Everyone Lived

Everyone Lived. 

Those of you out in the country know those words mean a lot. 

We were down to eight below the last two nights here in NE Kansas, and it is only minus 2 right now, as I start this blog post at 10:15 AM. 

It is miserable.  My poor cats in the shop are miserable, two were under the hanging brooder lamp this morning, and the Lasko heater from last year is barely making a difference.  I bought a new Lasko heater a month ago, hooked it up one night and 24 hours later, it blew the circuit and I am afraid to use it.  I need to have an electrician come, but it was just before Christmas and.... money. 

I did buy a new heated dog water bowl when I went out and discovered the dog bowl from last year had frozen in the old hen house.   The cats are using a low basin that I used to use outside for the wildings.... and yes, friends, there IS still one outside for them and I just watched scores of birds using it, so I'll have to refill it shortly. 

 

So there have been HUNDREDS of memes over our snowy weekend here, and I am the first to tell you that the four inches we got was nothing compared to what they have gotten in many other places.... but.... the cold... brrrrrr.  

In the middle of all that, I had two lovely little fosters, Bella and Franny. 

Franny, the blonde on the left, and Bella, the darker girl on the right, had lost their mama, sadly.  They were lovely little girls, but Bella far more infirm than Franny.  Franny did NOT like the cats.  The cats were terrified of two pound Franny. 

They have gone on to a wonderful rescue in this area.  I may get Bella back as a hospice rescue, we will see. 

Of course, they were here on the coldest days of the year. 

The shop camera caught me looking down one day... and I can tell it is not from the weekend, because I am wearing a white covid mask that covers my entire lower face and keeps me warm!  I don't care how I look as long as I am warm!  Warmth is the name of the game. 

This girl is gravid, and I hope she does not have her babies in this weather, they will surely die. 

 

She was not alone.  

I have only seen one raccoon all weekend, and there was food left out on purpose the last three nights, and it is still there.  There is also a pile of food in the garage that has not been eaten.  Possums and Raccoons tend to den up in the bitter cold. 

There is a heated dog bowl on the front porch, a heated bowl in the shop, and a heated bowl in the yard.... oh, and one under the porch of the big hen house, and I am putting food out there, too. 

I need to put my boots on shortly and go out and replenish water and feed again in a few minutes. 

Just prior to the really cold snap, I caught a picture two nights in a row of a possum in Bob's heated house on the porch.  Bob is in the house, and he and Bullseye are not happy, but they are NOT going to stay out in this cold. 

We have been doing a lot of this (Bob). 

A blue jay. 

Not one, but two Cooper's Hawks, way at the bottom of my pasture, looking down on the Spehar's ponds. 

That was a water bowl I brought in from the barn yesterday.... Coco is modeling.  The cats out there have a heated basin now, and they are doing ... okay... in the cold. 

I'm seeing a LOT of these guys (crows). 

And hundreds and hundreds of these flying overhead.  The bean fields are all under snow,  I am not sure where they are eating. 

I love them and I worry about them. 

Right now, I estimate there are two to three hundred little birds out in my yard, eating, and I need to go replenish here shortly. 

The Coopers are beautiful. 

This was the ONE day it was not blowing or snowing last week, and I let the birds out .  They have been in ever since.  Buddy, the last big rooster, is suffering in this cold, his comb looks like it will fall off.  I hung a second brooder lamp in his house yesterday and I found him directly under it this morning, it is closer to the ground than the first.  I was so glad to see him under it. 

That is before the heavier snow... yes, it's beautiful, 

but so hard on animal and human and bird. 

Say a prayer that THIS human does not slip and fall and break anything, because it will mean the end of my dream here! 

Everyone be careful and be safe.