A Big Wind in the Night, and a Death

This morning, I got up and came out to the kitchen, and noticed mail and 

other things all over the floor.  I had turned off the air before going to bed, 

and opened some of the windows. 

I was surprised, as we had very slim chances of a storm, 

and I had heard nothing during the night despite being a 

very light sleeper. 

Imagine my surprise. 

My little table had been blown across the deck, and shattered.  Other things were blown, too. 

Much of that glass fell under the deck, which makes me worry for the chickens and other creatures that take shelter there. 

We were hit by a microburst here about ten years ago, and actually were on tv because of it, 

with reporters from two stations staying here all evening.  

This was not as bad, but was a mess to clean up.  I had lowered the umbrella, 

never thinking we would get anything other than the breeze that came up late in the evening. 

From now on, I will have to pull it out if any kind of storm is mentioned. 

Here is something odd... I have a second table that is down on the patio, I had just suggested to my son yesterday that my grandson and I carry it to the road and put a "free" sign on it... now I'll be using it.  It is a little bigger, but what the hey. 

I will spare you the picture, but it has been in the nineties here for five days, with 

heat indices in the triple digits. 

I shut one of my favorite hens up in the little haybarn on Monday, 

and killed her.  I found her two hours later, when I opened the door to get something. 

Her body was so hot, I thought she was still alive, and I could not sleep that 

night because of my stupidity. 

I am triple-checking it from now on, it is an enclosed shed, ten x ten, with no way out 

once the door is shut. 

This egg was laid in a planter on the porch yesterday. 

This girl laid an egg in THIS planter yesterday, 

it is full of dwarf sunflowers that I was really looking forward to seeing. 

She began investigating all the planters, and I have blocked off this area as of today. 

(That's a Cornish hen) 

I worked on this bed Tuesday in the HOT SUN.  There were still a few 

perennials in it from the old days, and the large plants you see in the middle are milkweed, 

and Troy, my neighbor, rototilled around them.  I dug out all the weeds along the back 

fence. 

Behind me, there is a dead buddleia (it's going) and a live shrub, a virburnum, and then a ten by ten patch of weeds I am going to have to totally dig out. 

I am going to start adding back in perennials here slowly, because THE HENS SCRATCHED OUT SOME OF THE STRAW ALREADY. 

Such good helpers!

I looked out the office window to see THIS yesterday morning. 

One of the lambs (brown and cute) found out she could hop IN the low pophole of the old henhouse and sashay right on through.  She got her mom and the others, and somehow those big ewes scrunched down and they all came out into the yard. 

They cleaned up bird seed, but also, there is a lot of good clover in the yard, and they grazed on it for a while. 

I was working on the garden while they tried to trim the little trees that I need to cut back again under the deck. 

The ringleader led her poor mother up on the deck...

where she laid down in the shade.  She had been panting very hard, I was 

glad to see her resting on the cool concrete. 

I put them back in the pasture a little while later, and this morning, opened only the side 

pophole of the old henhouse, which is three feet off the ground with a ramp up to it (for ventilation). 

Remember, these are not my sheep, they are staying here for the summer. 

I really like them, though, and would be glad to have a few of my own. 

I tarped the duckling's pen last night, I know it looks rinky-dink, 

but they had the sun beating down on them, and no ventilation in their dog house. 

They were all laying outside under the tarp today, happily. 

I tarped the tweenager's pen, too, just the end of it, to give them a little shade. 

My big ducks have grown so beautiful. 

This little face. 

And my big girl.... well, she has been getting along a LOT better. She started hemp capsules from Pet Releaf last Friday, and is getting up and down better, and able to walk around the yard MUCH better, putting weight on the bad leg off and on.  Her appetite is back, too. 

Crossing my fingers I'll have her for a few more months. 

Goodnight from Calamity Acres!