Summer to Fall

I went out to take pictures of the harvest moon one night last week and did not realize I was set to black and white!  

OOPS. 

It was beautiful, though. 

We have gone from 100 degrees here three weeks ago to forties at night.  Yes, my furnace is cycling on. 

It is off this afternoon, airing the house out with windows open. 

Next week, the weatherman tells us we will be in the twenties at night. 

Don't look now, but Foster Buddy is still here. 

I think they have forgotten about him, I have not heard from the rescue for over a week. 

I just had a trash hauler here and he fell in love with him... he is a lovable boy. 

The bean fields surrounding me are ripening, and many farmers have started harvesting. 

Friends, we need rain.  We got maybe a scant quarter inch two mornings ago.  Right now it has been sprinkling off and on, but more off than on. 

I have only seen Singleton on the roost once in the last week, he is pretty much sleeping in the brooder pen.  He molted very, very hard this year... he has no tail feathers left, and the feathers in his hackles are so sparse... that's his good side!  He looks battered and... old. 

The other two big roosters, his dad and brother, look much the same. 

The little roosters look better, but they are younger, too. 

Wanda slept in the big hen house a few nights ago.  The night before, she had slept in the little hen house. 

I wonder if she is scared of night predators. 

(I can handle Wanda, she just looks really feral here) 

She does not bother the chickens.  If I lock Teenie in, Teenie will chase them in the morning. 

I am getting ready to turn on the chick light in the shop next week for the cats, it is going to be down in the twenties at night all week.  I'm also going to hook up the heated water bowls. 

I ordered three new poultry base warmers, and they should be here on Saturday. 

It just makes my life so much easier and the chickens healthier, to have warm water in the henhouses.  With as few as I have, I won't have to be filling the fountains more than once a day, and what's in them will stay warm.  For the old hens, it's important. 

I took a break after I started this, and went out and did chores.  For the first time since before the birds began to molt, I got six big eggs from the young hens and one silkie egg from the only silkie hen I have left, who lays every other day now.  

I also spent the better part of an hour trying to get Doug the Killer Cotton Ball out from under the big henhouse, I literally made six trips out there, and even attempted to belly crawl under the henhouse.  Finally, I banged enough on the outside that he ran out in panic and I think, realized he was alone.  I was able to net him.  Tomorrow... he stays in the brooder pen in the hen house, the one that the other two silkies sleep in at night.  This is the third time this week, and raccoons are already out, I chased one off the porch when I made the last trip.  What truly scared me is that Zoey had been out by herself, and the raccoon must have crossed the yard right where she could see it. 

Doug, when the vegetation was going crazy.  You see how small he is. 

I am so tired tonight I almost sacrificed him.  Tomorrow is the Lineman's Rodeo at the Ag Hall.  There has not been a huge one since before Covid, and they have gone all out.... families have come in from other countries, and there will be lots to see and do besides the competition (pole climbing). I will be at the front desk, thankfully, and out of the ruckus.... but... I will be tired by the time I get home, and I do not relish another session, so tomorrow he stays in the brooder house. 

This is grandson Jax (Yes, we know he needs a haircut) who has been helping me. 

On Tuesday after school, he worked on cleaning out the hay shed, where I now keep recycling. 

He is holding up a scratch grain sack so I can tell you all something. 

Seven years ago, Keith and I bought "The Big House" and moved from Calamity Acres for a couple of years.  We decided when we moved there that we were going to recycle as much as we could, so we set up recycling in our garage.  For years, I have taken birdseed and chicken feed and sheep feed sacks to the recycling center for the county, which is in Lansing  There is a bin there where you put plastic bags and grocery plastic bags.  I have probably put several hundred of the plastic sacks Jax is holding in the wind in this bin. 

Last Friday, I saw something Leavenworth County posted on FB, and it puzzled me, so I asked a question.  Lo and behold, I was answered almost immediately and the answer was that a bin was provided for us to put plastic bags in. 

Guess what? 

They are put in the trash!  

The recycle center does not have a contract with anyone to recycle them, so they simply provide the bin, and when it is full, one of the workers wheels it to the pit, and it is dumped! 

ALL THESE YEARS! 

I could not believe it, I even called the office on Tuesday and the lady said "You asked that question online didn't you?" and I laughed and told her yes. 

They don't recycle them, friends.  Trash. 

I was stunned. 

Okay, don't read the next section if you are squeamish. 

You know I love possums. 

Young. 

On Sunday, Jax was also here working for me, and he did a super job clearing a fence line. 

When we went to get the tractor hooked up to the trailer to haul the stuff down to my brush pile, we saw a very elderly possum coming across the yard.  I looked at Jax and said it was unusual for him to be out during the day.  When I connected the wagon, he froze and "played possum".  I told Jax he was a very old one.... dark, dark gray unlike the one above.  

I had seen him the night before in the pasture at dusk. 

After I moved the tractor, he continued on between the shop and the garage, and came out to where we were working.  We kept an eye on him... it was hot, and he stopped several times, and headed for the shade of a tree in the fence line.  I told Jax he was probably going to go under Troy's shed, which is just on the other side of the fence there.  Pretty soon, he laid down again.  We kept an eye, but we were almost finished and I had to get Jax home.  

When I came back, before I went in the house, I decided to go check on the possum.

Dead. 

I felt so bad, they only live about two years. 

Here's where it gets dicey, so I'm warning you. 

I picked him up (gloved) and carried him down to the pasture and laid him down... and it was, indeed, a male. 

Next day.  (Vultures should be leaving by this weekend) 

That night. 

The next day, there was only a tiny bit of skin and bone. 

Last night, I watched a coyote roll in it. 

That poor old possum fed the two vultures and cleaned my pasture. 

Everything is here for a reason, folks. 

Tomorrow is the fifteenth, and the vultures are usually all gone by then.  I saw one today as I drove down to the Ag Hall. 

Hummingbirds are gone. 

The blackbirds (grackles and starlings) are back at the feeders, but not happy with 

the very plain feed I am feeding, which is fine with me.  

Very little feed is wasted now. 

A few of the flowers are still hanging on! 

Next time, I'll post some of the pictures I am getting on the pasture cam.  Those of you who have read this blog for years know that we always kept a feeder of sorts in the pasture for the wildings.  Now that the sheep are gone, I put two cups of dog food and whatever leftovers we have (very few) in the pasture.  I have not seen any foxes... we always had them before... but... I have seen a skunk, which I had not seen for years! 

I'll show you next time.