Looking Back at 2022

Happy New Year, Everyone! 

I checked to see last year's first post... not until January 25th, a month out from Christmas. 

This beautiful boy was still here: 

Rusty was the first feral who lived here.  I took him in with three of his siblings and raised them in the little red hen house until they were old enough to let loose.  Two disappeared early on... but Rusty and his sister Harley were here together for a year... then Harley disappeared. 

When Jack Flash came last year, Rusty moved on, across the road to my neighbor's house.  Now they have stopped seeing him.  Life is so very hard for feral cats. 

There was a second male here, Yeller, when Jack Flash came last year... he has disappeared, too. 

I only posted once during February... this picture of the stubby tailed raccoon that has now disappeared was part of that post. 

I also posted this picture of the eggs I got one day: 

Let me tell you, friends, those days are OVER.  

I have seven hens that will be two in about two months, I am getting TWO eggs a day. 

I still have one old brown leghorn... she is six... who lays about three huge white eggs a week. 

My days of giving away six or seven dozen a week are gone, I'm afraid. 

In March, I was sick for almost two weeks... with flu like symptoms.  I tested negative for Covid and then tested for flu and was negative, but the doctor agreed I had probably had it.  I managed to do chores and almost nothing else. I found out afterwards that it was a reaction to a new medication I had begun taking.  What a relief to know that. 

I was still planning to do quite a bit of gardening... and had grandson Jax load me up with planting soil. 

I started pepper and tomato seeds that I had gotten from Baker Creek.  I was very disappointed in the tomato seeds, the pictures in the catalog did not coincide with what I got. 

I did enjoy growing the peppers, Gorbaci, for ornamental value. 

This year I will not be starting any vegetables.  

In April, the two silkie roosters, Brutus and Doug, managed to kill the last two silkie hens that were running with them.  I had separated two out earlier to use for education at the Ag Hall. 

Beasts. 

I still have Doug, on the far right, and Brutus is with Mary in a separate pen.  Martha, the other silkie hen, was killed by a predator in her pen in broad daylight. 

I am trying to rehome these guys... Doug is a beautiful rooster, but a pain to get in at night. 

I have to carry Brutus and Mary up and down the steps in and out of their pen daily, and 

I am no longer doing chicken presentations at the museum, so it's time to lighten the load. 

In May, this guy appeared. 

Jack Flash, aka The Jackal... caused all kinds of ruckus here. 

He hated Coco, the black porch cat.  He hated Cleo, the beautiful. 

He tried to breed Teenie, my sweet little girl who was neutered and is still here. 

He chased Rusty and Yeller off and tried to chase Bullseye off.  

He was the King of the Place. 

He caused me all kinds of problems.  I had to go way out in the yard to feed Cleo twice a day, and Coco had to eat on the back porch for three months or be killed. 

(I realized there is a Baltimore Oriole on the feeder behind him in the picture) 

In April, these guys came back. 

They were not here too long, this time, and left again a few months later to give the pasture time to recover.  They returned again, and then were taken out in late August when the pasture was pretty much depleted after drought. 

I am not sure if they will be back this year... they were very hard on the pasture, and I am having increasing trouble taking care of the big water tank because of course, I have exacting water expectations. 

In May, these appeared at the foot of the deck... I am praying they will all be back this year, too. 

I had quite the stand of Batchelor's Buttons. 

I did not post in June, I have no idea why.  I get busy... but that's no explanation. I used to post daily! 

In July, I posted a picture of our newest family arrival... 

Our newest little doll, Wyatt, with his big sister, Maci.  These are children of Granddaughter Madison, 

who live at Tanglewood Lakes in LaCygne, Kansas, far from me. 

I love seeing pictures of them, though we rarely meet in person. 

He is now a six month old... sitting up well and has blond hair and looks like his daddy Dorval's mini-me. 

Maci will be starting kindergarten as an almost-six-year old this fall.  It seems like she was just born, where does time go! 

In July, Jack Flash broke my heart.  I had had him neutered and got all his shots. 

I did not have them test for FIV.  

Within a week or so of the neuter... he fell sick. 

I watched him waste for a week and took him down to the vet for a booster which was scheduled. 

The King was dying. 

I held him and sung to him  as he was euthanized for FIV.  The neuter had thrown him into an episode.  I will never get another feral neutered without testing for this devastating disease. 

It took a while for the cats to relax and stop watching for his ambushes.  Coco came back to the front porch and deck, Cleo moved into the shop.  Everyone was safe again. 

The sad thing was, I had really learned to love him and the neutering was my way of making sure he could stay here with everyone.  We figured the testosterone would die down in a few months and things would settle. 

It was not to be. 

Jack fathered a litter of kittens with a cat who was little more than a kitten herself... Mama.  

There were four kittens in my shop for over two months. 

They were successfully trapped by Kitty Cat Connection and went on to barn homes of their own.  Mama was ear tipped and neutered and returned to me, and lives here happily in the shop. 

Jax and I were able to finally clean the shop up again.  (We need to do it again!) 

Doug, the Killer Cotton Ball, styling by the morning glories on my henyard fence in August. 

August 28th, the sheep were pulled as the pasture grass was worn out from the drought. 

They had stayed until early October the two years before. 

In September, I went to Garnett to see my other little great grand, 

Aurora Jane Rose. 

She will be two in May. 

September was also the month that this guy came here... Buddy, whom I also call Big Dog, or Moose.  He was found astray in our county and turned over to Animal Control, thank heavens, because he was starved and road-beaten.  He has stayed here, and has gained forty pounds.  He is the German Shepherd who does not bark!  

He was estimated at over ten years old, which is old for a GSD. 

In October, Wanda started living in the big hen house full time. 

I lock her up every night with the birds, and she does fine in there.  In fact, I was so grateful to know she was warm and dry during the cold spells. 

She has her meals in there, too, and there is a heated water bowl for her. 

She actually sleeps in a kennel at night in a deep bed of straw.  Since there are hardly any eggs being laid now, she has her run of the nest boxes.  She has also gone from wanting to kill me to being a regular purr machine and talking as soon as she sees me in the morning. 

In November, I started seeing these guys regularly...

Notice it is still daylight...

The feeder is no longer in the pasture, and I'll explain why in a minute. 

It was originally put there because I began seeing another cat. I believe now that that cat, whom I call Alien... has a home nearby, because he disappeared during our recent brutal cold snap, and reappeared after. 

I still have chicken carcasses from Sam's to dispose of... and they are going in the north fence line. 

I saw skunks come to the feeder, which I had not seen for years here.  I also saw possums and raccoons and frankly, I don't need to draw any more of them. 

There was still a bit of color in November, but we did not have a glowing fall because of the lack of moisture, I think. 

I had made a decision to have my cataracts removed, and those operations were (foolishly) scheduled for December 7 and 14.  Friends, I did not go into this with enough information. 

I listened to friends who had had it done and loved the results. 

The surgeon explained to me twice that I could have one eye "long" and the other eye "short" and I told him I could wear eyeglasses for close up.  

I did not realize that I would have to actually wear glasses in bed as I read at night (which I have always done) or to even look at my phone during the night if awakened. They hurt my nose... that is all I am going to say. (laying on them in bed).   I have readers all over the small house now so I can reach for them.  

I hate what I did to my eyes. They feel gritty all the time, and you cannot rub them.  I am using the eye drops, which will end in another week... and my eye doctor told me to use eye drops regularly... but I notice last night on the Visine bottle there are warnings against this. 

I see my own eye doctor again on Wednesday, I had a truncated appointment last week but found out that I can wear contacts that provide that "near" and "far" sensation.  The other alternative is to wear glasses full time and have one eye near and one eye far.  

I really screwed myself up.  

As far as "far" vision, I can see clear over to the hen houses and see what is going on on the porch of the big hen house. 

I urge anyone trying to make this decision to get all of the information before doing it.  

On the camera in the shop, I have been getting pictures of a few animals that are going in there at night. 

Oddly enough, there are not hordes of animals going in there.  This big raccoon is one, a large possum is one, 

and this skunk. 

There it is, caught on camera on the 17th. 

Friday morning, the 30th... I found it here... 

It is between the big and little hen houses, and there is a burrow right behind it. 

I believed, when I found it, that it could be diseased and I was immediately afraid of rabies or distemper.  I called the largest local wildlife rehabbers and got no help from them, not even a name to call.  I tried the sheriff's dept, and to be fair, a deputy did return the call... and then mumbled he would try to get the ACO to call me.  

I prevailed upon two friends, who did not want to shoot it. 

It suffered all day long, I checked on it many times.  

In the above picture, it was still able to raise its tail a little. 

As the day wore on, I realized it was not diseased, but was the same skunk as on camera in the shop. 

By late afternoon, it was barely alive, and I lacked the courage to take a shovel and put it out of its misery, I am such a coward.  I could hardly sleep that night.  

I sent some pictures to a friend who is an ACO in Texas and he said it did not look diseased. 

We think now... I think... that it was hit by a car on the road just out of sight behind it... and dragged itself up the bank to the closest burrow, which was under the little hen house. 

Four of those hens and Doug did not come out that day... and their house still smells of skunk, but I have the windows open. 

Thank God, yesterday morning I found it dead.  I picked it up and put it into a bag and carried it down to the woods and put it down there. 

I am going to get a burn barrel where I can burn anything suspect in it, but this skunk was clearly in good health ... and as confirmation, there have been no skunks on the shop camera in the last three nights. 

It broke my heart. 

I forgot to check if it was male or female, and skunks breed in May and June, so I was not worried about babies.  However....skunks also have very short lives in the wild, usually two to three years, like opossums.  

On the way down to the bottom of the pasture, I stopped to look at the possum that died four weeks ago in the dog house in my garage. 

Almost untouched.  Incredible. 

You can sure tell the vultures are gone for the winter, and the coyotes are spoiled. 

And so, another year has passed. 

I am the last of my nuclear family, though I have first cousins who gathered around our family table, but it is at the holidays that I miss them the most, when I think of those happy times of past years. One of my cousins sent me a card that read "I miss those happy days at 240" (our family address).  I do, too. 

We had a quiet Christmas this year with members of the family being affected by RSV and flu... and I am trying to stay away from anyone sickly.  

I enjoy being at home, I am one of those "weird" people... who is happy in my own patch.  I am going to spend this afternoon looking at seed catalogs... just because I am not starting anything does not mean I am not planting.  I had one big planter devoted to herbs the last two years, and that is being dug out and flowers going in.  I am going to sit myself down with the Burpee catalog this afternoon and dream of summer. 

I am looking forward to another year volunteering at the National Agicultural Center  and I am grateful to all of my friends there.... Wayne, Judy, Marsha and all of you who have helped me this past year.  

I cannot emphasize enough that volunteering is needed and so good for the soul! 

I did not hear many concerts this year... pandemic times stopped so many tours and my favorite groups did not come here.  There were a few I regretted not seeing. YES was back, but not close enough for me to get to.  Leaving this place is hard for me now. 

Jester, Zoey, Buddy, and all the kitties of Calamity Acres join me in wishing you the best of Happy New Years! 

Thank you for continuing to read this blog. 

Winter Has Arrived

Though it technically is the last waning days of fall, 

winter, weatherwise... is truly here. 

Twelve degrees F out there this morning, friends.  Hard on the diabetic hands and feet! 

I have to come in to warm up in between doing chores, and though it is sunny.... I did not let any chickens out.  Most are just too old.  Many will be in for the duration of the week, when we are plunging to literally below zero temps. 

I am out of straw in any quantity, and it was in short supply this year, but I am going to see if I can get two bales on Tuesday and bed the henhouses a little deeper. Tuesday, because my car is in the shop. 

It is beautiful, I will grant you that.  But gosh... makes it so hard to get anything done. 

Follow up to my two cataract operations... I can see 20/20 now at distance.  I did not understand the importance of making one eye near and one far.... I may have a do-over because I have to whip the readers on and off constantly, I cannot see anything close up. I will be seeing my own eye doctor this week and will talk to her about this whole thing.  I am pleased with the results, though. 

I have been taking some steps to get the cats ready for winter. 

Here are Cleo and Mama eating in front of the heater in the shop.  Last winter I used the little black heater on the left... but it cycles off after 8 hours, and yes, I went out there in the middle of the night to turn it on several times.  I have not even connected it, as you see.  Cleo prefers to sleep in the little bed on top of the chest... the one right behind the heater. 

There is a chick light over the kuranda bed. 

It has actually been on for a month or so. 

I stapled plastic over the doors so that drafts won't blow through continuously, and no, I could not do all the way to the top, but this is helping tremendously. 

IF it warms up next week (after Christmas) I will hire grandson Jax to come and get on a ladder and staple the plastic to the top. Just doing this helped so much. 

Here is Alien eating on the porch two days ago, this was the cat who began appearing in the pasture.  I found him in the shop a few days ago on the camera in there, so I know he knows how to get in where it's a little warmer.  He is sleeping here, though. 

Yes, that is the doghouse where the possum died. 

Speaking of possums, 

here she is after one full week in the pasture. 

Pretty much untouched.  I picked her up and put her over by the brush pile.  If it warms up at all today, I'll walk down and see if she is still there.  This stuff fascinates me... my brother Pete was the same way. It's not ghoulish, we just like to see nature at work. 

Jester had dibs on the warm crate on Friday.  You see I made it like a little cave for them, and they all love to take turns in it.  The electric heater on the left is on low now for a few weeks to keep the kitchen warm, and they love to lay near it.  I do not like having a huge crate in my kitchen, but I DO like making life easier for the elderly dogs. 

This little doll is the best guardian ever,  She stood there on the porch for a long time yesterday, staring into the pasture.  I really keep an eye on her because she is coyote-bait.  

Dear Buddy, whom I actually call Big Moose half the time, is in the crate behind me this morning, soaking up the heat.  In the last week, he has become unable to get on his beloved couch.  He either stays in the crate or on this bed in the living room.  He is such a good old dog, I speculated with a friend yesterday about what could have happened to him.  If only they could talk! 

On the camera in the shop. 

Check out that expression! 

About ten minutes after this shot was made, the camera was knocked over by the big raccoon. 

It did capture this: 

That's Alien, coming in to eat and drink. 

At some point, I will trap him and he will be neutered like all the others.  My traps are still on loan, they have caught a slew of ferals in a colony recently. 

Pauline, a long-time reader of this blog, sent me this bag recently.  I just want to thank you, Pauline, because I carry it in my car and I use it for so many things!  It is light, and is an easy way for me to bundle up little things and carry them in the house, and when I don't need it, it folds flat and can be put nearly under the passenger side front seat for when I need it again. 

I so appreciate your kindness! 

My heart fluttered when I looked outside for the dogs and saw this last week. 

I try to keep a very close eye on Zoey, she wanders to the gate frequently, and in fact, at night when she has to go out, we walk up to the gate in the pitch black dark.  At least Buddy was with her to protect her, but I could see both of them wandering out. 

It is the third Sunday of Advent, I hope everyone is ready for Christmas, and, as usual, I thank you all for reading the blog. 

 

 

Dancing with the .... Pugs

I admit it... I just spent two hours on the couch watching the DWTS finale.... and it went to JR Martinez, which I think was a done deal.  I really, really liked Rob Kardashian, (did that just come out of my mouth????) but I noticed in the final congratulations over the closing credits, Rob had not come over to congratulate JR on camera.  I hope that was not for real. Hasn't everyone wanted just for once in their lives to be able to dance across the floor and have everyone look at them???  I am the world's worst.... so I really enjoy watching them, and watching some get better week after week. I also admired JR very, very much, for going out there and going for it and representing people who are burn victims or war survivors and keeping such a great attitude!

Lilly was NOT enjoying it.... she was sleeping.

Here is why she is so tired:

Yes, that's right.  She's currently excavating to China in hopes of catching what's denned under the Dierksen building. 

I suspect it's going out the back while she's digging on the side.

Keith is actually at the point where we are going to have to fence off the space between the buildings, as we don't want Gertie to get under there. 

Meanwhile, in the big henhouse, the coffee klatsch is still going on with the usual lineup:

These girls (except for Boots on the right) need to shake a leg and lay some EGGS!  They've been slacking off this week.

No, that's not Baldy from the previous picture, but Bitsy, one of the two Naughty Girls that lives in the little henhouse.  It was bleak and grey out today, and we got a little more rain last night, which is a good thing.  Tomorrow is supposed to be fair and in the sixties, so I will get started on Thanksgiving prep.  I think it's just going to be Keith and me this year, as son Jim will go to his in-laws, and Keith's kids to their in-laws.  We may or may not have Nathan, we won't know until tomorrow.  I love the Thanksgiving holiday, and am sorry it's one of the "forgotten" holidays... it's so important to sit down and thank God for the blessings that we get every year, though we do that daily, too.

On Friday, I'm making my trek to the Bingham Waggoner and Vaile mansions in Independence, Missouri, and to see son Jeff at work and drop off some treats for him.  I'm planning on taking at least as many pictures as I did last year.... 300 or so!!!  (search for either of those two grand old Victorians to see them dressed in their best for Christmas).

Stop staring at me, I'm trying to EAT!