Random Shots

A Blast from our Past... and makes my heart sing and hurt at the same time...

Abby, Gertie, with Hannah resting on them, in the living room at the old place. 

What wonderful little girls they were, along with our first pug, Addie Mae. 

How we miss them! 

Sedum gone by in the garden yesterday. 

Bittersweet in the fence line yesterday.  We never had any until last year... 

and it came back despite a summer of neglect. 

When I went to pick Keith up at dialysis yesterday, I took the back roads back to our house.  We followed two combines for five miles.  

Notice there is a ditch at either side of this road. 

The few cars that passed us waited in driveways for the combines to get by, as they took up almost the whole road. 

Guess who didn't pull over? 

Just a minute before I took this picture, a full grain truck (corn) had been in the opposite lane.  He didn't even slow down and there are no shoulders here. 

This is a mile from our house. 

Last night when Keith came home from work... he came upon a big grain truck on 

it's side in the ditch to the left, or south, of this picture.  There were two 

fire trucks and the fire department chief there responding to the wreck, and 

the road, we are sure, was eventually closed.  

Remember I took the picture of the grain truck in my rear view mirror last week? 

I can't tell you how many times they have whizzed by me in the last month.  

Tornado siren test. 

To this day, after almost three months... we have never heard Jester bark or howl. 

He does whimper, when excited. 

He whimpers every single time we go by this pasture daily. 

The horses and cows get him all excited. 

These are just about the last flowers to bloom after two hard frosts. 

They are fading now.  

In fact, the tiny little pink mum bush behind them was still blooming, too. 

There is still some color, just not as much as last week and the week before. 

Little Macey, about whom I wrote yesterday, must go back 

again next Tuesday to the medical center for yet more tests. 

Please keep her and her family in your prayers as they 

wait to find out what is going on with her. 

Pet Memorial Day

Today is Pet Memorial Day in Blogland... 

and in a way, it makes me sad to remember all those 

who have gone before Lilly and Jester. 

Mama's Little Doll... Hannah Jean 

Our beautiful girls, Abby Lynn on the left, and 

Gertie Lou on the right... how we miss them!

Addie Mae, our very first pug! 

(seen here with puppy Lilly) 

The inimitable Beau the Wonder Pony

Our golden Rambo and all his hens, and all those roosters and hens that came after them. 

All the geese we ever owned

The beautiful, faithful Ranger Boy 

Oscar, our first dog as a married couple... our first dog at Calamity Acres... 

killed by a truck in the road, and buried under Oscar's tree in the front yard. 

We can't forget these guys:

The Nickster

Jennie and Josie

Gwen or fondly,  Gwenly

And we can't forget these guys, either:

Though Tony and Yankee have crossed the bridge, Inca
is still alive and well at Oak Grove Animal Sanctuary

I haven't shown you any of the ducks or turkeys, but we loved them all. 

They still hold a place in our hearts and our memories... 

we were so lucky to know them! 

What a Difference in a Year

A year ago today, we lost this little girl: 

Hannah, seen here napping with her Daddy, had had an eye removed on January 2nd, and did not recover from the surgery.  She finally quit eating, and we made a decision to let her cross the bridge on the afternoon of the 24th.  I still miss her, and miss her presence on my right side when I sit on the couch in the evenings.  What a wonderful little girl she was, and always wanted to be by her Mama. 

We miss you, Hannah Jean, but know you wait for us. 

A month ago today, we lost this little one on the left: 

How we miss her sweet little face.  Gertie Lou waits for us, too. 

Abby has NOT slept in that bed even one time since we lost Gert. 

There was another bluebird Kaffee Klatsch going on on the deck this morning, in the very cold January day. 

If I can get a good picture tomorrow, what I thought was a female woodpecker is a northern Flicker (thanks again, Jill!) and it is coming daily.  I'll try to get a better picture of it. 

This guy was back in the pasture early this morning...while...

This guy came very early last night. 

Here was our dawn today, and you can see the Spehars are all ready up and at 'em in their woodshop, their light is on.  It goes on about 6 AM daily. 

There were three hens already laying when I got to the henspa.  I do it last, as they have a water heater, and I don't have to worry about getting them a warm drink first thing.  We still have the two Porcelain D'Uccles living on top of the nest box, and in the rafters, and we do put a waterer up for them during the day... draining it at night.  I know that if they were very thirsty, they would come down and drink, so I go there last.  We do not put water out in the yard of the henspa... I don't want to draw the little birds there, and there is a space where they can get under the covering.  I do sometimes throw some corn out there, for the girls to scratch.  

The big henhouse, and the little, both have their waterers drained when the birds go in.  We used to deal with frozen waterers in the morning, and now I just have to carry the warm water out and pour it in.  They are always glad to get some warm water in the morning.

We used to have heaters for the waterers in there, but our electric load is now very precarious, and we need to get the lines re-run because of the mice.  It's all I can do to run the warming light to the little henhouse. 

We also put warm water in the outdoor fortexes.  I looked over there while I was doing the henspa, and probably 300 starlings were already there.  They drained the fortexes, but they have to drink, too.  At least they aren't invading us like the last five years, I have not seen more than ten or so inside. 

I refilled the fortexes with warm water three times during the day. 

Here's our good Lil on sitting point at the fence... she was listening to a dog barking in the distance.  A minute later, I let her in the pasture for a run. 

This one was in the pasture, too... but being naughty.  See the pipe coming out of the tree?  There is an old cistern there.  Keith and I filled it with a lot of cement blocks, cat litter and other stuff, but it is still dangerous.  I am going to build a little fence around this corner as soon as it is warmer with some t-poles and fencing we have left, to keep Abs and Lil away from it.  I had already called her twice when she finally looked at me. 

She followed me out, and next thing I knew, was in the henhouse with me as I emptied the waterers.  

She can open the door with her paw and head, and I was emptying the waterers and almost fell over her.  She was giving the pug stink eye, and on Pug Point, to Buffy, the Polish hen, who was trying to sleep in that lower nest box.  We trimmed Buffy's beak yesterday, but I have a feeling that she is not seeing very well.  I'm going to pick her up and take a look tomorrow.  I almost had to pick Abby up and carry her out with me, she was so intent.  She didn't move for almost a minute. 

Thanks to all of you for your comments about the ponies last night.  We did get the fencing bid today, and it's very affordable.  We are going to schedule it for two weeks from now.  Thanks to Terry, at Moondance Ranch for some special advice about which she wrote me privately. 

I also talked to my friend, and all the ponies are at her home place, and in a big pen with automatic water and hay... so easily catchable, unlike the 80 acre pasture they spend summers in.  Whew. 

I'm also considering this one: 

Yes, that's Rosie, one of the two Hackney mares that was here for a week last summer.  She was such a beauty.  She has been broken to saddle and trained to drive. 

Sorry for the heavy load of pictures, I just realized there was more going on on this cold day than I thought! 

National Bird Day

And what a better day for the Yoders of Leavenworth County, since we have plenty of birds around here. 

Large birds.... 

And small birds 

In mid-afternoon, I made a visit to my son and his family, and found them doing this

Playing "Aggravation" on a cold winter's day.  I interrupted the game, so Paiton ran to get something to show me that she got for Christmas, and Jim got up to show me his new DSLR camera. 

Granddog Shiner was watching the game... and so was Granddog Jester, the Boston Terrier, but he had run off while we talked for a minute. 

This little girl has become velcro'd to my feet lately. She went with her Daddy to see Dr Tom this morning, and we have been told in no uncertain terms that she MUST get nine pounds off, so the diet has begun.  She is barking at me because she is hungry, so it's going to be as hard on me as it is on her.  We have to do it so we won't lose her. 

Her little sister Gertie came home with him from the vet's office... she is in the little blue box on the sideboard.  We are going to keep her there until spring is here for sure, and then she'll be spread on the pasture and yard that she loved so much. 

Tomorrow, let's talk seeds! 

The Kindness of Others

To all of you who answered my plea for the fudge recipe last night, my heartiest thanks!

 

Here it is, sent to me by several kind people:

 

               Peppermint Fudge

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup (5 fl. oz. can) Carnation Evaporated Milk

2 T. butter or margarine

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups miniature marshmallows

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. peppermint extract

1/4 cup crushed, hard peppermint candy

Line 8" square baking pan with foil. Combine sugar, evap. milk, butter and salt in medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in marshmallows, morsels, vanilla ext. and peppermint ext. Stir vigorously for one minute or until marshmallows are melted. Pour into prepared baking pan; cool for one minute. Top with candy, pressing in slightly. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Lift from pan; remove foil. Cut into 48 pieces.

 

As you see, Diann (in this instance) took the trouble of re-typing it.  I was sent the same recipe by 3 other people, and I am so very grateful to you all.

 

I used goat's milk instead of Evaporated... and did not put peppermint extract in it, but used peppermint marshmallows.  It was so creamy and good.  I got the pan out to make more this afternoon, but ran out of time, so will make some tomorrow.  (Oh, and I will use parchment paper, too)

 

In the meantime, I received a wonderful gift from little Ramsey, the Dancing Donkey, of homemade fudge!  Thank you so much, Ramsey, Emma, and Kris!

 

I am stunned again at the kindness of bloggers and blog readers everywhere.

 

 

Friend Jill, who is a registered vet tech, believes she is a pregnant vixen, and I think I agree.  I have seen no evidence of a dog fox.  We got many pictures of her last night around 7 PM, and again at 4 AM.  Something was worrying her, as she kept stopping and turning around and looking down the pasture, though this is to the northwest.  Something was worrying her. 

 

No possums last night, which is very curious.

 

 

Nathan caught these geese for me on the pond at the foot of our road.  There is still some water in it... and the geese land there often. 

 

 

Nathan and I went to see this tonight.  We liked it, it was nice to return to Middle Earth.

However, I must really be getting old, as I can't watch the fight scenes anymore.  I close my eyes and scrunch my face. I liked it, but came home to read reviews and found out lots of people were disappointed, but I thought that the director would have had to squeeze three movies out of a small book, and do a lot of filling in.

 

Here are our two little girls, so excited when Daddy comes through the gate at night:

 

 

Every morning, I push the curtain aside so that Gertie can lay on the back of the loveseat and watch out the window.  She loves to lay there and watch the road and the gate.

 

 

Here's Nathan popping the Reese's bells into the peanut butter cookies this afternoon before we left.  These are going to the food pantry in the morning, for the volunteers, along with some others.  They do such good work all year.  Then, I'll make some more after Nate goes to his dad's for the day and night.

 

I have a LOT more baking to do after that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Early First Sunday of Advent

I got up early this morning to get chores done before leaving for church.  The chickens and turkeys are all happy to get outside in the morning, and are waiting in line at the popholes to come out.

 

This is what they saw:

 

Fog, everywhere.

 

 

When I got home, still foggy... and the chickens had decided to hang out inside for a while.

 

The lesson today, for the First Sunday of Advent, was all about Hope.

 

I hoped all day that soon we will get some rain.  After Keith goes to work in the morning, I'm going to reconnect the garden hose and start watering... I checked some of the perennials today, and they are not looking good. 

 

I'm also going to start the clean-up around the new chicken house, and to clean the big henhouse out this week, and re-bed it for winter.  I'm using a partial bale of straw, and some hay that the llamas would not eat before they left.  I don't usually bed with hay, it can cause respiratory problems, but I think this is sufficiently dry and was certainly weedy.

 

 

Here is the new pophole in the henspa, all framed up.  Unfortunately, one of the younger hens came out this afternoon, and has hidden UNDER the henspa and is roosting under there, Keith got down on the ground before dark and saw her.  We can't get to her.  My biggest fear was that they would start laying under there, and I would never be able to get the eggs, because I'm not gonna belly-crawl for them.  Tomorrow, I'll go to Home Depot and buy some snow fence, and we'll tack it up there to keep them from going under until they get used to roosting inside.  It won't be until it gets hot next spring that they will need the shade, but we will have to wait for this hen to come out before I start.   My guess is that she will spend the night under there, and I'll find her pecking around in the yard and thirsty in the morning.  No, we have not hung the netting yet.

 

I have a lot on my plate this week, as I am starting the Christmas cookie baking tomorrow, as well. 

 

Somehow, the tree will get put up.  We were going to wait until the rugs were cleaned, but we are re-making that date for a little closer to our family lunch on the 15th.

 

 

Keith had some help watching the Chiefs play this afternoon, after the sad, sad day that they had yesterday.   I went to Walmart right after this picture... oh, what was I thinking????

 

 

 

And this evening we were so glad I had my camera in my pocket when this flock came right over our heads as we talked in front of the new henspa.  We have seen far fewer geese than normal this year... and far fewer this fall.  They were headed, we think, for Leavenworth County Lake. 

 

 

A Blustery Monday

Cold out here today in Leavenworth County, and supposed to get to 18 degrees tonight.  Keith has gone to buy another warming light for the coop side of the big henhouse.  You see, we understand all the controversy around "heating or not heating" in the winter.  We have always run a light on bitter nights, and we still get a certain amount of frostbite in the combs, etc.... but we feel it gives the chickens a fighting chance.  We use a simple red light, as we do for keeping chicks warm.  My old rooster pet, Butch, really appreciates it, and actually roosts close enough that he has burned his feathers in the past.

 

The only one that will not have one tonight is the little henhouse, the red house.  I am going to move part of those hens tonight, the tiny ones... and we do have a light in there.  I should have pulled the cord for it while Nathan was here Sunday, so he could crawl in there and connect it for me.  I'll do that sometime tomorrow.

 

The temps are supposed to get a little higher later this week.

 

We had some snow flurries this afternoon, too... small, dry flakes and it did not last long.

 

Keith called me about 10:00 AM this morning to tell me to look outside and see the sky, which had been sunny.

 

The evening news has just shown a short film of heavier snow than we had in Kansas City, north.

 

 

Look who has come out of their corner in the new henhouse.  I found four eggs in there this afternoon.

 

I'm going to move two hens from the little henhouse over there tonight, after dark.

 

'

 

Gertie slid between my legs when I was going in to lock the birds up, and Jackson made it very clear he did not want her in the henyards.

She finally went under the little white hutch and stood there.

 

 

She made a break for the big hen yard, and Jackson held her in one spot for a few seconds, sticking his neck out and gobbling at her.  She decided it was better to come with me, than to stay in there with him.  He literally chased her out, and I could not get a picture of it, because I had the egg bucket in my hands. 

 

 

She came back in and laid down by her big buddy.

 

 

"I'm the good girl, aren't I, Mama?"