The Wind Has Died Down

Thank heavens we had only gentle breezes today after yesterday's beating with the winds. 

Here's the old henhouse... spattered and stained by the starlings... 

and I'm keeping the connecting door between coop side and feed room side open for the time being, now that Butch is gone.  You can see the closet in the corner... this was, after all, a little house that accommodated someone to watch the children of the people who picked strawberries at this farm in the old days. 

There's also a dump pit outside, under our pens... we find glass, etc.. all the time. 

My goal is to get the feed room side cleaned out... all the bedding gone... and down to a clean cement floor. 

The problem is, three of the four laying hens in here are laying in the nursing box, whose door you can just see on the left. 

This is the house we intend to strip and fix at some point... tear out all the drywall and fix all the holes in the walls.. or... tear it down and rebuild.  The walls of the pen are leaning now, they were Keith's very first building project when we moved here, and saplings have grown up and thrown them askew. 

When we had three henhouses going, the old henhouse (also called the "big" henhouse), the little red henhouse on stilts, and now the new henspa for the last year... we kept the two flocks in the original yard separated.  You can see how that separating fence is beginning to lean... because of the saplings growing everywhere.  I have never learned the hang of using a chainsaw, and Keith cannot now, but we are getting one in the spring and my son will come out and cut down part of these trees low to the ground.  

We need to leave some up for shade in the summer... but we will be careful how we prune... and there are a LOT that can be pruned. 

You can see the ducks were about to have a good swim. 

And this afternoon, I had barely stepped away when they began to pile into the pool for a good cleaning. 

More than any of the animals... this weather has been so good to the ducks. 

\Yesterday when I dropped off the eggs at the food pantry, I noticed there were three boxes of 

bread in the kitchen marked "trash". 

The baked goods consisted of rolls, etc., that had been donated by our grocery store in Tongie, but had not been given out to the needy before they completely expired. 

Most were still soft and decent. 

I asked what was being done with them, and they told me to take all of it. 

You see the hens had a heyday.  I did not feel good enough to go anywhere today, but tomorrow, I am going to run it over to a friend who has a much larger flock (and smaller resources) and give half of what is left to her.  I also have a stack of magazines (Mother Earth News, Hobby Farms) etc. for her daughter, who is homeschooled.  She uses them for research and to make projects with them. 

It's a good recycling use of the magazines, and I'm glad she can use them. 

Here's our girl, Lil. 

She was intent on keeping her beady eye on something in the tree. 

Can you see her target? 

There were plenty of walnuts left on the ground under this tree last fall... and the squirrels have been busy cleaning them up. 

Lilly Ann's mortal enemies. 

The promise of spring. 


I started this post last night, Sunday night, about 6:30. 
We had constant computer problems, and, indeed, believed it was possible we 
were being hacked.  We think, instead, there was an attack going on online... because everything was running at the speed of mud.  It's scary to think that our lives have become so 
... not dependent, but USED to using the computer for so many things that it's non-use puts us at a disadvantage.  I can remember the days when I swore I would "never have a PC in my home" because I used one at work daily... and now, frankly, it would make it hard to get along without it's use. 
My mother lived long enough to see personal computers in the home, though she never understood how they operated or what to do with them... she was amazed by them.  My dad, dying in 1969, missed out on all the hoopla... but I think he would have delved in and learned how to use it because he LOVED learning... and because the wonders of the world would have been at his fingertips.  How he would have loved to read about "his war"... World War II... and of places far and near. 

I have had a cold for six days now, that is slowly abating just in time for the next round of cold temperatures here in our area.  I know from following many farms on the web that many of you are dealing with the same cold, snow and ice... and we have been blessed to truly have little snow here.  We see the pictures on tv of the terrible conditions to the north and northeast, and our hearts go out to you. 
And those of you on the west coast... we pray you are not in the path of the terrible wildfires. 

I hope those of you celebrating MLK day are having a relaxing time and remembering... and everyone have a good start to your week!