Weather Apocolypse

Like you all have not been through it, too... right? 

I realized this morning I have not posted for three weeks.  Friends, I was too pooped. 

Even on the worst days, I went out three or four times a day to clear the ONE unheated water bowl 

and re-fill it. 

So grateful for my many masks, they kept my face warm. 

BUT... I wore two layers of clothing, socks and gloves for the duration. 

I actually also wore a second hate over this lovely ensemble. 

On February 10, I ordered propane over the ARU at Ferrelgas... the very first time I 

could not speak to a live person.  We were just going into the deep freeze, and I was at 25%. That afternoon, I called the CSR line, and got connected to a lady in North Carolina.  I told her we were descending into the deep freeze, and asked if there was an emergency line I could call if it looked like I was going to run out of gas. (she said no)

Let me stop right here and say that I never, ever waited more than three days for a gas fill. 

I watch my tank like a hawk. 

She told me I was scheduled for the 19th.  (I ordered Wednesday, the 10th).  

On the 19th, I must have looked out the window fifteen times to my gate, which was wide 

open.  Chat online was disabled... no emails were being answered, and I had left two messages on 

the phone which were unanswered. 

I checked on a local page on Saturday and asked if anyone had seen the truck out delivering. 

I was told by one man I "Should have planned for living in the country". 

As you can see from the picture, it snowed three or four times, but we never got a huge load, it was just bone-chilling cold. 

On Sunday afternoon, I got a call from North Carolina that my gas would come on Monday, the 22nd. 

Thank God, that's all I can say.  I had gone to Menards and bought two 

electric heaters, and then used one in the kitchen to take the load off the furnace. 

I closed the doors to all the bedrooms and with the electric heater, it stayed cozy. 

I was staring running out in the face though, and did not want to pay to have to re-run the lines. 

I learned from this... I will have to call at 40% in the future... and, friends, that man, 

Rick Trieb, delivered every single day, and he is the only driver in my area now.  I do not know how he did it!

That, believe it or not, is a heated water bowl that is frozen to the ground. 

I had to sweep the dirty water out of it for a week... I could not prise it up. 

The starlings could actually drain this deep bowl in thirty minutes. 

The chickens were in for two full weeks, they hated me. 

I had three other heated basins or bowls that I had to fill multiple times a day. 

There was no chicken at the commissary on Thursday... the signs say that inclement weather is the reason. 

My poor old Ferdie suffered much damage to comb and wattles. 

I believe his comb points will fall off. 

This guy is on a diet.  Jester got treats right along with the little girls, every time they took a pill, they all got a treat.  He is woefully overweight. 

He and I are walking at a local park every day now, I drop what I am doing in the afternoon and off we go. 

He needs to get twenty pounds off... but I would be overjoyed with ten. 

There is an aging opossum living in the sheep barn right now. 

Possums only live about three years, and I suspect this one is close to its' end. 

However, I find him curled up in the hay in late afternoon, and out of the camera view 

to the left there is a bowl I keep cat food in.  I have noticed it has gone to the garden though, 

every night, to eat birdseed.  

There it is on deck with a smaller one. 

The yellow tabby has disappeared.  I have not seen it in five days now, not on 

camera, not in the pasture. 

I have heard coyotes DURING THE DAY three times in the last week, 

this is breeding season. 

I have not seen Gray Kitty, either.  

Four Long Days. 

I did not see Rusty for three, but he is here and safe.  I have fed him several  times with his 

wet cat food in the last two days. 

I have noticed that NO cat is eating on the deck right now,

and am thinking of pulling the cat food in at night because I am 

overrun with 

I swear that some are as big as Jester!

These are my two youngest grands, Jax and Paiton. 

I have to say something here.  They have not been in real 

school for over a year right now, and I feel badly for them. 

Right now, they go to school four mornings a week, 

for 3 hours.  Then they go home, and a second shift goes in. 

In the meantime, they get off the bus, go in the house, and 

log on and go to school online for three more hours. 

On Friday morning, here, they log on for one hour only, for a social studies 

type course. 

They are missing their friends (the rooms are very sparsely populated to be safe) and 

they are not thriving as they did before. 

I believe they will be back to school full time in the fall.

I believe it will be safe then. 

We will have the virus here, but more and more are being vaccinated, 

and numbers are falling. 

I am going to be vaccinated as soon as I can be, Leavenworth County 

has not gotten large amounts of the vaccine yet. 

I am signed up. 

Many of my friends are vaccinated already. 

If we can just hold on a little longer.... 

I only lost two chickens to the bitter cold, and one that I thought surely WOULD die, 

has not. (these two are alive and well) 

This old red hen is sleeping in the closet of the old hen house now, instead of roosting, and I honestly believed I would go in and find her dead.  I still have the warming light on in there for support....

I have turned off the other two hen houses. 

So far, though, she is holding on!

I also have been getting six to ten eggs a day from the old girls....

until yesterday when I did not get ANY! 

I do have an old black hen on a nest right now... 

she has two eggs under her and I am actually considering letting her go 

broody.  I will move her to a brooding cage if that is true, because she is up high in the nest box. 

This came up in my memory this week... it's little Cookie, 

two years ago this week.  He was just a DOLL! 

So much fun to watch. 

The finches!

I am actually going to mount a special flat feeder for them out in the yard about twenty feet, they 

are just tearing the deck up too much.  I will miss seeing them up close... but 

I won't miss the mess and the seed wastage. 

I  hope everyone has held on, Febaruary was a rough month for so many... 

it's almost spring!

And thank you, thank you, my friends, for still taking a look at this blog!

 

The Dog/Chicken/Duck/Sheep Days of Summer

Whew, still hot here in Leavenworth County, Kansas. 

Yesterday's heat index for Tonganoxie was 108, and that's not a mis-type. 

I know, I was out in it. 

When it's that hot, I do pool water frequently, and put ice water bottles in the 

chicken water. 

Everyone is getting along fine, unlike the heat wave in July, which killed a hen. 

I did lose my rotating fan in the big hen spa, it quit rotating, and now has 

bitten the dust.  I'll get another tomorrow. 

I saw a small fan yesterday, that blew a LOT of air, I think I am 

going to get it and put it on some kind of small table. 

Since I posted last... we have a new member of our family!

Meet Fritzi!

Fritzi came from Bonner Animal Rescue (Bonner Springs, Kansas). 

I have been following them on FB, and they have had numerous puppies lately... but I knew 

starting over with a puppy would be very hard on me and the poultry. 

Then, one morning, a happy little face came up! 

I met her on Wednesday the 31st, and she got to come home 

with Jester and me for a two week trial run on the 1st.  

Tomorrow, her trial is up.... and I believe she is a keeper. 

The cuteness quotient has gone way over on the scale, and Jester likes her, too. 

Her first mama passed away, so I hope we have some special years together, she is nine years old, and was obviously treated wonderfully.  Yes, we are all on diets together! 

That couch used to be Jester's domain, he doesn't sleep on it any more. 

Uh huh. 

This is Singleton, the rooster born here last year from Biddy, named that because it was the only egg that hatched.  He has always been a gentle rooster.  

A coyote got about six hens this summer in the pasture, and eight of Singleton's hens went to 

live at the National Agricultural Center and left only two in what has become the Duck House (old hen house).  Those two hens were killed... Singleton was attacked on a Friday.  He seemed okay but for loss of his feathers.... no open wounds... but he went to the rafters and would not come down.  Fritzi's foster's husband was kind enough to help me get him down. 

I talked to Judy Shelton at the Ag Hall, and she agreed he could be reunited with his girls. 

It saved him, I am convinced of it.  He had not eaten or drank in four days when I let him out of the carrier there. 

Reunited, and it feels so good.  Oddly enough, he  has lost his crow. 

This little flock will be at the Ag Hall until October 19, when they will come home to the Duck House for the winter. 

The ducks are doing well.  Duckie literally takes them to the Duck House at night if 

I don't go out and move them. 

He's a smart drake!

Last week, I made taco roll ups for the shelter.  I had my doubts about them... the recipe was in this month's Taste of Home... and I DID leave out the salsa called for in the mix, I believe it would have been way too wet to roll.  However.... I dried the taco meat out as best I could, used all the other ingredients, and rolled them as tightly as I could.  My GOSH, they were good (I might taste-test once in a while).  I'll find out tomorrow how they went over when I take this week's barbecue chicken, I took salsa to dip them in... and a bowl of taco meat in case people wanted taco salad instead (along with salsa, cheese, and tortilla chips).  I am going to make these for my family, they were so yummy. 

We have been doing a lot of this, but last Friday was the last day.  Paiton and Jax started school today. 

The pool was actually open this week, but the kids will be in school until three. We had a great time going to the Bonner Springs Aquatic Park this summer. 

Yep, they are still here.  

Our little pasture friend, full of chicken. 

No, I don't kill them, friends, they were here first. 

If you have read this blog for many years, you know that I fed in the winter, keeping dog food in the pasture for the wildings.  There is cat food in the feeder at night, but I don't think this coyote can get it. 

No hens are going in the pasture now because.....

ten days ago, I shut the gates of the way too expensive fence I put up in March. 

Everyone is kept on the south side of the yard now, they have an acre to run around in. 

The only problem is, the hens are laying eggs in the heavy weeds of the old garden bed, I am 

getting only about six or seven a day. 

I will buy them for the shelter tomorrow. 

No hens on the porch means no poop on the porch all day long, no flies, etc. etc.. 

I should have done it six months ago. 

This horrible, horrible thistle was growing up in the sheep pen fenceline, and 

I was determined to get rid of it.  I was told by two friends to burn it where it stood. 

When I was kid, I set our terrace on fire, and it had to be put out.  My uncle, a fire chief in Kansas City, Kansas, read me the riot act, IN UNIFORM in his fire car.... I became so scared 

of fire that for years I could not even light the trash.  I am still scared of it.  

So, burning was scaring me to death, and the fact is, one of these horrid things was in the corner, with three wood posts around it. 

So, today, I went to Home Depot. 

I bought a long-handled lopper, and got my pitchfork.  I also got leather palmed gloves. 

I did not try to lift anything with my hands, I forked them into my cart. 

I hauled them over to the fire pit, and forked them in. I'll let them dry out a few days, and then ask my neighbor Troy to help me light them, he is a fireman and can show me the safe way. 

There is a hose within reach. 

Thank God I did not try to burn. She had burrowed under one of the thistles along the fence line to lay her eggs, and yes, friends, she was alive. 

 Now I will be worried about the babies, of course. 

Tomorrow, I am taking loppers, fork and cart, and going to work on the out-of-control wild rose bush that took over one of my garden beds while Keith was dying. 

A few of the flowers are still looking good, and I am going to have two mixed boxes like this, next year.  You can see my garden bed borders, all grown up so high with weeds because I could not walk hardly for almost three months.  I have been released from physical therapy for my torn tendon as of last Saturday, and I am so thankful. 

Slowly, but surely, I am getting things caught up. 

Fritzi is a destroyer, and has been tearing Jester's toys up.  This is one of his two favorite bears, the other bit the dust.  I am hoping this one doesn't.  I did buy her four new toys at the thrift store on Saturday, two are already gone. 

This wonderful image came up in my Facebook feed last week.  Lilly loved swimming in Troy and Kathy's pond.  After we moved back in 2017, she was too infirm to make it all the way over into their back yard, and was never able to swim again.  How she loved it! 

No, we haven't forgotten her, we filled the hole she left with Fritzi! 

Out with the Old, In with the New!

Most of you who read this blog know that I am a cradle-Catholic, brought up in the 

church and yes, I still go.  I won't say I am the world's best, but the tenets with which my mom and dad raised us, stuck, on my part. 

Today was a holy day of obligations, meaning that we need to attend Mass on those days...

This was the Solemnity of Mary, honoring the mother of our Lord, and
I was named after her, Mary, and Ann, her mother. 

I will say I don't keep EVERY holy day (my bad) but I did particularly want to 

get the year started out right. 

So, I went.  Father Mark's homily asked us to go home and think of 

ten good things that happened in 2018, and think about them, instead of the bad. 

I paid attention.  I was looking for a way to do a year-end post, and the 

last three days had no inspiration. 

We went from 55 degrees and sun on Christmas Day, to 

upper thirties yesterday with steady rain, and 

today, painfully cold (18 with a "feels like" of FIVE), and spitting snow. 

I took this after mass this morning. 

Let's reflect on it for a minute.  During mass, two young couples had beautiful babies, one a boy, one a girl, and they began fussing.  Another young child behind me started fussing.  I started to get anxious, and then realized.... this is so natural and normal.  I looked around, and there were along side me two more young wives who were far advanced in their pregnancies.  It made me feel good 

that these kids will know the same things I did, growing up.  I stopped being anxious, and thought about what a good job the young parents were doing, rocking their babies and quieting them. 

My Nativity set is still up at home, and will stay up until Epiphany, next Sunday, as the one at church will. 

(the day the Wise Men arrived) 

These guys and their camel. 

So, on to the review of the year. 

Last year started about like this one, as you can see. 

I have to ask myself sometimes (like this morning) if I am nuts... I'm 68 years old, and 

bundling up to go out and take care of a bunch of thankless animals (and wildings). 

Yes, I second-guess myself.  I do know that my A1C is the lowest it has been since 

before I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2004, and I am in better overall health than ever. 

One of the wildings upon whom I am spending a fortune in feed costs. 

Briefly, I had two lovely kittens, Autumn and Twinkle. 

I started a new medication in January and had terrible trouble adjusting to it, 

and realized I needed to rehome them.  I am eternally grateful to Kitty Cat Connection 

and Tammy Potts for doing so for me, and they went together to a new home. 

Still on the meds, adjusted fine after 3 months, and yes, I regret losing the babies. 

March brought more temperate temps.... and grandson Jax came to 

help me in the garden for a few days.  Jax NEVER wears pants, even in the 

coldest days of winter... he wears shorts.  His dad wears shorts.  

BRRRRRRR.  He does own some sweatpants and a few pairs of 

slacks, but this is his regular guise.  I am hoping to hire Jax because I am  planning a complete

revamping of those garden beds, and a regular garden this year.  I need digging help, and this 

young athlete can do it. 

On April 4th, I saw a gold-headed blackbird in the feeding area.... along with the ubiquitous starlings.  I did not see it again.  

I did have several at the big house, before Keith passed away, but had seen none here. 

By the end of April, grass was greening nicely.  Lilly Ann, pictured here, 

had torn her ACL, and I actually made an appointment for her last trip to the vet (she is not a candidate for surgery because of age and weight).... but was recommended to put her 

on CBD oil and did.  She is still with me, thank heavens, because she is the 

soul of this place. 

I know I won't have her forever, but she has gained almost another year, 

and will be thirteen this summer. 

Late April also saw Barnyard Babies at the National Agricultural Center, 

our biggest event of the year, and one for which Jax and Paiton always volunteer... they did the bubble table again. 

And then, in late April, this happened: 

A neighbor approached me with a suggestion that a I hire a man who had done 

odd jobs for her for many years.  I did, he built a couple of crude hand rails on two 

stairways that Keith had built, but left with no rails.  He also built two doors for me, 

but DID NOT put handles on them. 

(I ended up paying someone to do so) 

He asked what I was going to do with my pasture, and I told him "cut it", and he asked

if he could put sheep there for the summer. 

I thought about it and told him yes, and four sheep became eight and then twelve... 

and were duly brought and unloaded.  The fact is, I had never been around sheep 

except at the fair, and I LOVED them. 

However.... the arrangement was awkward, to say the least.  He would 

come mornings on his way to the place where he worked (down my road about a mile)... and let the sheep out... and I would take care of them, water them, feed them, and generally 

move them into the yard and back into the pasture....  Some days he did not even come in the morning. 

I was uncomfortable with what was, in fact, a strange man coming on the property.  He was uncomfortable too, I could tell. 

However, as I said... I fell in love with them. 

Three ram lambs left at Memorial Day, to go to barbecues. 

I am not cut out for commercial sheep raising, let me just say that. 

By May, the deck was a riot of color. 

Of course, the chickens tore a lot up.... but I am thinking of ways to make the deck 

unavailable to them this year. 

Chicken Poop.  In summer I can wash the porch off daily, but in winter, ugh. 

These guys. 

What we didn't know on this sunny day was that we were going to have a drought for the entire summer, and most farmers here only got one cutting of hay, and yes, hay is now through the roof. 

On June tenth, I caught the 50th Anniversary Tour of one of my favorite bands.... Yes.... 

the Steve Howe version, and that's Tony Kaye and Billy Sherwood on stage at the Midland, I was in the second row. 

Met the band afterwards, and had a blast. 

Guitar virtuoso Steve Howe, and yes, he does look 

like the Crypt Keeper, the older he gets, but 

can this guy play. 

Also in June, this happened.  Granddaughter Paiton started hunt seat lessons, 

and she has now spent 30 weeks learning, and I hope, developing a life-long love of horses, as I did. 

It's such a pleasure to see her ride. 

Her mom saw this picture and said "That's a big horse".  

Thanks to West End Farm for such a great experience, still 

ongoing. 

By July, the girls were laying up a storm. 

My eggs, as of April, began to go to the new walk-in shelter 

(Leavenworth Interfaith Community of Hope) in Leavenworth (KS).... 

and little by little, I began to also cook a meal a week for them, 

as they depend on people preparing food for the shelter 

patrons. 

The night manager, Paula, reminded me that "if I took 

care of God's needy ones, He would never let me 

run short".... and guess what... I HAVE NOT. 

I found that I really enjoy cooking that extra meal, 

and I plan it carefully. 

I learned I don't have to cook for forty, that I can fix enough for twenty, or ten... 

and I continually look for new recipes I can try, and have a bunch of 

tested ones to fall back on. 

I had loads of fun this summer with my ducks, 

and had actually had six babies... two had been taken by 

raccoons or owls at this point, and I was later to lose these four, 

which was a sore loss, as both females were laying gorgeous big eggs. 

I am down to three as I write this, and will tell you that ducks are 

very labor-intensive if you take care of them right. 

My big three Pekin drakes that I still have require water that they 

can dip their bills into daily, and I always provide swimming water, too.... 

I keep a heated bucket for them, but have been out there twice today, 

filling a pool for them to get into, even in the bitterest weather. 

Yes, it stinks... but I love them. 

I am going to come up with a dog pen, I think, that 

can be covered tightly with a tarp, so that I can get some 

ducklings in the spring and keep them safe from the raccoons. 

I'll feed them in the pen and herd them in at night. 

It was hot, hot, hot here this summer, but on August 9th, 

we got some much needed rain. 

You can see the barns were painted by then. 

By my 68th birthday on the 25th, the heat had eased up a bit. 

On Labor Day, my cousin Mary Frances and I saw Ringo and the All Star Band at 

Starlight.  I saw the Beatles, folks, when I was 14, and saw Ringo on his first time out with his band 30 years ago (can it be that long?).... we had a blast, it was a beautiful evening to be outdoors. 

That's Steve Lukather of Toto on Ringo's left. 

The next morning,  Mary Frances and her husband, Rich, took me to MCI to fly to 

Milwaukee... my very first "vacation" after losing Keith.... and grandson Chris stayed here to take care of the place. 

So I am posting a somewhat blurred picture of me with the OTHER Version of YES, 

the Anderson-Wakeman-Rabin version, 

with my idol, Jon Anderson.  

I am using the blurred picture because Jon Anderson could NOT HAVE BEEN NICER, 

he put his arm around me and one other lady from the meet and greet bunch, we had dinner (lovely buffet) and a three song warmup just for our group, meet and greet, and pictures. 

As their camera was possibly on the blink, the hostess took pictures with our phones, and where we would have only gotten one, I got eight.  I am giddy just writing about it.

I know we are a bunch of old farts, still rocking, but I don't care.  It was FUN.  

I had more fun than a barrel of moneys, enjoyed downtown Milwaukee, 

saw a wonderful concert, and have great memories. 

At the end of September, the sheep had demolished the first bale that their owner bought, 

because the pasture had pretty much died during July.  However... it revived with the 

rain of August, and came back.  I moved them back and forth between pasture and yard. 

I have learned the pasture could have supported an additional five or six sheep. 

I only had to cut the weeds about four times all summer. 

I have to tell you that I would have bought these sheep.... but I was worried about 

winter and carrying water, as there is no line to the barn. 

I did keep two... and I solved the problem, I have a heated bucket, and run the line from the porch to the barn lot.  Not ideal, but works fine. 

I really REALLY like sheep. 

Their owner bought a second bale, but sold them within a month of bringing it, and my two are still working on it. 

October 6 brought "The Phil Collins Experience" at the Midland, and what a good tribute show that was!  I saw it from the front row. 

In October, there was still a lot of this going on. 

Early November marked the owner of the sheep appearing here at midday one day, to tell me had sold them, and they would be shipping out on Saturday.  Broke my heart. 

I wanted to buy two, Big Mama and her baby, Brownie.  The day of the loading, 

he loaded Mama's baby, and left Fluffy, another black faced sheep. ( he did not really know his own sheep, as I took care of them) 

Mama called for Brownie literally all day.... and by the next day, 

went down.  I called the only sheep vet in the area, and on Monday morning, 

two days later, he came in a literal blizzard.  He gave her shots, 

told me if she didn't get up, she would get pneumonia, and we dragged her into the barn. 

I gave her shots for three days, then called and he came on Wednesday morning to 

euthanize her, she had aspirated.  It about killed me, I was so attached to her, 

and she was very gentle and would let me handle her all over. 

Fluffy, who had been left with her, had been bonded to another sheep, Freckles, but luckily, 

did not go down.  I was able to buy another sheep, Flicka, locally, and Flicka is almost certainly bred.  IF she has ram lambs, they will be wethered, and will stay here as pets, as I am not breeding.  

I did not write about this at the time, because, frankly, it about killed me. 

December brought Santa's Express Country Christmas at the Ag Hall, and there goes Paiton out the door with our school marm, Elaine, to help in Island Creek School for the morning. 

I'm so proud of Paiton and Jax for giving their time to the museum. 

Paiton and I worked together that afternoon in the Smith Pioneer House, doing crafts with the visitors. 

Paiton and Jax and I went over to Independence (MO) to see my younger son Jeff, 

whom I rarely mention on this blog.  Jeff lives alone and works for a local grocery chain.  He has been an Independence resident for almost 30 years, and does not drive far, so rarely comes over to the Kansas side.  I see him infrequently, but he is always in my thoughts.  

It was good to see him just before Christmas. 

Keith is buried at the National Cemetery in Leavenworth, not on post at Fort Leavenworth. 

I was so pleased on Christmas Eve as I headed up to the shelter with eggs, to see that his 

section was decorated this year for Wreaths Across America... five thousand are decorated yearly. 

I had placed a wreath on his grave on December 1st, but all those brothers and sisters around him had been decorated.  

I was at a retirement party this past weekend, and a friend and I were talking about Keith.  She told me that another of her friends was widowed and said this year was harder than the first... and I would have to say that the first year, 2016.... was easier, I was still on adrenaline from the whole thing, and trying to adjust.  Last year was a little hard, because I had time to reflect, and while, in many ways now, I am "used" to being alone.... this year was a little harder than the last two. 

I suspect from here on out, it will be easier. 

This is my oldest son, Jim, and his wife, Amy.  Amy had a double mastectomy on November 5th, and has started her battle against cancer.  As of today, she has lost her hair, but her attitude remains great, and she and Jim are convinced she will beat it and thrive. 

I am praying for them daily (this is Paiton and Jax's mom) 

So...wrapping up 2018... I had the barns painted, and the driveway re-graveled, but 

will perhaps have to do it again, as the young man miscalculated. 

I had some regular maintenance done on the buildings, more to come in 2019. 

I had some large trees removed. 

I did not garden. 

I saw (besides the bands mentioned above) The Foo Fighters (everyone needs to see Dave once).... and two Beatles Tributes, Let It Be and the Fab Four, and saw one band, one of my favorites, twice... The Little River Band.  Love them. 

This year... I am going to have more work done on the "shop", the big cement 

floored barn, replacing the lights in there so it is usable. 

I am starting seeds again, and will be working on my orders this afternoon, when this post is finally finished. 

I will continue to volunteer for the shelter, and take eggs and meals. 

I want this place to be somewhere where my family can come and be happy. 

I didn't want to forget my buddy, Jester, the best little dog ever! 

I hope all of you reading this have a safe, happy New Year and the greatest of 

happiness in 2019!

You can follow me @Ksredhead1950 on Instagram, or Mary Ann Yoder on Facebook.  Of course, after 9 years, I will still be blogging infrequently here!