In and Out of the Deep Freeze

We continue having psychotic weather here in Northeast Kansas this year. 

We will have one or two days of balmy, spring like weather, followed by three or four days of very low temps, mixed with a .... wintry mix.  Thursday of last week, I got eight inches of heavy snow here on the homeplace, and it drifted to a foot or more around the buildings in the yard.  Let me tell you, these old legs and feet felt it when I did chores, it was not fun tramping through the heavy snow in my heavy Hunter boots... but thank heavens for them. 

The poor chickens were in for three days, and when they finally got out, they were bewildered by the snow on the ground.  The three silkies that sleep in the brooder cage did not get to go out until today, because their pen was so full.  I did put them down on the floor in the front of the hen house, though, so they could at least get exercise.  

The feral cats mostly hung out in the shop where they at least had a bit of supplemental heat from the electric heater... more about that in a minute. 

Two new cats have appeared.  

This picture, taken through the front door, was my first sighting of "Checkers", as I have been calling him.  He is a HUGE male, not cut.  I have never seen him before last week, and I sent his picture over to my neighbors and they don't know him.  For those of you who don't know, I am the first house on the road, 2/10 of a mile off a state highway.  Across from me is a 26 acre undeveloped piece of ground that is now wooded, with very little water on it, which people have tried to develop several times, but for now, is blessedly "The Wild Area".  My neighbors across the road, Gary and Linda, live just south of that and are far off the road... and my neighbors Troy and Kathy are on the same side.  No one knew this boy.  

This very pretty girl is a kitten, about 3/4 grown.  I have a suspicion she is coming into heat... and that is why the male is there.  Troy sent me a picture from his Blink camera ten days ago, to see if she was one of my ferals.  This picture makes her look big, she is not.  I have got to try to trap both of them and have them neutered.  Do you see Coco's head looking up from the cat bed under the light? 

I have been walking out to the shop at 9 on very cold nights to turn the heater back on, it will run eight hours at a time.  Once the weather lightens up a little, my grandson and I are going to get out there and clean out the southeast corner, bring some order to the place, and next year I hope to use the wood burning stove in there instead of the electric heater. 

My electric bill that came on Saturday was the highest I have ever received here!  Yes, I can pay it, but at some point in time, I will be making decisions about "extras" that need to be dropped.  Right now, I feed the stray cats dry food at will during the day, and take it up in the evening.  I also give them wet food... I am going to start phasing that out, it is just too high now.  

The other decisions are being made about wild bird feed, which has just become very expensive.  I so enjoy watching them... and... I was not plagued with hundreds of starlings, in fact, I rarely have seen them this winter.  But the feed is 33.95 for forty pounds, it was 18.95 a year ago.  

This is the other thing that is going to happen. 

I have been taking up the dry food every evening (they are licking up the rest of the wet food in the bowls.).  They come in through a rotted opening at the back of the shop... the cats come in through a small opening in the wall at the front.  This morning, I went around to look at that hole... it is an area that is totally rotted out, and my worker, Brandon, would have to do an extensive re-build.  I took a picture of it, but this program will not draw on today's picture from the phone, so I may not post this until morning.  My idea is to finally block the possums and raccoons from even coming in.  Yes, they will try the front opening, and I will probably have to do something about that one, but I will have Brandon put on his thinking cap about it. 

(I have decided what to do, and that is to put a temporary fix with fence wiring attached to the back of the barn so that the larger critters cannot get in.  The whole corner needs to be rebuilt, and right now, I can't afford that).  

I obviously forgot to bring that food in early that night. 

They are HUGE. 

This is the reason Zoey never goes out without a lead on after dark. 

Cleo. 

Guess what, friends?  It's March 12.  I began this blog post clear back in February!

I actually have been through several more snow/melt/snow situations since then, 

and this morning, the temperature was 5 above when I went out to do chores. 

I start in the shop. 

Teeny and Wanda. 

Teeny is here to stay, I think, though she would make someone a lovely pet.  She is very, very tame and loving.  On Monday of this week, I took her to Hope Clinic in Leavenworth, where she was spayed, 

making sure there would be no kittens. 

As it stands, the count of neutered cats is... Teeny, Wanda, Cleo, Coco, Rusty (coming only at nights) and Diamond Lil, who is sleeping under Troy's garden shed, I think.  She comes out when I put the food in the garage in the morning.  Yeller, the yellow tiger male, comes daily to the deck to eat.  IF I see him, he gets a can of food.  He is next to be trapped and neutered. 

Checkers, the big black and white male... I believed he would go home once Teeny was no longer in heat.... HAHAHAHA.  He let me pet him this morning in the shop. 

So, in a few weeks, when it is reliably warm, the junk in the shop is going to be hauled away, and I am putting two large cat trees in there.  

On to other things. 

Here are three of the red hens roosting last night in the little hen house. I am still using supplemental light at night, it will be off soon.  (we are going into a week of sixties!) 

These hens are producing gorgeous eggs daily. 

I gave away eight dozen eggs last week... I have four in the refrigerator right now, 

and hope to give away all of them tomorrow and Monday.  I have a hen laying the hugest egg I have ever seen, and I think it is the five year old Leghorn, the only one I have left.  There are so many chickens I would love to try... but I am just too darn old. 

We have discussed putting chickens back at the National Agricultural Center now that covid has slowed down... but the pen was taken down and would have to be re-built, and talks are still in the early stages of planning. 

I will tell you one thing, they are keeping me in good shape, even when I am trudging around in the cold, blowing snow. 

Totally gratuitous picture of my grandson, Nathan, and his 

beautiful little daughter, Aurora.  It is one of my favorites, and he is truly a great girl dad. 

The camera picked up these three on the porch one day.  They are the three almost grown kittens... Coco, (black), Wanda (white) and Bullseye.  All neutered.  

They play together every day, chasing each other around the yard.  

The girls come up to the house regularly, and Coco loves to be petted... Wanda will come to me, but still will not allow herself to be touched, though she clearly wants to. 

Here goes little Zoey, ears flying, across the deck. 

And here she is, thirty minutes ago, staying warm.  Both dogs just went out 

though, for a few minutes, and now are back in until later.  Tomorrow, the weather will be much improved and indeed, go to the fifties. 

My next post will show you how I am making goat cheese after a hiatus of some six years (I hope successfully) and... my garden plans for the year.  

 

On A Roll!

Third post of the new year!  It's almost like years ago, when I posted daily!  (laugh) 

                       Here's beautiful Yeller, my only male feral. 

You will see him again later in this post. 

To me, they are all beautiful, I admit it. 

I check the front door window frequently when Zoey is out... and caught this on Christmas Day.  She literally would NOT come in at all if the weather is nice, as it was on Christmas.  It makes me feel so good to see her, though she can sometimes be naughty and keep investigating things when I call her. 

These are some of the new hens (last year's chicks) who are giving me seven beautiful eggs a day, and keeping all my friends in eggs.  They live with the silkies, which I would like to change, frankly, as they bully the smallest hen.  See the darker red?  She is one of the four I took in from the bird rescue (one was killed by a snake) and the other two went to a friend.  This hen is very friendly... never, ever goes over the side like the lighter colored hens, who usually fly out as soon as I open the door in the morning.  She always wants to see what I am doing.  

I made a little nest with fresh straw behind a carrier I keep in that house... and the tiniest hen began to lay in there.  She is hard to see, she is so small and the light was so bad... but she only weighs about a few ounces, maybe a pound. 

My little Wanda has an eye infection, and will have to go to the vet this coming week.  This was when it was incipient, last week.  It is watering a lot now, but she can keep it open more, if that makes sense.  

This morning, in our blustery blowing snow, I found Wanda curled up in the straw... Coco, Lil, and Cleo all in the shop waiting for breakfast. 

Cleo, eating last night.  She is so funny... if she is still hungry, she lays there and looks at me, as if to say "more".  Of course, I take it out to her.  In the beginning, she would not come near me.. now, she will come right up to me... I stepped back to take the picture. 

I just realized it is blurry... sorry about that. 

This looks like soup, but I actually made a really thick gravy and made it into a stew last week, servied with biscuits.  

That was one of the best pieces of meat I have gotten lately, but wow, just like everything else... was expensive. 

There's Wanda's eye looking a little worse on the 8th.  I took a good look at it this morning.. she was curled up in the cage you see behind her on the right... and I could easily have shut the door, but we have terrible weather today, and driving is treacherous.  Remember, she is feral, I can't just pick her up and medicate her.  I have my car ready to load the cage in (back seat down, etc.) but I have to have help loading her, and a place to take her that will treat a feral.  I am working on it.  

Oddly, the eye looked better this morning, I was two feet from her and she sat calmly.  It has seeped down by her nose, but... the eye itself looked better.  She has been playing, eating, and running around the yard every day, so I have not gotten alarmed.  I'm working on it. 

These guys crack me up. 

I pick up the dry cat food as I turn the lights out at night, except for a cup full I pour on the floor. There is a low basin with warm water in there, though (and a deeper heated bowl)... expressly for the possums and mice, so they visit nightly.  I no longer have horses (opossums carry a disease fatal to horses) and can welcome them. 

Lil took a turn under the warm light. 

Here is the deal... when I hung that chick light, I went out frequently to make sure the Kuranda bed was not getting hot... it does not.  I believe the cats can feel the warmth from the bulb just fine, because they all vie for the bed in turn.  The funny thing is, I think I have a picture somewhere of a POSSUM up there! 

Voila!

In years past, there would be hundreds of starlings eating at the feeders.  I have purposely not put 

pounds and pounds of seed out this year... and only in the last few days have seen more than ten or so starlings.  I have a LOT of blue jays and cardinals.  

On this feeder is a mix of small seed... nyger, etc. and mealworms, which I buy in bulk at 

Tractor Supply. 

On the big flat feeder that Keith built years ago, goes Backyard Blend from Valley Feed, which I have fed for years... but... it has gone from about 20.00 for 40 pounds, to 33.95 for forty, and I am going to have to feed MUCH less.  I used to buy three bags a week in the past, but no longer.  

I am restocking today, because we got about four inches of snow and it was blowing hard this morning, but generally, I now put a bucket out in the morning, and then replenish about 3 PM. 

Another picture that makes my heart sing.  

Here comes Yeller last night to get a bowl of wet food.  I had seen him, and took one out. 

Here let me talk about the Cat Food Problem. 

I decided early on I would feed the ferals only dry food, to encourage them to well... be feral. 

All of them like to mouse, I have found them all but Yeller in the hen houses off and on. 

Unfortunately, my two house babies are bird killers (they are both in today, because the birds have no defense in the snow)... 

But... I  failed.  I give them all wet food daily, too.  And herein lies the problem. 

There is a wet cat food shortage.  

The commissary literally had maybe fifty cans of (expensive) wet food on the shelves when I shopped on Wednesday,  and I forgot to check yesterday when I had to run in there for something.  I have had to go to Sam's Club, and I noticed two days ago that now THEY are getting thin.  I bought an extra (expensive) box on Thursday, but I am wondering if I should go back tomorrow, if the roads are cleared, and buy another big box.  

The other thing I worry about is what if something happens to me? 

I do have a friend who is a cat rescuer, who is aware of everyone here, thank heavens, but it is a concern. 

I leave you with this funny.  I am actually going to go out and fill the feeders again, and come back in and look at seed catalogs! 

What Goes On At Night

I sat down yesterday to review pictures from the three cameras I have out. 

Interesting!

That's the camera that looks over at the flat feeder, on the left. 

I'm actually glad the raccoons and possums try to clean up the 

spilled feed.  (Note there is a raccoon ON the flat feeder) 

There comes one DOWN the feeder on November 19th.  It looks like there is 

someone at my gate in the background.  It may just be a car coming down the road. 

Here there is a possum feeding along with them.  I have noticed there is rarely any interspecies fighting. 

There are actually six raccoons in this picture, can you see the sixth? 

This, again, is why I always go out with Fritzi and Jester in the evening and at night.  (This feeder is about 25 feet from the deck) 

Twice in the last ten days, I have found the pasture feeder leaning perilously.  

I did not think the raccoons were climbing into it any more, because there was always at least a half bowl of feed left in the morning.  However, this picture proved me wrong.  I am going to drive 

two Tee poles into the ground to brace the feeder now.  It needs to be re-set. 

There's Rusty in the leaning cat feeder on the 23rd. 

(see his tail hanging out on the left?)  You see how badly the feeder was leaning. 

And there he goes jumping away from it the next night.  I wonder what that light to the right is? 

If it's the eyeball of an animal, it could explain why Rusty took off. 

Here he is Friday morning, waiting for me to put some food out for him.  He will let me 

get within six feet, but I don't know that I will ever be able to pet him. 

He does know "Kitty Kitty Kitty", and if I call him, he will stop to see what I am 

doing.  He knows when I lay his food down, and he has food in three places during the day. 

The porch camera shows him checking there three or four times a night. 

Rusty is the last of the four feral kittens I raised. 

I am regularly seeing four possums here, but these three were on the porch the other night. 

And yes, I do see some of this from time to time. 

I can honestly say I am not scared of possums, but would have to think twice before 

encountering these teeth.  I think he was just chewing here. 

I can tell you that I open the door at night and peek out before I ever open for the dogs, and I often have to convince Elvis to go off the porch and under the deck for the dogs to be safe to go out, 

because Fritzi would not be a bit scared to go after him.  I come out, talk gently to Elvis, 

who considers the matter and then turns and waddles slowly off the porch and under the deck. 

I watch to make sure neither dog tries to follow. 

Two nights ago, when he was trying to decide if I really meant for him to leave the food. 

I don't refill that food, when it is gone, it is gone. 

There is enough seed for them to eat, and Rusty usually tries to come early. 

I was outside at this point, talking to him and telling him to go hide so the dogs could go potty. 

The camera captures lots of things, here I come to check on the cat food bowl in the feeder, 

and I had a parade following me.  These four are the nosiest in the world! 

I Spy

Gray and white feral 

RUSTY

Harlequin

(Harley) 

Spooky, brother of Rusty and Harley. 

Rusty has a rusty-appearing collar instead of all jet black. 

Grey tabby 

Not a cat 

What's going on outside. 

And this, my friends, is how they are coming in and out of the old henhouse. 

Now, I have a quandary.  You see, the possums can't enter or exit this way, so 

the old henhouse is safe from them. 

The raccoons and cats clamber right up the screen door, whose screen, as you see, is mostly out. 

Now... I could fix that door.  You see, I had a new inside door made last fall, it is propped open. 

I could put the henhouse back into production.  

It aggravates me to come in every morning to see that the raccoons have eaten all the dry cat food, 

and dirtied the water.   (It takes me about two minutes to clean up). 

IF I close that door tightly, I could leave some food in the porch (covered) for the animals during the summer.  

I worry about the cats in the winter, several times in bitter cold I went in to find the older ferals, the gray and white and the tabby, in the straw.  The gray and white will let me come near to feed, 

the tabby runs in a panic. 

Often, Harley and Spooky are waiting for me in the morning, as if to say 

"Where is our breakfast?"  because of course, the raccoons leave 

nothing most nights. 

The cats DO get to eat in the evenings, before the raccoons get there. 

So... I'm in a quandary.  I want the ferals to feel safe and have a place to eat 

where they are not in danger.  Meanwhile, I cope with the raccoons. 

(trap and move them, you say.... I don't think I could do it far enough or 

fast enough, and I AM NOT KILLING ANYTHING, go ahead and 

laugh, and don't even suggest it. 

The End of Another Year

If you are reading this, you are one of the lucky ones, as I am... or blessed, 

if you prefer to think of it that way. 

We have reached the end of another year.  2017, which has been 

full of disaster and despair, but also, lots of hope and kindness. 

Desperate cold has settled into the Midwest, along with the 

eastern seaboard and upper Midwest.  I have been 

preparing for it for a week. 

Jester, as you see, did not want to get up this morning.  I had just taken 

those sweatshirts out of the dryer, and he was content to just lay there 

and be warm, but to be fair, he had already been out. 

Rarely does he opt to get back into the big bed. 

It was time to pack these guys away.  I particularly loved that Santa, I 

think he embodies the spirit of Calamity Acres... welcoming 

all the creatures here.  I have a big Santa collection but no longer have the 

shelves or furniture on which to put them... so... there is more paring down to 

do in the future. 

It seems like a month ago already, but on the 23rd, son Jim and his family came to have Christmas treats. 

There I am back in the background, I was holding great-granddaughter Maci Lynn.  I am  not sure who had control of the camera. 

Maci and her mom, Maddie... Maddie has taken to motherhood like a duck to water. 

They had to leave early to go to a gender-reveal party for her best friend. 

I am on continual... I mean CONTINUAL cute overload in this house. 

This is me yesterday, trying to get some typing done.  I did not know the camera was 

laying there on, but I'm glad it was.  This happens many times. 

There is possum Fang on the deck last night, and I'll tell you something interesting.  I love trying different things.  

In the fortex to the right, there is a mixture of seeds, full peanuts, cracked peanuts, corn, etc., called "Critter Mix" that I get at the feed store.  In the darker bowl where Fang is eating, there is birdseed in a blend called "Backyard Bird", made up of two kinds of sunflower and many other seeds.  See what he is eating?  I love to learn things like that. 

The crows and squirrels will get to the critter mix. 

This is the fifth night at least I have seen NO raccoons. 

That is Spooky's tail end, Spooky, one of the feral nearly-grown kittens. 

I have not seen Harlequin for days now.  I don't know what has happened to her. 

It was suggested I check my other outer buildings, and I will, actually, in a bit. 

Here I come up on the deck this morning, lined tights under my jeans, two pairs of socks, 

two pairs of gloves and hand warmers, a shirt under my sweatshirt, my Carhartt watch cap on and my Carhartt hood on.  It's going to be like this all weekend (even worse) and I will have permanent hat hair for the next week. 

You gotta do what you gotta do, but.... I am hesitant to get any large animals because of this, it has reminded me of the drudgery. 

This is the heated water bowl in the old henhouse from which the 

feral cats drank.  It honestly looks as if no one is eating in there. 

I did bed down the goat barn, the only dog house left, and made sure the 

duck house still has good bedding... it does, and I noticed last night that 

something has slept in there. 

I quit putting food in the little red henhouse, despite the fact that the straw to either side looked as if something had slept in it... no one has eaten the food in three or four days now.  The litter box in there is no longer used, but I have left it (for now). 

This poor little girl hurts me just to look at her.  She is one of the original flock, 

now almost 2 years old... and has lost all her feathers, I literally have never had a bird moult naked. 

Because of her, I did this (and she is staying inside, wisely)

Keith and I used to hang a light in the worst of winter in the henhouses. 

This is, in fact, hanging from a rope he tied five years ago. 

It casts just enough warmth, and just far enough above the 

straw that there will (hopefully) be no fire.  Of course,
I got up to check it six times last night. 

I am praying my naked little girl, a brown Leghorn, makes it through the horrible cold coming the 

next two days.  We are supposed to have a record below zero reading on New Year's morning. 

I did let the chickens out today, however, because the sun came out and they wanted out.  

Tomorrow and Monday will be another story. 

We actually ran an electric line from the big henhouse to the little red one, the hole where the line went through is behind the pophole door.  It hung from the rafters in there, and kept one corner warm for the little birds that used to live there.  IF I were to use this, I probably would not run a line again, I think healthy birds are capable of keeping themselves warm.  However, that featherless Leghorn needed help. 

I hung this huge block of seeds from a pole this morning, 

it will be so interesting to see what goes after it.  It smelled GREAT. 

It is a new product which my feed store is carrying. 

I hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve tomorrow, 

and are back here to see more adventures at Calamity Acres. 

I thank you again, for the ninth year, for reading about our little place, and yes, 

even though Keith is gone... it is still our little place, mine, Lilly's, Jester's, Autumn's, 

Twinkle's, and all the wild things that live here.