January 20, 2012

The third day of -30 C in the AM, the first day was actually -40...we kept the kids home from school that day even though they still had the bus running on our route.  Stinkin’ cold!   Well, after the first day the next two at -30 didn’t seem quite so bad but sometimes it’s the cumulative effect that causes trouble;when it’s not just a one day thing.

This morning was cloudy, no sun in sight but at least no wind to taunt you.  I noticed that one of my Dominique roosters has frozen his wattles, he has quite long ones and I guess they got wet when he was drinking from the water pail and now he shakes his head vigorously as I imagine they hurt him quite a bit. 

A friend of mine brought her frostbitten roos in the house and doles out liquid Advil to them every 6 hours or so to help with the pain. 
But whenever I bring an animal in to doctor it, it seems to me to cause them every bit as much stress as the pain does, unless of course they are too far gone to care, but at that point there is not much good to be done anyhow.
My Dominiques are wild enough that I think he will be better left alone with his aching wattles.  I wasn’t going to use him as a breeder this year anyhow and I guess this is reason enough to keep him out of my breeding program if those long wattles are going to be a problem.

The hens seem happy enough but their coop is staying at a pretty reasonable -6 or so.  I give them the leftover oatmeal in the morning and they go crazy for it.

Things were not so good in the calf pen. The tiny little heifer that has been bloating up off and on the last while, was slumped in the back corner of the calf shed, just like an old, forgotten heap of blankets.  I had to get her up yesterday and bring her along to eat hay with the others.  I know when the kids fed them at supper time, A had to get her up again.  She did eat with the other calves once she got there but I guess it just wasn’t enough to keep her going through another cold night...

We started with 10 in the Fall.   Only 8 little calves to feed now. 

But if you have a dog (or four) there is always some joy in every day....
Ace is the happiest creature I know:  He exudes joy from every pore.  Every fibre in him is alive and absolutely bursting with enthusiasm for the moment.   And I think he fully expects even better things to happen in the future!
He found his truck in the snow, pouncing on it and trying to push it with his nose back and forth on the ground, covering his muzzle completely in snow.
Then suddenly he switched to his “purse”, a soccer ball with a strap, and he tore off across the yard shaking it wildly!
I remember G remarking one day:  “Ace makes Bee seem old.”  You don’t notice how slow and pokey your dogs are getting until you have a young dog to contrast them with! 
It made me feel better just to watch him and it almost seemed that Ace's joy spread to the other three dogs as well as we set out for our walk in the snow.

January 17, 2012

-30 out there this morning.  But no wind thank goodness!  Sounds like we are in for a week of steady cold...

Wow! The 17th of January already...and winter has finally arrived.  There is about 6 inches of fluffy,dry snow on the ground.
H loaded the wagon with 40 bales yesterday and they hooked it behind the tractor to feed the cow herd out in the Rastadt Pasture today.  Yesterday they took out 20 bales and found quite a herd bunched up so they are expecting lots to be waiting for breakfast today.
E curled last night and it was pretty cold already when he got home around 10:30....pretty late for him on a school night and this is a busy week for the senior high as they have to complete their online courses by Wed. and next week is exam week. With the semester courses, most of them will be sitting finals not midterms.
G still has two online courses to finish up as well.
It was only -7 in the henhouse this morning, -11 in the roo house so not too bad, they looked pretty content, although the roosters tend to huddle a bit more than the girls who are always busy scratching around.
Last night I checked the hens on the roost and saw R's little black silkie hen looked strange.  When I looked closer I saw there were "things" hanging down all around her face.   They were icicles, hanging off each feather in her headdress "poof".  When she drank out of the open water pail, her head feathers must have got wet and then froze solid in the cold.  I got the scissors from the barn and gave her a nice boyish "do" and she seemed happier for it as she jumped up onto a higher rail of the roost when I put her down.

All the dogs to walk with today because they don't usually follow the tractor...there was a slight wind which made it cold on the face heading West but not too bad on the way back.
I let G's ducks out as it seems too cold and dark when he gets on the bus to let them out then.
His ducks do  pretty well in the cold but they do like straw to sit on instead of the snow...they kind of "body surf" across the cold snow, keeping their feet tucked up under their wings!

January 12 2012

-6 this AM and just a light wind.
A home day for me.... I don't have to drive anywhere!  The last 4 days in a row I had to head out and it is nice to have a day now that I don't have to do that.
The sky was so dark this morning though it was hard to get going.  I felt a lot more like heading back to bed instead.  But as I set out with the dogs after chores, the sun broke through the clouds and that was an encouraging thing.  No snow on the ground, only small hummocks of ice in places so we can walk easily anywhere we want.  Walked north to the "Broccoli Tree", a big tree standing on its own out on the flat, I think it is a Balm of Gilead tree.  We took a coyote by surprise, he was only a few feet away from us, had his head down probably hunting for mice in the juniper.  Ace was hot on his heels and Bee backed him up but of course there was no contest, the wild ones can easily beat these two.  He does have a little more at stake though.
H helped me move the sheet of plywood roof that blew off my Orange Fortress in the wind the other day.  I think I will just leave it down for now, no point putting it back just to blow away again.  I will have to devise a more windproof way to attach it.
Our dozen roosters looks so good this year, they are in better condition now than this time last year.  It makes all the difference when they can get out every day.  They have found a sheltered spot near the wall of the shop where the sun reflects off the metal siding and they sit there and bask in the sun.  I took my camera out there after chores and took some photos of them.  They are a nice color contrast with their pure white, black and white ripples and deep mahogany feathers.
I have so much I could and should be doing today but it is hard to choose what to start on. I think the trick is to find the balance between inertia and stressful action.  When I have very little I have to do I tend to get very little done!
I bought some cutting mats and a rotary cutter as I plan to cut some material ready for quilting.  Soon the CWL will be meeting again to make baby quilts during Lent and I haven't done any quiliting between last year and now.  I have made lots of aprons though.
I am going to go assemble a lasagna for supper tonight, not E's favorite but that is too bad, everyone else likes it so 6/7 aint bad!

January 10th 2012

The wind...I  think I write a lot about the wind....Today it was a force to be reckoned with.  It started out light but by noon it was pretty steady from the NW and the temperatures plummeted from 0 in the AM when we left for appt. in SC down to -10 by the time we returned.  And of course with that wind going right through you it felt much worse.  E had picked up O from curling for us because we figured we might be too late back.  Somehow the little kids had managed to feed the calves their supper hay without it all blowing away first in the wild wind.  Just past the full moon tonight and you can feel the wind shaking the house and roaring like a wild animal through the west wall.
My friend in MC has a ewe due to lamb tonight or tomorrow...sure hope she waits.

"Some people talk to plants; others listen"

January 5, 2012

10 C!  Crazy hurricane force wind outside, lasted most of the day.
After lunch I took A and  two of her friends down to MC for an afternoon of beauty treatments and skin care.
It was A's 13th birthday treat from us.
They all went in looking beautiful but I think they came out feeling beautiful which is of course a beautiful thing!
Two bite brownies and chocolate milk picnic and they were very happy...

E arrived home with a hole in his foot (and boot).  He had been helping a friend and his dad clean up their farmyard and near the end he stepped on a spike in a board.  It bled out well because he told us that his work boot had filled up with blood!  He did drive  himself home but is limping pretty bad on it.

I saw two owls today, 1 was a male Snowy Owl  perched on a fence post down near Alkali Pasture.  When we were out walking we disturbed a Great Horned Owl from a tree in the Gas Well pasture.

Tomorrow, a home day.

Tuesday Jan 3, 2012

+ 3 C this AM
Up at 5:30 today, we took A, O and R to MH for the day.  Took them to see "Chipwrecked" at the theatre.  R had never been before!  So we thought we should do that.  The theatre was almost completely empty and it was even "cheap day" we hadn't realized that, so that was a nice surprise!
E and G stayed home.  They did chores, G went hunting again and they helped R and E take springs off the retired Dodge to put in the using one.  E wants to put a bigger horn in the jeep now....
The coyotes are singing tonight and so are the dogs, they are going crazy right now.  It is so warm here still, almost unbelievable for January!

Monday, January 2 2012

-3 this AM
"In seed time, learn;
in harvest, teach;
in winter; enjoy."  William Blake

We never saw the sun today until it broke through the clouds when it was almost level with the horizon, just before setting.  Everything was covered in a rosy,orange glow for about 20 minutes.  Here, when the sun is hiding for even a day we miss it, I think we are spoilt that way.
Jock was out early this morning with another load of hay.
E went skiiing at Elkwater with some of his friends. He drove the Jeep in to FV.
When Bee and I were walking this morning in the Gas Well pasture, we came across a den in the hillside with two entrances.  One higher up the hill than the other and lots of sand dug out underneath each. There were no visible tracks but the dug out sand looked really fresh.  Maybe a fox or possibly a badger's den?
In the afternoon we went down to the dugout to see if we could make it good for skating on.  The surface was really rough so G chopped a big hole in the ice and we started flooding it by pouring out buckets of water across it then shoveling it clear.  I'm not sure if it will make a rink since it is supposed to stay warm this week but we got lots of exercise trying anyhow.
Waffles and bacon for supper.  E was home late, had a fun day I heard.
O and I played Operation, G and H and I played Scrabble in the evening, I love that game!
It is so mild, the chickens are ranging out quite far each day, I think they have decided Spring is here and who knows perhaps it is.

Sunday January 1st 2012

-14 C this AM.
It was hard to get up early this morning after staying up to wish in the New Year.  R made it until just before midnight.  After declaring, "I'll play the winner of the game", he promptly fell asleep face down on the carpet beside us... When the chess game was over we sang Auld Lang Syne to him before we carried him off to bed. However he was the first kid up this morning so he and I headed off to church together but when we got there we realized SS had been cancelled and so we were early for church service.
After lunch H, R and E flew around, looking at the cows.  The kids and I except for E walked down to the stackyard where they are each making a fort on top of the different hay stacks. When H and R came down we played Hide and Seek Tag and Sardines...Bee is a good seeker, but not such a good hider, she often gives us away with her wiggles. Ace is good at going up the stacks but pretty cautious going down, I think he remembers the fall he took off the top.  G was hunting pigeons, there are too many of them roosting down in the old shed there. I don't think he really likes to kill them. They are surprisingly beautiful birds, their feathers are so glossy and colorful.
I have 38 fresh chicken eggs sitting on my counter tonight.
 
"I can never take for granted again...an egg,
Such a perfect package,
Smooth, brown shell protects the dark yolk and white within,
A quick meal for me but.... a whole day's work for a hen."
IW
For now, omelettes and baking but in Spring...a bunch of fuzzy, new chicks to look after again!
I love being able to finish chores in half an hour or less these days but still I kind of look forward to the busyness of Spring.