think I may have found the perfect color, that will coordinate great with the carpet I have picked out.  More on that later! 

Linking with 

Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday 

  

The Difference in Henhouses Addendum

The differences in the old henhouses and the new is dramatic.  I swear to you that the hens in the new henspa are happier, though I can't put my finger on why.  Maybe it's the fact that they have light, air, and clean surroundings???

Hmmmm there's a ghost in that picture

Rooster Moe and Bitsy, one of the Naughty Girls who are almost two years old now! 

They are getting whiter with age. 

This is Folly, who has just come into lay.  The flash made the box look bright, but it is actually very dark.  The hens love the lower level of boxes that Keith built, they love the privacy.  She was on five eggs. (before I took them!) 

Someone checked to see if I needed help.  You know we still have to clean the front room out... it has been too cold to carry things back and forth. 

Contrast it with the old big henhouse...this is the feed room I had cleaned out a month ago.  Now there are hens who hang out in there daily with Butch.  I keep food and water down for them.  The orange wire is the jerry-rigged line going over to the little henhouse, to run the light.  We have GOT to get the whole henhouse re-wired this year, and the nasty drywall down and out.  

There are my only two Old English Gamebirds left, the rooster Speedy, and little Suzy, who was about to go up to the rafters to roost.  I ran about 20 starlings out of there today, and they emptied the outside waterers twice again. 

The streaks you see all over everything are from past starling depredations.  But.... they need to eat too. 

I keep food up on the top of the closet so the little ones can eat if it's too cold for them to go out. 

I have been looking at chicken and hatchery websites... I want to get about 10 more layers... and I'd like to try something different, like brown leghorns.  Has anyone reading this ever ordered from MyPetChicken.com?  Supposedly you can order smaller numbers from them.  I'm a little hesitant to do it, but I am close to the Post Office and can get there immediately when they come in.  Keith is going to build a brooder for me... and it's time to start thinking about it. 

I have a plan for this evening... I'm going to go out in a few minutes and try to put the game cam on top of one of the posts in the big henyard, to try to catch the owl coming and going.  

If I can get video, I'll share it with you tomorrow! 

I took this picture at 5:30 tonight, I happened to peek out to see if Lilly wanted to come in... and look who was sitting on the fence by the gate to the henyards.  He really likes the mice there, I think. 

I finally figured out how to take a picture at NIGHT :-). 

Unbelieveable!
Isn't he gorgeous? 

It was a Cold and Rainy Night

(To paraphrase Snoopy.)

 

I spent a wonderful afternoon visiting with a friend over lunch... when you quit working, you lose track of what's going on in your friend's lives.  We had such a good visit over lunch, Jill and I... and I forgot to take the camera, so there are no pictures!

 

Coming home in late afternoon, I did not realize when stopping at WalMart why it was so busy.  Getting my few things in the basket, I realized the checkout lines were long, and went to the self-checkout.  I realized, when I got home, that the threat of a winter storm is upon us, and people were stocking up.

 

Keith helped me do chores, and we got things organized for morning, which is expected to be well below 20, and we expect to have to carry several buckets of warm water out for the birds.  That's one good thing about my being home... I can go out during the day and check on them.  My only errand tomorrow (which could be done Friday) is to register our car and truck and get the yearly tags, so I can hang around here and keep things going while Keith works.

 

Here's our Ranger, waiting on us in the yard... isn't he handsome?

 

 

 

Unfortunately, this is what I found in the feed room of the big henhouse.  The fencing in between the coop and feed room has come loose, and numerous hens come back and forth to lay eggs daily.  Now a rooster is coming over... and this is the ensuing problem.  Someone is going to have to go, and I hope it isn't my pet, Butch.  The damage, thank heaven, was done to his bad side, the good eye is okay tonight.

 

 

But here is the really neat thing tonight... I went out just now, at 7:50, to see what was going on with the weather.  It is raining, and there is lightening.

I was clear out at the big henhouse carrying something in my hand, when I felt eyes on me.  There, not ten feet away, was this guy:

 

 

Oops... you can't see him like that.  You see, he sat there for almost ten minutes while I did stuff.

 

 

There he is.  He turned his head and looked at me for a minute, then, satisfied I was not going to bother him (he's watched us a lot in the last few months)... he calmly turned back to the pasture where he was waiting for mice to move.  The white spots you see in the picture were raindrops coming down.  A minute later, he flew over to the fence surrounding the big henyard, and I walked out to dump most of the water fortex in the pasture, so we can fill it in the morning. 

 

Our storm is supposed to last only one day, with a chance for more rain on Christmas Day (or snow).  The newspaper this morning described western Leavenworth County as being in extreme drought, and Jill mentioned to me at lunch that the alfalfa planted at their country place was barely up above the ground.

 

I'll take the rain! 

 

 

Cards for Leontien and More

Won't you all take a minute to send a card to blogger Leontien Vandelaar?  She continues her fight against a debilitating cancer.

 

Nancy, at a Rural Journal, here, wrote about her and has a link to her remarkable story on the blog of their family dairy, Four Leaf Clover Dairy.

 



 

Card courtesy the Graphics Fairy

 

Maybe our cards can pick up her spirits this Christmas season, and those of her family and husband.

 

I spent the day on getting the Christmas boxes sorted out and back out to the storage building, as the carpet cleaners are coming tomorrow.

 

I had to do a few errands this morning, and Lilly Ann is at the vet's, so I must go to get her in a short while.  She is being checked over for an itching skin condition.

 

Waterers were all frozen this morning, and I carried warm water to the birds, who were very thankful to get it.  I'll dump the metal waterers tonight at dark, and then in the morning can fill them quickly, without having to carry them into the house to thaw. 

 

We are expecting only one more night of really frigid temps.

 

Guess who was watching me today as I moved the boxes?

 

 

And the little wildings were very present, too... on such a cold day.  I put warm water out for them, and lots of food.

 

 

and these; we are going through lots of nyger seed now.

 

 

 



Friday the 16th

Up early again today after a phone call at 6:10 AM asking me to go back to Great Plains SPCA and pick up ten or so of the smaller dogs in their crates taken there yesterday.  I brought back a total of ten dogs and two kitties, and the HHR was packed.  They were so glad to see their mamas and daddies when we began dispersing them as their owners came.  Only one had had a bad night, and everyone was doing well this morning.  All had received Home Again microchips along with their operations, so a real benefit came from this reduced-cost surgery.

 

We have had some more thought about Ranger and his injury.  It seems he has already started forming scar tissue, so we are now going to play it by ear.  As long as he is not hurting badly, and can get around on his own, then we will take our time making any decision.  We both feel, Keith and I, that the operation suggested would be extremely hard on our old guy.  After seeing what Hannah went through last winter, we are hesitant to put another beloved old dog through anything like the major surgery it would be. 

 

Here's our Big Guy this afternoon, in the beautiful late afternoon sunlight.  We found out yesterday that the Tramadol causes the heavy panting we see so often.

 

Yes, the diets have started all the way around.  I noticed that every bit of food was eaten today, too.

 

 

I've been letting Lil down into the pasture in the late afternoons now, as soon as I lock the birds up.

She usually follows the fence line, and goes around the north, east, and south sides.  Today she cut across the pasture, and looked up at me.

 

Look who was keeping an eye on her:

 

 

 

You can see the bars on his back in the sun.  He's a magnificent bird.

 

As I went to get the mail late, I saw these... will they EVER stop this year?

 

 

I had several pieces of good news this week, which I'll share with you tomorrow!

 

 

A Pretty Full Thursday

Whew.  I'm ashamed to tell you that I have gotten up before dawn exactly ONE time since I retired!

 

I had to do it again today, I had forgotten what the alarm sounds like!

 

This was Spay/Neuter Transport Day for the Leavenworth County Humane Society, and was held in Tonganoxie today.  It moves around the county every quarter. 

 

Altogether, 27 cats (some feral) and 14 dogs were brought in.

 

The reception area was set up behind a feed store in Tongie.  The two ladies at the registration table are volunteers.  Behind them are the carriers we put together... they are draped to keep the dogs and cats from fretting too badly.   It was cold, but not unbearable, but lifting the crates, especially the ones with the larger dogs, was hard work. 

When the SPCA got there to pick them up, one large crate would not fit in the van.  Guess who got to take that dog?  It was quite a ways off, too, but she was delivered safely and will be spayed today and then returned with the others tomorrow.  These neuterings are done at a large discount as a service to the citizens, so it's a blessing for many people. 

 

While I was there, Keith called.  Ranger, our German Shepherd, had fallen and howled loudly in pain... Keith called it "screaming in pain".  He then vomited (sorry!) all of his breakfast. 

We know he has hip dysplasia, and we know that he has to be on medication for the rest of his life... but something else was wrong.  I made an appointment to take him to the vet this afternoon.

 

So, Ranger and I went to our vet, and we found out, sadly, that he has torn his ACL on his right hind leg, they estimate two weeks ago at least, because there is a lot of scar tissue already.  We were told that there is an operation available, but Ranger is very overweight, and they are hestitant to do it unless I can get 15 pounds off him.  Keith and I are discussing it... it would be very hard on him to go through this surgery, and tonight I got a call from a good friend who has shown AKC dogs for 30 years... and she also told me it would be extremely hard for him.  As she said, it would take several months to get the weight off, and in the meantime, he has to go through the pain of the torn ACL. 

We're going to pray about it and decide what to do for Ranger, and it's not a matter of money... we can afford the surgery, but we don't want our good boy to be in unnecessary pain. 

 

When I got home, I had found the turkey girls still in the rafters.  I encouraged them to get down by getting up on a ladder and talking to them, and they did figure out how to get down from where they roosted.  Both were starving and very thirsty!  Pretty soon they meandered outside, and began to peck around in the henyards.

 

 

 

But here was the best part...

 

 

These were the four stragglers... and when I said "Time for Bed"... they all marched themselves RIGHT IN.  Well, the red hen ran in last, under the turkey's petticoats, but they all WENT IN.  I leave the light on for a while now, so that they can all adjust themselves to their new positions, as Jackson has been sleeping inside since Annabelle was killed.  One Turkette went up to the rafters like last night, and the other flew up onto a roost, where she settled down next to a bunch of chickens, while Jackson flew up to the a heavy roost across from her.  Everyone settled down, and I turned the light out a few minutes later. 

 

That's what I like!

 

So I turned my attention to the little henyard next door, and in the meantime, Troy-from-next-door hollered at me. 

 

Here was the group making noise:

 

 

And here's why they were making it:

 

 

Yep, it's baaaccckkkk.

 

I actually saw it fly to the pasture to get something a few minutes later. 

 

We have two cockerels right now who are injured... they are both limping, and they are both porcelain D'Uccles.  One got out into the yard today, in fact, I found three chickens in the yard when I got home.  I hate to say it, but at some point, that owl is going to wise up to those cockerels, or Lilly will. 

 

I am behind with everyone's blogs... give me a few days to get caught up around here, and I'll be back to reading about all your adventures.  Tomorrow I have to be home all afternoon to accept a delivery of something I hope to write about tomorrow night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday

Whew.  As my mother in law said to me today "Are you busier than ever?"  and we had a good laugh, because I AM.

 

This afternoon, I went to my stepdaughter Andrea's baby shower... and here is Keith's Bubba with his great grandma (My mother in law)...

 

He had just pulled her glasses off and we could hardly get them out of his grip, the strong little thing!

 

While we were doing the women-folk thing, Keith and his dad were watching Iowa State (they are both Cyclones) get beaten, and then on to the next game while they visited.  Gertie laid next to Ralph all afternoon, Keith told me, and finally put her head on his shoulder as she laid on the back of the loveseat.  We aren't sure what was prompting the affinity, and I had the camera so Keith could not take a picture to show me. 

 

Gertie's "Gotcha" day is coming up in three weeks, the anniversary (second) of her adoption by us.

We were absolutely blessed to get this brave little pug.

 

 

I just realized this picture makes her look like she's giving me the Stink Eye!

 

This guy (representative picture) was back again last night, but too close to dark to get his picture as he perched on top of the highest pole by the big henyard.  All birds were safely in... we have concluded he's probably been eating mice out there for a while.

 

 

 

 

Keith has now seen him several times, and says he is a truly majestic bird.  I don't mind if he hunts here, but I sure hope if he goes for a bird, it's an extra rooster.  Soon we will be moving the girls over to their new digs, and I can't wait to show it to you.

 

And speaking of the girls, the strike is over... here is what I brought in tonight, and I still have a few molting.

 

 

And thank heavens they are laying strongly again... I walked into our food pantry this morning and there was already a line of people waiting for their food sacks... the need is still there, though we are starting to see prosperity more and more.  It's what keeps me getting up in the morning and doing chores every day. 

 

I apologize for the daily changes to the blog... I am experimenting with headers and trying to tweak it a little.  I am NOT a genius at PicMonkey, and don't have the money to pay someone to do everything, besides, where would the fun be?

 

If you don't know about this story... of Ramsey, the baby donkey, please go see it at The Dancing Donkey.  I have meant to feature this wonderful blog on my sidebar for weeks.  Ramsey, the baby donkey, has developed a very serious illness, and Kris, his owner, has decided to try to save him.  She is a single woman who supports herself and her equines alone.  Please read his story and if you are so behooved, help as you can, even with prayers, as she needs help sorely.