Saddle Up! It's Gonna be a Long One!

Some of you will remember there is a beautiful maple tree in the valley below me. 

Unfortunately, the tree line has grown up terribly, and I can hardly see my neighbor's ponds now.  (Which I love from afar). 

I almost missed it this year... can you see the top of it, all aglow? 

Today's sunrise. 

We are having terrible, terrible wind, this is the third day. 

Yesterday, our wonderful township voluneer firefighters fought a brush fire that stretched eight city blocks in overgrown brushfilled pastures. 

Four other local townships assisted.  Thank God for these men and women who donate their time to keep us all safe. 

It is hard to get anything done outside today, it is really blowing. 

Clouds are coming in as I type this at 2:18 PM.... we have a real chance at rain overnight and tomorrow.  We are in a terrible drought, and need it badly.  I am beginning to see people list livestock for sale and give the reason "no hay" for selling them.  

Three days ago, this greeted me on the porch of the big henhouse. 

I was afraid for a minute it was dog poop... and that scared me, I'll show you why. 

After I looked at it for a while (and before I cleaned it off) I decided it was raccoon or cat. (or raccoon top and cat bottom) 

To be candid, I have never had a cat poop on the porch. 

Both waterbowls, heated and unheated, were empty.  EM-TAY. 

Holes were dug in the hen yard, and I did not take a picture, but the cat carrier I have in the silkie pen for Mary to lay in was overturned. 

Raccoons. 

Drumroll.... the proof. 

I am regularly seeing possums out as early as 5 PM now, so I have been shutting everyone up starting at five.  I work around the possum, taking care not to lock him in the henhouse, and I check high and low before closing doors. 

The wind is dispersing the milkweed seeds, a good thing!

I found this in memories.... That's Abby looking at me from the couch.  I may do another Fall Tree next year.  

I rarely have grands come here now, unlike when they were little, so I don't decorate as much as I used to. 

I think staying, did anyone have any doubts? 

(Bwahahaha) 

This guy was sitting at the top of the pasture as if to say... "Aren't you putting scraps out tonight?".  

(why I got worried when I saw the poop. They can sail over a fence with no effort). 

And this one was waiting for him to move. 

And they are BOTH cautious around this guy.... skunk! 

 

This alien has been showing up to eat out of the pasture feeder.  

Looks like a male from the build and from the fact that Bullseye  DOES NOT LIKE HIM. 

I don't know if I am up to trapping yet another and getting it neutered.  All the females here are 

spayed, and Bully is neutered.  

It looks like The Jackal's brother, doesn't it?  For a minute the other night, I thought it WAS Jack back in Angel form to haunt me! 

This old girl is Susie, I have showed her to you before. 

She "talks" to me in a sing song chirp every day when I open the door of the big henhouse. 

Every morning I am stunned to see her.  She is six years old, and has not laid for many years. 

She was given in the dispersal to a friend, and the friend stopped keeping chickens a year ago, so the Ag Hall hens she got six years ago came back to me. 

She used to follow me around, but now, she mostly stays in the hen house with the oldest rooster, and they lay companionably together. 

Today, in the wind, they both stayed inside, and I was glad. 

She made it through our bitter cold on Monday and Tuesday nights, but that is not 

to say the old ones will make it through the first real cold snap. 

It is a delight to have had her, and I had her sister too, in the past. 

Susie is a Speckled Sussex. 

I took this about an hour ago, and it is a little lighter than the one I led off with.  My favorite time of year! 

Stay safe, everyone. 

(and pray for rain for Kansas) 

And the Branches Came Down

Friends, it's been a week. 

Northeast Kansas has seen it go from the 60's to the 20's outside, 

with snow flurries, terribly gusting winds to 40 mph, and everything 

in between. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the young men from 

Forest Keepers Tree Care were here working, despite the 

insane conditions outside. 

Longtime readers will remember our beautiful old 

walnut three which we called the Green Goddess... here she is last summer. 

She was mostly dead at this point, and had stopped dropping walnuts some years 

ago, but poison ivy and Virginia Creeper used her as a support, and of course, 

the birds were everywhere in her branches. 

I snapped this picture of her on Monday evening, as I came out of the 

hen spa.  

Her base (huge) was shifting and the trunk had twisted, and in the winds 

of the last few weeks, many pieces of trunk and branches had fallen down. 

Keith and I had put off taking care of it as long as we could, but she 

was becoming dangerous. 

And here, in the other direction, is Mabel, the huge silver maple by the house.  Mabel was also 

getting to where she would drop bits and pieces of her branches, and some 

were dangerously close to the deck. 

There was also one that hung down and brushed your head as you mowed, you 

can just barely see it to the right, behind the pole.  

Mabel this morning, as I came out of the henspa.  

Notice the cross bar on the last fence section near where you see Lilly standing, is gone.  That is the only damage done in two days of intense tree removal. 

Mabel is now good to go for a while, the dangerous limbs have been removed, and 

she is safe to sit under.  Some of the limbs showed sign of rot within, and the arborist 

told me it was lucky we got them down. 

Notice the bird flying at the top of the tree!  

Where the walnut stood.  From her rings, it was estimated she was close to or over 

100 years old, just as I had always thought.  That mound of wood mulch is not from her.... the walnut shavings were hauled away as they are toxic.  

Approximately twenty decent-sized saplings and young trees were removed from the old hen yard. 

I left a clump in the middle, right behind me in this picture.  

These trees, and the trees removed from the side of the barn/shop... were what went into the mulch. 

Some of these trees were 16 feet tall (maybe 20) and were pretty big around. 

I can now start re-habbing the fence around this yard.  Some of it is tilting, but the exterior fencing is still in decent shape, and yes, it's going to be a pain to fix.  Slowly, but surely, we'll get it done. 

I don't expect to use it until next year, I have to figure out a place for the ferals to sleep, first. 

I also had trees along the road removed or trimmed from the bank.... and one walnut there 

which was trimmed back considerably, since it had dropped a huge branch last fall that was 

still hanging dangerously.  That is all cleaned up.  I wish, now, that I  had had them remove all the 

small saplings from the road bank, as some are growing way too close to the fence. 

I was impressed with the safety precautions, the crew leader, who did the trimming, 

tied off carefully before he cut each branch, and moved slowly and methodically. 

Remember, it had plunged to the twenties, and the wind was blowing, hard. 

Some branches had to be tied and lowered to the ground. 

Each worker wore a helmet that also included a speaker phone, so they could communicate. 

I stayed on the porch it was SO COLD. 

As the branches came down, they were promptly ground. 

Little by little, the big tree came down. 

But not without some drama, enlarge that picture and you will see it was blowing snow. 

The crew chief laughed after he was safely back down, saying he had had to grab around the trunk at one point to keep from being blown off. 

And then there was this: 

There had been a piece of metal pushed or pounded into the tree at some point, probably 60 years ago, and it caused some problems... the scar of it is on the right, where you see a darker place to the right of the central opening.  (not the red).  It did cause a little problem. 

However, they left me with a four foot high trunk, smooth on top, as I requested... I am going to 

put planters up there.  (I think).  

I asked them to haul the huge trunks away, and they did, on Wednesday.  I was in the 

house concentrating on something and did not see the big crane truck come and 

drag the trucks onto it's bed!

They have a small mill at their place, and are going to put that wood to good use. 

Lilly was in and out, (remember, it was cold) keeping an eye on things. 

Jester mostly did this. 

Oddly enough, the chickens were unfazed through the whole ordeal, despite the loud noise of the grinder, etc., and the big machines moving all over the yard.  They went about their business, shifting themselves away from where the men were working. 

I also saw an unusual phenomena, but did not get a picture.  The maple tree was the 

last thing they did.... and after they had finished and were getting ready to go, 

I stood with the crew chief in the yard and saw hundreds of birds flying around the maple.  He told me he sees it all the time, it's as if the birds are recalibrating in their minds where the tree is now, 

and what shape it is in.  Fascinating!

Peace has returned to Calamity Acres. 

Photo Heavy Post

Yesterday, it was beautiful and sunny.  It was cold, but beautiful.  We did eventually get up to forty, with wind that is blowing in a storm. 

I let the goats into the yard for the first time in weeks... they get into so much... and they were glorying in it. 

Big Mama Delilah was there, don't worry.  She cracks me up when she guards the door. 

She had already gotten into a box of bread sitting in the chair waiting to give the birds. 

Grateful for their romaine lettuce, believe me.  It disappeared in seconds.  Donald was quacking softly as he watched the girls.  Drakes do not have a loud quack. 

I keep a bucket on the kitchen counter, and put leftovers into it for the two flocks. 

Yesterday, I had an egg that I had cracked when bringing it in.  

These hens went for it... gobbling up the yolk and white, and then grabbing the shell and taking off. 

Folly and Fancy, porcelain D'Uccles 

Our yard, today.  You can see the sun is gone.  We have forty degrees... but total cloud cover... and the cold is about to descend on us, bringing rain/sleet/snow over the next few days. 

The starlings are stocking up... there was another group of a hundred or so in the middle of the yard, and yet another group sucking up all the water and feed in the old henyard and henhouse. 

I am on my way to the feed store after posting this... to stock up for the next week.  We won't have a drop into the vortex again, but snow, and cold daily. 

Is this the most incredible photo or WHAT???

Friend Jill gave me permission to use it... it is a tundra swan at Wyandotte County Lake, last weekend.  MY GOSH. 

And a second, showing three swans, Canadians... and gulls.. yes, folks we have gulls in landlocked Kansas. 

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful photographs, Jill! 

Let me reiterate this one more time.  Leavenworth County takes the BEST CARE of it's roads. 

We are always plowed by going-to-work-time in the morning on snow days.  Regular maintenance is done, and if I have to call for anything, they are out there same day or following day. 

Thank you, road guys!

And to close today, on a sad note.. our massive maple tree by the porch, which we believe to be 

over a hundred years old... but becoming very brittle... has begun to crack.  We have had high winds off and on the last few weeks... and this is scary.  If that side goes, it is pointing at the house and deck. 

The crack was NOT here last week. 

We are not in extreme drought... yet... but have very dry conditions, and regularly having strong winds.  I picked up lots of branches the last few days... you can see some more on the ground... and I have more to pick up today, with the gusting winds we are having. 

But... right now... I'm running to the feed store to load in feed before the bad weather has descended... and 

to stop and get some cards for some friends... and some romaine for the duckies. 

Everyone stay warm, and my friends in the south... I am so sorry you are having to cope with the terrible weather now, too. 

And especially... friends who have had to put down an old friend at their farm these last few days... my heart goes out to you.  

Henspa Progress

Keith has made great progress on the new henhouse this week... and believe me, henspa is not a misnomer!

As you see, it will be Fortress Henspa.  Hardware cloth will go on the outside of the wood rails... to keep the birds in, and Lilly Ann out.  I challenge any possum that thinks it's going to get in there with Lilly in the yard.  I'll be sitting in a chair for the first week we move the birds, squirting Lil in the behind with my squirt bottle until she learns she had better stay away from the pen.

We could have put lattice up, but it was too flimsy.  The whole point here is that the birds have good airflow.

As you can see, the fenceposts went in yesterday, and are curing.  The fencers will come back on Monday to put the chain link up.  Keith will be working on the two decks over the weekend, the side one where the door is, and the front.  A pophole will go to the left of the door, with a special ramp for the chickens to use.  The hens will also be able to freely get under the building, to get out of the sun and to get out of rain, etc.  It will also be a cool place for them, and, as I told Keith.... a place for me to crawl on my belly to get eggs!  He says the nest boxes will be good enough this time (we have learned) that the hens will love to lay inside.

Our gorgeous old maple tree in the dusk... I will hate it when we lose this grand old girl... she must be nearly a hundred years old. 

Look who was back last night for the first of two forays against the pasture pen.  The chickens in here have NO defense other than the pen... they are in an open doghouse.  I had hoped Kathy could make another pen, but her mother is very ill and she will have to go out of town.  Keith said we will address it after the big henhouse is finished.  I am thinking of moving the girls over there with the others, that will at least protect them.

Look at the difference in the time and the temperature. You can't tell from this picture, but the fox is at the front left of the pen, trying to get in.  He had come back four hours after the first foray.