Hawk Day

As Keith said when he came in the door tonight... 

"I have never seen so many hawks as I saw today!"

Neither did I! 

This is the back view of our friend from yesterday... he was on the same pole, 

looking for dinner.  

Beautiful, huh? 

Here's his front view as the dogs and I came home from the farm. 

This guy was circling over our pasture. 

Guess what I saw as he saw me? 

Uh huh.  Jester was down in the bottom tier, our pasture is terraced from when it was a strawberry farm. 

Jester had been out of sight of ME, but not of the hawk.  

Ten years ago... Oscar, our Min Pin, was attacked and lifted off the 

ground by a hawk.  He had to have stitches and a shunt put in his haunches 

for ten days.  

He landed in a tree in Spehar's pasture.  

I looked away to take a picture of this big nest... and when I looked back, he was gone. 

I kept Jester close to me. 

However, five minutes later, I saw him far off, quartering another pasture. 

Lilly hardly looked up. 

I dropped the dogs off at home, and left to run to the store quickly... and I saw this guy 

on a pole. 

A beauty, huh????

This terrible picture is of Jester checking out our new bird bath! 

It is on the porch at the old house, the porch that is so cluttery, still. 

I have a gizmo to put around the plug connector to keep it clean and dry, but 

couldn't figure out how to put it on... help, Keith.... and if this 

fount works out... it turns heat on when the temps get below 34.... then I'm going 

to get one for here.  It holds about 3 1/2 quarts of water.  

If this DOESN'T work... I'll bring it over here when I can keep a close eye on it, and 

get a heated dog bowl for water over there.  Then I don't have to worry about 

the wild birds there. 

I think it's really attractive, too, and has a cast sand base so that 

the birds can get a good grip on it. 

And Kathy's cat! 

Almost Down for the Count

It was marginally warmer this morning...

about 23, where it stuck all day until about an hour ago, when it went to 25.  At 6:15, that's pretty late. 

We are staying here for about 3 more days, then back up into the thirties. 

As you all are suffering right along with us... my condolences!

What the kitchen is going to look like for the next few days. 

I'll tell you a funny story about the metal waterers.  I don't usually bring them in, but last night when I went to dump them, I realized they were frozen together.  I brought them into the kitchen to thaw out over night... they did.  I emptied them.  This morning, I took them out one by one as I was carrying warm water. 

By the time I was ready to fill them five minutes later... they had frozen together outside!!!!  I had to put some plastic waterers together to take care of the old henhouse birds, and bring these back inside to thaw out again.  

Whew. 

Swamplandia is now Icelandia... see all the chunks I've been breaking out of the waterers for the ducks?  I've taken them buckets 4 times a day the last two days, and three times today.  I did dump that deep waterer tonight... and left them a regular fortex.... the deep one will be filled first thing in the morning. 

Normally I would not worry about the henspa hens, their house is tight and warm... but the last two mornings I have gone in there and found the waterer empty on it's heater base. 

So much gunk had built up, and it was not balanced right.  I unplugged it (and a lucky thing, too) because the heater base was full of water that had run down into the black container on the floor.  The container itself had a ring of ice and straw in it... and I ended up taking the whole thing outside, dumping it all.... and then leaving the heater base and the black container to dry out thoroughly.  The waterer was refilled and put on some bricks to hold it above the straw until the other two pieces had dried.  You see it here, dried out and in use again. 

My little helper was with me. 

And another little helper was following us around while I waited for the light to fade. 

Windy is in heat again, and Delilah was being very nasty, trying to mount her and slobbering all over herself. 

Keith and I had to go out for a while this afternoon, so we got Dee out of the pen and left the babies in, so Windy could have some peace.  

When we put her back... the behavior started again, so I got Windy out and kept her out while I did chores.

It's tiresome, and I'm afraid Dee will hurt Windy, as she hooks and lifts her and pushes her around, all the time slobbering. 

I tried to put Windy in the feed room with Butch and our Polish girl tonight, but Windy was not happy in there, and eventually, I put her back in the pen with the other goats, and they are all now in the barn, as it's drippy out. 

The little birds are really eating at the feeders again... I filled the nyjer feeder this morning, and you can see it's down by two inches already. 

Here are some bluebirds drinking on the deck yesterday morning, two males and two females.  I promised Keith I would not feed on the deck this year, but I am keeping warm water available for the birds. 

While the goldfinches are the ones who are eating the nyjer seed. 

What is this beautiful bird?  I have forgotten!

You see we had a little sun yesterday, but none today, and today's pictures did not come out as well. 

By the time we got home from our shopping trip, the top of the waterer had frozen over.  

When I'm home, I check it frequently and put warm water in it. 

Here's another vignette in the living room.  The branches you see are not on their floral foam yet, I will get that this week... but that's the lamp I spray-painted last December to match the winter scene on the 

lamp shade, which is Christmas-y

and the bowl and pitcher are from my friend Deb of The Three Little Pugs, who sent them to me when I bid on a box in a fund raiser.  They go well with the lamp!  I'll have M and M's in the pottery bowl this week. 

Keith and I are worn out tonight from our "stroll" through a very large local mall... 30 miles from us... but we have finished our Christmas shopping except for 3 gift certificates on my part... and now all we have left to do is a bit of wrapping. 

Whew, again!  

Everyone be safe in the cold this week! 

The New Henspa

But first....

 

Here's what I found in the old big henhouse tonight when I went out to do chores:

 

This, Friends, is a befouled waterer.  The nastiness on top is from starlings.  The nasty water you see in the rim is all that was left of it.  It was INSIDE.  When I went in to collect eggs, three starlings were flying crazily inside.

 

It was 60 degrees today here in Tonganoxie. 

 

I think the birds are trying to tell me something. \

 

You see, we have a forecast that says tomorrow night it is going to plummet to the thirties, and we have a warning of a mix of wind, rain and snow.  There are actually counties in Kansas that are under a blizzard warning.

 

I cleaned it up and refilled it, and the birds were glad to get a drink of clean water.

 

 

And here are the three turkeys; as you can see, Rosie and Helen are getting some color and are looking very well.  They both had colds when they came here, and were dosed with VetRx.  They have their ruffs up, so they think the cold is coming, too.  They are supposedly half bourbons, but don't look like it to me, really. 

 

 

This was late afternoon, but look at all the light in the new henspa.  There are now 22 birds in there, I have been moving birds little by little.

 

They absolutely love the roosts Keith built, and all line up on them at night.

 

 

The white hen is a frizzle cochin/silkie mix, and the hen on the left, one of the mille fleur D'Uccles.

 

 

These are the Naughty Girls, Muffy and Bitsy, from the little henhouse.  They will be three in the spring.  They were beginning to look pretty forlorn in the cold, and stuck to themselves daily, not moving around much.  They had a hard go of it when I put them in the henspa three days ago, but look now... they are coming out into the center of the floor and moving around. 

 

I've always liked these two little girls.

 

 

I put this picture in for one reason... only a few hens had gone to roost... but Snowball, the little hen on the left, was comfortably set in the "crook" of the roost, where the boards came together.  I think she looked so... satisfied.  You see, she was born in the little henhouse, where the roosts are literally only inches high, and she spent 6 months this year in the doghouse in the pasture pen, on no roosts at night.  She clearly likes what Keith hath wrought.

 

 

 

Fleura says "Nighty Night"

 

I have to go back out to the big henhouse, because here it is 9:32, and I can't remember closing the big pophole.  I sure hope I did, as the possums begin gathering at dusk. Maybe I'd better wake Lilly Ann up!