Welcome, February!

Not sure why I am so cheery.... notice all the squirrels under the feeder?  

That was taken on the fourth. 

I just took this five minutes ago.  If you squint, you can see the birds patiently waiting for me to 

get the heck out of Dodge so they can eat again.  I have filled the two feeders at least six times this 

morning... I put food on the deck railing, they descend, and it is gone in a few minutes. Luckily, there is spilled seed below the feeders, and at the foot of the railing, many are eating there.  They take shelter under the deck, too, during the snow. 

It is eight degrees out right now. 

I left the chickens inside, but just went out at noon and refreshed water for all the wild birds, and put more food out. 

I bought six twenty pound bags of Back Yard Blend in the past week....I am almost at the bottom of the primary can, but I do have two bags in reserve in the secondary can.  I'll be into them this afternoon. 

It is snowing hard again out there right now, and boy, am I glad the Chiefs are not playing in KC today!

I'll be going to the feed store early in the morning, if streets are decent.  I live 2/10 of a mile off a main road, so that does have some advantages.  (Traffic noise not being one of them). 

When I wrote last week, I had just been to the ER to be checked over for an unexplained illness - not- Covid. 

I followed up with a cardiologist, and I am having a PET scan this week just to be sure of things. 

I did see a vestibular audiologist, and she discovered after extensive testing that I have an 

irritated nerve on my right side that likely caused the two serious falls I had just after Christmas. 

I am going to start physical therapy soon to train my brain to ignore the nerve.... and after 

speaking with the doctor at length (I really liked her and she was very forthcoming with 

information) I discovered that A VIRUS was the likely cause.  So.... proof something really was going on, even though I did not miss a day of chores the whole time. 

There is not a whole lot I can do outside while the temps are so low, so Jester and I have been staying in and warm.  We did try to walk at the park this week, the park where he, Lilly and I walked daily while Keith was ill.... but that did not go so well.  We used to do a mile... we got to the far side of the park and I could see Jester was flagging.  He really is more overweight than I realized, and he had a very hard time getting back to the car.  We won't make that mistake again, we are going to start very small, walk to a corner of the path and back for a few weeks.  I tried to walk him here to the woodpile in the pasture, and he literally put the brakes on and I had to let him off his leash. 

There he is at the gate, waiting to go back in the yard.  

Now, Jes always loved the pasture, and loved to run in it.  I am wondering if something happened that I did not realize, and has scared him.  He got along well with the sheep, both mine and the boarders... even when he was up close and personal with my own.  I'm just wondering what happened to make him not want to go in the pasture now, because I have noticed it before this. 

So, we will walk at the park after the weather gets a little better. 

I rebedded all the hen houses before the intense cold set in.  We actually had a day of sixty degree weather at mid-week. 

While I was in the Hen Spa, my helpers were sorting a leaf of straw. 

See the helper in my cart? 

That is my oldest silkie, who lives in the old hen house with five other hens and 

Singleton the rooster.  Hard to tell where her head is... it's on the right.  I would gladly move her 

over with the other silkies, but.... she is happy where she is... I found her and an old red hen directly under the heat light last night when I went in to close up.  I think I am  just going to leave her there, but I am looking for some more silkie hens. 

Here she is with a white ameracauna, they were sunning themselves in front of the hen house on Wednesday.  She rarely, rarely comes out anymore. 

I lost one of these two beautiful Cornish hens the day after I took this picture. 

I did post it on Facebook, but won't here.  She simply died. 

I had noticed her looking all bunched up that morning, with her head tucked in. 

She was five, and chickens usually live between five and seven years.  Cornish are not 

great egg layers, and these two had not laid in a year, at least.  They are gorgeous chickens, though, and part of the foundation of the Rock Cornish birds you eat for special dinners. I am grateful she went before the terrible cold set in. 

I expect to lose several during this upcoming week of terrible cold... that's just reality. 

I have a warming lamp in each hen house... people say don't do it, it can cause fires... but mine are large enough that we have always done it.  I've noticed the birds needing that little bit of warmth often stand directly under them.

Now... the wildings...

I worry about them, too.  

As I guessed,  no raccoons appeared last night. 

I did find the gray kitty on the porch earlier, but the starlings had eaten all the cat food, so 
I am praying he comes back... he usually comes about four.  I put a can of cat food out with 

the dry, but I am sure it is frozen by now. 

I also did not see any possums on the porch cam last night, which surprised me. 

Rusty, the feral that was raised here, has got some mats in his fir that I would love to help him get out.  I can get within two feet of him, but that's it. 

He is eating here daily, and knows where to go to get out of the weather. 

I did not see the yellow cat on camera for a week, and really feared the worst... and then, all of the sudden, there it was on the fifth! 

I keep a heated low water there on the deck.... one at the side of the deck on the ground... and one at the Hen Spa for the animals to drink from.  

I showed this little Carolina Wren in my last post... I really can't believe I am seeing it, I have never seen one here before.  I am seeing it almost every day. 

There were eight squirrels feeding that morning! 

Here is something else that I rarely, rarely have seen out here.... A Robin!  

We just did not see them.  A robin has been drinking out of the porch water regularly, and this morning, I saw one at the yard water. 

I got into a discussion at the feed store with the owner and another customer on Thursday. We all said that we had never, ever seen as many Robins as we are seeing this year, and don't know what it means. 

I saw at least seven in my yard one day this week. 

As an example, fifteen miles from here at the big house we lived in while Keith was sick (when a renter lived here)... I saw meadowlarks every day, kestrels, and robins galore.  I rarely saw a robin here, and never a kestrel or meadowlark. 

Last week, I put a can of cat food out for Rusty, 

and called him to the porch.  He came up and sniffed it, but five minutes later I looked out, and he was sitting under the bird feeder.  I don't know if he realizes the birds can SEE him. 

Yesterday, I saw him creeping like a ninja on the dead Cornish hen in the pasture.... 

he realized she was dead and then did not touch her, he went on down to the brush pile. 

The bestest boy in the world has been going on a lot of errands with me. 

But, we also have been taking it easy in the bad weather, too. 

We will work on getting that weight off as soon as the weather improves. 

I'm going to close here, check on waters again, 

and then make some cookies. 

At five, I'll turn the game on, but the sound down, I can't take the excitement, and I admit it!

I'm praying for a Chiefs win... sorry, all you Bucs fans!

Have a safe week, everyone!

A Stormy Tuesday

Storms have come to Northeast Kansas today. 

That was this evening, but we had a storm come through early this morning. 

Lilly ended up in the basement with Keith, she hates them.  He makes a place for her to go down and get in the darkest corner of the basement, where she can't hear thunder or see any lightening. 

Here was our side yard... the one I had tadpoles in last year. 

That was from the morning rain. 

It has been raining for the last 30 minutes right now. 

The entire yard was sodden.  (and thank heavens I cut last night). 

See my perennial garden in the background????  Coming up great!!

I saw this in a pasture as I came down a gravel road from the park.  Four ducks and at least seven different kinds of shorebirds!  That is not a pond, just a wet spot.  I got home, dropped the dogs, switched to the long lens, and went back on my way to the store.  The ducks were gone. 

I think these are all upland sandpipers or upland plovers, the birding group calls them yellowlegs. 

There were three more in the field on the right, but they are colored just like the dirt. 

See the corn coming up???

Something had died across the road.  The fourth had just flown. 

There were three more above them. 

Roadside phlox is blooming. 

And look at the creeks!  Wow!  

See the phlox along the banks? 

Our park is waterlogged, too. 

(I am switching back and forth from big camera to little Canon) 

Our straw bales are under tarp tonight because we don't want the 

fertilizer we have put on them to wash through and out. 

However... we had a harbinger of spring here tonight who serenaded us merrily. 

Be safe, everyone in the storm's way. 

I am going to get off this thing while it is storming! 

For the Birds

Oh, they are beautiful birds, grackles. 

Until they mob everything.  

You can't see the hanging feeders, but I have gone through 15 cakes of 

suet this week because the grackles have taken over. 

Very few other birds are getting into the yard. 

There were a few cardinals, but they usually eat after the grackles go home. 

A few sparrows and chickadees... and some red-winged blackbirds. 

Starlings are few and far between, the grackles have run them off. 

We have had a few other visitors that don't come really close. 

I hope to put a nesting box up for them this year. 

So, I have been watching for the Big White Bird. 

Everyday when we go down this gravel road, I look for it. 

Remember, I thought it was a pelican or something? 

I took the big lens on my way to church last night, and LOOK! 

It is a huge white hawk... I have never, ever seen them, and they appear 

to actually be from the southern U.S. and Mexico.  What it is doing here 

I do not know, but it is out there again today, we saw it. 

It has a much larger wingspan that the red-tails and red-shoulders that are around here. 

Here is some information.

If anyone thinks it is anything else, please tell me.  It is just a beautiful bird. 

On my way home from church, I saw him again. 

Okay, picture this.  I have a HUGE lens, a gift from Keith for my birthday... it is huge... 

I follow two professional photographers on Facebook and youtube... and they 

rarely use a tripod.  I have a beautiful tripod... but I got out of the 

car with this humongous lens on the camera, and I'm in the middle of 

a gravel road, snapping pictures as fast as I can.  I don't take a lot anymore, 

but this bird is too unusual. 

I took a series. 

I'm sure anyone who could see me from a quarter mile away thought I was nuts. 

It ended up in the top of this tree. 

Oddly enough, the red shouldered hawk is in this neighborhood too, but I have not seen it now for ten days. 

I HAVE seen the northern harrier. 

He is so elusive!

He has that distinctive white spot on his tail. 

Let's not forget the cheerful little harbingers of spring, either! 

PEE ESS... AS THE DOGS WOULD SAY....

I just looked more at white hawks... here is what I think I am seeing: 

A Leucistic Red Tailed Hawk that has moved into the neighborhood, however, the wing span IS huge. 

It looks almost like this picture from the web. 

Rainy Days

How we have needed rain... and we've gotten a little, yesterday and today. 

The ponds looked leaden at the bottom of the hill. 

I think Jester's expression pretty much sums up how he felt: 

Nothing fazes Lil, though. 

Certainly not a little rain. 

I noticed last night she has a hitch in her step coming up the back stairs here at the house... and I'm going to start watching her closely. 

I have seen very few hawks this week.  Tuesday I caught this one in a tree on the way home. 

His colors are nice, aren't they? 

It was sunny on Tuesday, and we should have some sun tomorrow. 

I rarely see robins in trees... but Tuesday, I got two of them, there is one on the left behind a branch.  The redwings joined them, I was filling the feeder.  The robins, of course, don't eat at the 

feeders.  They were getting a surfeit of worms yesterday and today. 

I caught a cardinal in the maple tree the same day. 

As I pulled up with the dogs, three crows flew from the feeder. 

While a fourth laughed from the top of the old walnut tree. 

A grackle joined the redwings at the feeder.  I am purposely not 

putting much seed out at the moment, because the starlings are watching constantly. I keep meaning to explain the nails you see in the upright pole... they are for orange slices, for orioles. 

Watching, always. 

Work is progressing on the house, too... There are now three new windows on the west side, and... ta da.... the wall where those left two windows are, that bowed out the entire time we were there, has 

now been fixed and brought into plumb from the inside, the right way. 

There is a big pile of c and d on the back deck, that will get cleaned out on Saturday.  The temps are supposed to be in the 70's this weekend... and then rain again next week... we really do need it. 

But.. work is going along, slowly but surely. 

The Kansas Dept. of Agriculture came by to look at the chickens..

and left information with neighbor Kathy, who was home.  I spoke with them 

this afternoon, and they will come by in the next day or so and come in and check the birds out.  I'm sure they will be satisfied with their health. 

The man did tell me that they have a surprising number of people reporting 

their flocks... I was so glad to hear this. 

So far, we have not heard of any but the one flock that was infected with 

H5N2.  

Sun tomorrow!