Ninja Rooster (encore)

7/7/2003 Ninja Rooster has died. That was a tragedy from our perspective but a comedy from everyone else's. He had gotten to the point that not only did he attack every small person he saw, he attacked Evelyne every time he saw her. He would run up to the fence in his attack mode and slam right into it if she was on the other side. She got to the point she wouldn't go into the pen without carrying a big stick (but she didn't walk softly so she'll never be President). He often threatened me but he always backed off at the last moment when I told him "NO!" and never actually attacked me. I was giving Ginger some medication and was totally engrossed in getting her taken care of when Ninja saw his golden opportunity. He attacked full force from my blind side and drew blood. Fatal Error on his part. I went to Evelyne's house and told her he was either going to be stew or Coyote food. Rick decided he was in the mood to go ahead and kill him and dress him out. This is where it gets sad. Rick chased him with a large box and Evelyne chased him for several minutes with a broom (or maybe it was a rake), finally got him cornered, grabbed him by the tail and as she maneuvered for a better grip he took off again. I had been tending the burning trash cans to keep the grass from starting on fire. She came to me VERY irritated with the bird by now. We traded places and I went to chase the bird. He obviously knew he was in big trouble as he started running as soon as he saw me. I finally cornered him with the help of an industrial sized mop, grabbed him by the wings and we were off to the chopping block. As you all know, I don't handle blood well and it is very hard for me to kill creatures (with the exception of the rodents who all have it coming, especially those damn pack rats). So as Rick got ready to chop his head off I looked away. I heard a "thump" but it was more of a "thud" than a clean sounding whack. Obviously his neck was stronger than Rick had anticipated. Another shot should do it. The bird is now lying perfectly still so it is OK for me to leave him with the gutting process and return to tending the fire. WRONG. The bird lifts its head and starts off again, albeit in a staggering drunken fashion. We catch him again and by now Evelyne is back to see what the commotion is all about. I hand the stunned bird to her and leave the task in their hands. The rest of the story: we baked him in a slow oven over night. Great flavor for shoe leather. So after lunch we boiled him and took the rest of the meat from the bones and made chicken and noodles...still a little on the "firm" side but quite tasty. Evelyne's comment is: "We aren't doing that again." So I guess I need to start looking for a butcher for all these roosters I have out in the pen.

Turkeys vs Cats

There haven't been a lot of interesting things happening here recently. Just more of the same entertaining events I have written about before and I hesitate to repeat myself for fear of being accused of senility. However, the turkeys vs. the cats is an amusing sight to see. The turkeys are the dominators. I don't blame the cats. If something that much larger than me was threatening me, I'd leave the area too. But I did feel sorry for Golden Boy. The cats often sleep in greenhouse #1 overnight. They prefer to go outside to relieve themselves as opposed to using their litter box and generally do a good job of waiting until we let them out. Once out, they immediately seek out a good spot to take care of that business. GB had located what he considered an appropriate spot. The alpha hen turkey disagreed with his assessment. She strutted around him and jutted her head (and beak!) toward him. I suspect it made his task considerably difficult. He finally gave up and went off to find another spot. The turkeys go to Bad Goose's pen every morning and have a discussion with him. That is also a funny thing to watch and listen to. They are quite independent birds. Good thing they are pretty...well, pretty for turkeys, anyway.

Dirt Devil Broom Vacuums--AAAARGH

Christmas has come and gone for another year. I hope your holiday was all you hoped it would be. I treated myself to a Christmas present this year. A Dirt Devil broom vacuum. It seemed like a great thing to have around the house to pick up after the cats. It was delivered in a huge box stuffed with brown paper. It is pretty...dark blue color with silver trim. It was easy to put together. Simply screw the handle together at two spots. Plug it in and charge it for 24 hours and sweep like crazy. Great idea. But it doesn't work. The vacuum won't suck up anything, even small dirt particles. I am very disappointed...and almost angry about it. The closest repair center is in Benkleman, NE. I guess there is a road trip to someplace besides Colorado in my future.

Winter is here. The calendar said so today, but I've known it for a few weeks now. Since it has been below freezing for most days of the last two weeks. In spite of winter, Evelyne and I had a great afternoon in the greenhouse transplanting lettuce. It should be ready to eat in another month. The spinach we transplanted earlier is looking really great. We have had to turn the heater on overnight. With the added heat the greenhouse stays above 40 degrees even with the temps dropping below zero. I think it was well worth the aggravation and expense of getting it ready to be used. The cats are always jealous when we are in the greenhouse. They sneak in the door with us whenever they can, but when we shut them out they climb on the roof which is a real challenge unless they stay on the wooden rafters. It doesn't seem to bother them too much when they slide off and slam into the ground. The chickens have slacked off and aren't contributing as much to the table and farm income as this summer, but we are still managing to have enough for ourselves and get our regular customers their eggs, but we do sometimes have to limit them to only 2 dozen at a time. I feel sorry for the creatures in this cold weather, but they all have nice shelters to get out of the wind and keep dry. We may have made a fatal error with the cookies we made for them last week. They EXPECT cookies every time we approach them now. Spoiled, aren't they? Aunt Jo

Cookies for the Kids

Evelyne and I spent one whole afternoon making cookies for the kids. Not the two legged kids, our four legged kids. We made several different kinds. Some with carrots and applesauce, some with bananas (peelings and all) and sunflower seeds, some with peach skins and apples and all with molasses, oatmeal and oil. Our creatures really love these things. The bunnies think they are better than those crummy alfalfa pellets we give them (which are delicious IF they can't smell the cookies). The goats stand at the gate waiting when they get a whiff of these yummy treats in our pockets, the chickens don't hesitate to eat them all gone, and even the cats must think they are pretty good, as they will help themselves to the cookies in the container when the lid isn't put on tight enough to keep them out. We are very glad we made them. Since the weather has been below freezing for more than a day and below zero for a couple of nights, the extra nutrition in the cookies is good for the creatures and a lot easier to feed than some store bought supplement. The creatures are glad we made them too!

Garlic! Garlic! Garlic!

We had about a half bushel of generic garlic in the shop at the end of the season. We sold a lot, but that is way to much to try to carry over until spring. Last year I peeled it and kept it in the refrigerator which was really convenient as when I needed some it was ready to go. Only problem with that was by spring it had started to grow some really nice roots and was well on its way to having stems. We planted those and they grew quite well. This year we decided to again try drying some. You may remember my experience last year with the garlic slices and resulting chemical burns that ate the skin off my fingers. I was a bit hesitant to take on the task again. I have cautiously washed my hands frequently while getting the stuff ready to dry and this year I decided to slice it with the food processor. It didn't make nice, tidy, even slices like last year, but it was a lot quicker and I still have skin on my fingers. We also learned from last year that you don't dry garlic in the shop. Even a die hard Italian food lover couldn't have handled that scent. So we put the dehydrator in greenhouse #1 while it dried the garlic. That actually worked better, as the greenhouse was cooler than the shop and the garlic dried nicely instead of "roasting". The final results are terrific. I went to the store to get an idea how to price this for the coop. It is pure garlic, sustainably grown with no additives or preservatives. It was hard to find a comparison. #1.)ALL the garlic powder or granules I found were a product of China. Yes, CHINA! #2.)All of them had other stuff added as preservatives or anti-caking or additional flavoring. The results from this research make this garlic powder taste better than ever! If you are headed out to Whole Foods or some other "organic" grocery store, would you check on their powdered garlic and see if you can find some PURE garlic, grown and processed in the USA and tell me how much they want for it? Aunt Jo

mmm-mmm-good

Last night for dinner I had fresh lettuce picked just before eating right from the raised bed cold frame as well as fantastic yellow heritage tomatoes from the greenhouse. It was a little slice of heaven. It will, however be the end of the tomatoes for this season. Several nights ago, the vent on the greenhouse blew open in the wind, the night was cold, and the little propane bottle ran out of gas. These three things all conspired against the tomatoes and peppers. I think they could have handled 2 out of 3, but the triple whammy got them. Most of the other things in the greenhouse survived, as it only got down to 29degrees. The lettuce, spinach and rosemary are perfectly happy and thriving and a couple of the peppers are still hanging in there. After that incident, we decided we needed to hook up a larger tank to the heater in the greenhouse. And, it wouldn't hurt to have a spare, either. To make a long story short, we now have two 20 pound and one 40 pound propane tanks sitting outside the greenhouse. This is becoming an expensive proposition, however. The larger tank was the one which belongs with Earl's propane heater-a heavy duty job for garages. Unfortunately, it was the older model valve and in order to have it refilled we had to put on a new one. We finally found a place who would order the valve and replace it for us. I was shocked when I picked it up. It cost $75 to reclaim the tank...$35 of which was labor. Either it was a lot more complicated than it looked like it should have been or that was one slow laborer. It is now snowing outside, and this morning when I went out to water the animals it was 6 degrees. We are expecting it to warm up to today of a whopping 20 degrees. I think we will need to put the heater in the greenhouse on high just to keep it above freezing...forget tropical! Guess it is a good thing we have all those spare tanks. Hope you are keeping warm. Aunt Jo

Our chickens have been one of the most profitable parts of Prairie House. The eggs from them have provided enough income to pay for lots of things here. Production normally drops in the winter but ours recently had dropped too far. We looked for a hidden nest but couldn't find one anywhere.

Today one of the chickens was making lots of noise and carrying on. I went to check to see what the problem was. I guess I'm a little nervous since the bold coyote incident last weekend. Apparently another chicken was on the nest she wanted. The best nesting sight there is, obviously. Sure enough there WAS a hidden nest. Apparently they have been hiding them there for quite a time as there were more than a dozen eggs--some previously frozen and broken, most currently frozen.

The hidden nest is way back in the corner of the barn under a shelf. There is no way to collect the eggs without getting down on hands and knees and crawling there. Almost makes it tempting to just leave the eggs there, but we had NO eggs left in the refrigerator for sale today after our customers came. We even sold a dozen of the "dirty" eggs which we save for ourselves to be able to meet customer demand.

I couldn't see them, but I think I heard the chickens snickering while I was crawling on the ground! Those tricky chickens.

Sneaky little birds, aren't they?

Coyote vs. homely but sturdy house

My sister and I often build unconventional things. For instance, we have built several cages from scraps of lumber, remnants of wire and windows which were left over and stored in a building when we moved here. They don’t look pretty, but they are functional. Our Bantam Chickens sleep in one of these houses overnight. Apparently it is a pretty sturdy structure. You may remember we lost several ducks to a predator recently when a gate was left open overnight and the ducks weren’t put away behind closed doors. I am now convinced it was a coyote that decimated the duck flock. Why? Because I came face to face with him behind the house this morning. He had tried and tried to get to the Bantams, apparently. All the dirt was dug up around the cage, the tarp we use to protect them from the wind was lying on the ground about 10 feet away from the cage. The cage was overturned, with the door facing the ground. My heart sank when I saw it. But the heart rate increased considerably when I saw movement by a tree and looked up to see the coyote standing only 5 feet from me. I think he was more frightened than I was…but I was certainly startled by his presence so nearby. He turned and scuttled under the bus and away. With a still heavy heart, I turned the cage back upright expecting to see a the remains of a massacre. Amazingly, the door was still fastened shut, the wire still holding fast and all the chickens inside were physically unharmed. I’m not sure of their mental state. I didn’t open their door as I didn’t know for sure where the coyote had gone. I proceeded to the other chicken house to see if things were OK in there and then on to the barnyard to check on everything there. The goats were very nervous and the chickens didn’t want to come out of their house, but nothing was injured so I was relieved. As I walked back toward the house, the coyote was standing on the far side of the highway staring at me. I think I heard him say na-na-na-na-na! Then I remembered the turkeys. I went to the area where the rabbits are (who were undisturbed, fortunately) and called the turkeys. Only one answered me. Bummer. We haven’t even had them a month yet. The one on the rooftop continued to talk to me, but alas, no other sounds were heard. Then I looked up and the others were safely roosting in the tree. They appeared a bit nervous, not moving at all, but none the worse for wear. I opened the door so the cats could come out of the bus and they refused. Apparently they suspected danger was still lurking just outside their door. I knew the coyote was gone, for now at least, and had to go to work this morning, so I opened all the doors and let the creatures out, hoping all would still be alive when I got home this afternoon. Good news! They were.

Turkeys Snore!

Our new turkeys have been quite entertaining. I am so glad Mark gave them to us. (And it is lots easier to have them since they came here full grown!) They have chosen a very smart site-the trees just outside my bedroom window-as their roosting spot for the nights. Two of them roost in the mulberry tree and one in the elm tree. It is a good spot for them: reasonably safe from both ground and aerial predators. Smart birds, these turkeys are. I was awakened last night by the sounds of owls. Owls are not a good thing here. (You may remember the episode with the owl in the chicken house.) They eat rodents and snakes which is good. But they also eat chickens, ducks, goslings, and cats which is NOT good. I didn't think they would be able to carry off one of the turkeys, but I never cease to be amazed by what happens at Prairie House. I got out of bed to listen more closely and make a mental note of where all our creatures were for the night. Only Golden Boy and Chester were unaccounted for and hopefully hunkered down someplace warm and comfy as the snow was covering the ground and still falling. The longer I listened, the more I began to wonder if it was a family of owls...or something else. These seemed to be owls with a nasal problem. The familiar hoot-hoot-hoot of the owl sounded more like hoot-wheeze-hoot-wheeze-hoot-wheeze. There was a chorus of hoot-wheezes, so either there was a whole family of owls who had smoked too much and now had emphysema or this sound was coming from something else. Hmmmm After listening at the window for some time, I don't think it was owls at all. I think our turkeys snore! Their choice of roosting sites might not be such a good one after all. Hope you had a Thanksgiving filled with truckloads of things to be thankful for. I'm thankful we only got three turkeys.

Tom Turkey vs. Bad Goose

I was awakened this morning by a commotion in the east yard. Tom Turkey had taken his harem there. This was the first time he and Bad Goose had ever met. What a hoot. Tom was all puffed out struttin' his stuff and gobbling outside of BG's enclosure. (We moved BG and his un-named lady duck to the big kennel which is closer to the house for their safety and our convenience.) BG was inside honking and warning him to not come any closer. Once Tom got too near and BG, hissing all the way, ran up to the fence with his head lowered. Tom Turkey immediately switched to reverse. It is surprising how quickly a bird that large can back up! It was funny to watch. In the meantime, one of Tom's girls wandered into the chicken pen and couldn't figure out how to get back out. She was complaining loudly and now Tom had a dilemma. Does he rescue his lady or stand his ground. I decided to end the confrontation and herd him back to his territory on the west side. He refused to go without his lady who was still squawking because she couldn't find the gate. I went inside and guided her out of the enclosure and she joined her pals. What should have been an easy trip back to their side of the yard took a detour when a cat showed up. The other hen turkey decided she needed to check out Karl Kitty more closely. Karl Kitty didn't agree with that assessment, but no matter which way he turned there was one of those big white and black birds there. I picked up Karl and continued to herd the others back to their area. Once on familiar turf, they hurried back to their quarters and went about the business of being turkeys. We haven't named the hens yet, but I'm leaning toward Tough for the loudmouth and Tender for the smaller one. Probably the most humorous thing about this encounter was the goats. All of them were standing at the fence intently watching the events unfolding in the yard. They still don't understand what those white and black feathered things are that make that funny noise. I think they were rooting for Bad Goose!

Goodbye Daisy (Donald) Duck

On Father's Day this year one of the young men in our county went to visit his father. His Dad was the guy who used to deliver our propane so we knew him fairly well. The young man worked at the equity and was working with some other guys repairing the boom on a fertilizer spreader. The boom slipped and came around hitting the young man in the chest knocking him down. Being the tough guy all young men pretend to be, he got up and said he was fine. He complained a few days later that his ribs hurt, but refused to go to the doctor based on the fact that if a rib was broken, all they would do is tape it up anyway. Besides, it didn't hurt as much as it did before. Actually, by Father's Day he had almost forgotten about the accident. He and his Dad were chatting when the young man excused himself to go to the bathroom. He was in there a long time and his Mom asked if everything was OK. He said he had an upset stomach and didn't feel too good but he'd be out in a minute. Then they heard a crash. When they finally got the bathroom door open, their son was lying on the floor not breathing. They started CPR and called the paramedics. Unfortunately, they pronounced him dead at the hospital. I always feel so sorry for parents who have children who die before Mom and Dad do because that just isn't the way things are supposed to happen. I vividly remember how hard it was on my Mom when my brother, Larry, died. She never completely recovered from that. This young man had a pet duck named Daisy. The family didn't want to kill the duck, but no one had the time to care for it. Of course, the first place that comes to mind as a sanctuary for the duck is Prairie House. They asked if we would give the duck a home and said they would bring the duck's swimming pool too. So we inherited a nearly full grown white (Pekin) duck named Daisy who was actually a "Donald". We put him in with Bad Goose who was the only creature we had here who was a swimmer as we sold all the other geese. Bad Goose knew he was different, but seemed to welcome the company. The became inseparable. Later in the summer we ordered some ducklings from a hatchery in a moment of insanity. They were shipped in 100+ degree weather and the mortality rate from shipping was high. We did manage to save 5 of them. One of the 5 apparently became a meal for something as it simply disappeared leaving us with 4 which happened to be matching pairs of two different breeds. Then another one disappeared. After that, the remaining 3 were moved to the pen with Bad Goose and his buddy, Daisy who welcomed them excitedly, inviting them into their pool and showing them where the food was. All the birds got along well. Bad Goose still knew he was different and definitely the leader, but Daisy taught them all the intricacies of being a duck. They generally went into their house at night, but never until it was totally dark. We gave up on trying to put them away at the time that was convenient for us (when we put all the other creatures to bed) and left their door open so they could retire whenever they felt like it. This worked well for months. Wednesday night it didn't work out so well. Thursday morning there were bodies in the field. One body was completely missing, one had the head ripped off, one had a broken wing, and Daisy was brutally torn to bits. Bad Goose was covered in blood. Upon closer examination, the duck with the broken wing seemed to be a good candidate for rehab, and Bad Goose had no obvious wounds. I don't know what time the attack happened, what kind of predator it was or why I didn't hear the commotion. Undoubtedly Bad Goose was fighting to protect his flock, and did at least save the one hen, but his buddy Daisy is dead. He and the little hen stayed in their house all day Thursday. They did venture out a bit on Friday. She could walk OK and seemed to be recovering, but neither of them wanted to get into their pool. By Saturday Bad Goose had managed to clean himself up so he is white again instead of rusty colored. The little hen doesn't have a name. We don't think she should be called Daisy. We would welcome some suggestions. Here is a picture of her all alone.

The turkeys have turned out to be really entertaining. They have added yet another distinctive sound to Prairie House. It is amazing the different sounds we hear from each of our flocks of birds. The guineas cooing is undoubtedly the most soothing and yet their "danger" call is without a doubt the most irritating sound any animal can make.

Last night the turkeys selected the mulberry tree over the rabbit hutches for their nesting site. I scoped it out this morning and it is a wise choice. Up high enough that a ground predator would have trouble getting to them and yet covered by another layer of branches protecting them from an aerial attack. Pretty smart birds. He was all puffed out this morning, looking every bit like the turkeys in the Thanksgiving propaganda. Unfortunately, by the time I got the camera he was through strutting his stuff.

I thought it was cute yesterday when Jot was so fascinated by their calls. He was walking along the walkway with us when he heard them. He stopped short and his hackles came up as he looked in the direction the sound came from. But it had stopped. He started walking again only to be stopped short by that noise again. His curiosity finally got the best of him and he had to go to research that new development at Prairie House.

Cuter than Jot, however, was the reaction of the goats. They were most confused by these big birds making those funny noises. It was pretty entertaining to watch these big 4 footed creatures standing on alert because of 3 birds.

I did manage to capture them in their curious pose. Hope you can see their ears. Wish you could have seen it in person...very entertaining. I was polite and didn't laugh at them, since I know how that embarrasses Star.

Population changes

Most of you correctly identified "Who" in my last post. She was on a rescue mission. One of the last hatched chicks was way in the back corner of the brooder house and she was catching it so it could be moved to safer quarters. Her compassion seems to be unlimited even if the cameo shot was less than flattering. While I was away, she hired some folks to come in and chop some wood and clear out some of the downed trees here for me to use for firewood this winter. The lady who was helping with the project absolutely fell in love with Sneezey, the cute calico tiger striped orphan kitten from the vet's office. Sneezey is an extremely people oriented kitten and craves constant attention as a result of being hand raised. Since we had a more than ample supply of rodent catchers, Evelyne agreed that the lady could take Sneezey home with her. I am sure the cat will continue to be spoiled. Along those lines, however, do you see a pattern here? It seems like every other time I go away for more than a couple of nights, one (or more) of the creatures at Prairie House finds a new home. I'm sure Rascal, Pete, Slippers and Ginger will reside here on a permanent basis, but all the others better be prepared for new owners at any time. The population change didn't stop with the departure of Sneezey, however. Mark and John came to pick up Blanco to go to their house to take care of their herd for a while. Along with them they bought us two freshly processed turkeys for the holidays which I'm sure will not end up in the freezer prior to being cooked. Fresh, organically grown, heritage turkey...it doesn't get much better than that. BUT in addition to the featherless ones they brought, they also gave us a trio of Royal Palm Turkeys for the homestead. What beautiful birds. They haven't been here long enough to determine what kind of personality they have, but from all I've heard, turkeys can be quite entertaining. Capturing Blanco was a real challenge. He knew something was up, and he has always been suspicious when he sees us with a lead in our hands. We tried persuading him with green tomatoes. He really wanted those, but he wanted to avoid being caught even more. We chased him into a smaller pen where he would be easier to catch, then herded him into the corner of the pen. So far, so good. As Evelyne approached to grab his collar he sprang into the air and knocked her to the ground. As near as we could see, he was about to trample her, and her head was in line with his front feet. A goat as heavy as he is can do major damage to a woman as small as she is. We all stared, wide eyed, yelling and filled with dread and panic. Blanco jumped completely over her and missed her entirely. She was unscathed and won't even need to toss her underwear into the laundry. After we discerned she was unharmed, we again pursued the creature into another corner. With two men holding his horns and one holding his neck, we managed to get the lead on his collar. The collar he had was too tight with all the winter fur he has now, so we had to switch the collar for a larger one before the men let go of him. He wasn't a happy camper, but did get to the truck without causing anyone to kiss the dirt. Loading him took two men and two women, but he will be really happy once he gets to his final destination. How was my vacation? Pretty boring compared to being at Prairie House. The fleece jacket they gave me is a nice one and they will be shipping me an ice cream maker in the next few days as well, so I guess I had a good trip. I don't anticipate going again until January. They have offered me another leather jacket for that trip.

guess who; guess what; guess why

Nope, it isn't me!

I'll be away until next Friday. I thought I would give you something to keep you busy while I'm gone.

Please post your comments. It should be interesting reading for all of us.

hee-hee...I'll fill in the rest of the story when I get back.

Aunt Jo

encore presentation: Jamaican trip Highlights (Lowlights?)

I flew from Denver to Miami on Sunday afternoon on American Airlines. Had an e-ticket I purchased thru expedia.com which was a really good deal ($211 r/t). When I checked in they told me my aisle seat and special meal were confirmed. This was a surprise, as I didn't remember requesting either of them. Walked down the concourse wondering just what would be in this special meal. Apparently I asked for either a low fat or cholesterol free meal. Worked out pretty good though, because I got chicken with rice, a nice salad and a roll. Everybody else got gooey macaroni and cheese. The only way I could have had a seat any further in the back of the plane would have been if I had been an escorted criminal. (For those of you not in the travel industry, escorted prisoners MUST ALWAYS ride in a center seat in the very last row of an aircraft flanked on each side by a guard.) Jan and her niece were waiting for me at the airport but they were beginning to wonder where I was after the long parade of passengers preceding me from the aircraft. There were 11 of us traveling in a group on the trip. Nine of us stayed at Jan's sister Barb's house on Sunday night. We had a van scheduled to pick us up Monday morning at 7:30am. In order to be sure everyone had their chance at the bathrooms, we actually assigned specific times at 20 minute intervals to indicate when everyone's bathroom reservation was. It worked out extremely well, and we were all ready to go by the time the van showed up even though it was earlier than when it was due to arrive. The trip to the airport and checking in for the flight was uneventful, and the flight was good. Only a 1 1/2 hour flight, but they served a full hot breakfast on the plane. Things got a bit confusing after we landed. Customs/immigration wasn't well organized or explained, and some of our group were virgin world travelers. We also added another person to the group here (flew in directly from Baltimore) and locating her was a bit complicated. After getting the group fully assembled, we got on a bus for the two hour ride from Montego Bay to Ocho Rios. They drive on the left side in Jamaica, and the roads are VERY narrow and in need of repairs (potholes even bigger than Denver's after a bad winter!) There were some thrilling moments when large trucks passed going in the opposite direction, and a long delay resulting from a previous serious accident which closed to road to one lane. The hotel was spacious, the rooms were clean and the grounds were very well kept. Barb was upgraded to a two-room suite, so the party was moved there most of the rest of the trip. (She is a nurse and the GM of the hotel is one of her chemo patients. He told her he would "take care of her" if she came to the hotel and he came through as promised for everything.) The hotel has five pools and over 1/2 mile of beach so the majority of the time was spent in swimsuits near some kind of water. You know how I hate being in deep water, so you can imagine how tense I discretely was during a good part of the trip. I faithfully put on my 45 sunblock daily and amazingly enough came home unscathed in the sun department. One of the pools had a small step, a little larger step and then a 3 foot drop off near the edge. It was deceptive and except for prior observation of not so grand entrances, it was hard to see it. I was in the pool already armed with one of the many waterproof cameras we took along when Jan approached the pool. I thought I would get a random shot of her approaching the pool, and I sure hope it turns out, because that was one of the more memorable sights on the trip. She was getting in the pool near a sign which said "No diving or climbing on rocks". She did one on the most amazing unintentional flip and roll into the pool. We all started laughing uncontrollably. The funniest part however was a guy from TX who was sitting on the rocks not far from her who almost fell in himself since he was laughing too. Later he said he tried not to laugh because it was rude, but when everyone else cracked up he just couldn't help it. Jan won the entertainment prize for that day. (Glad it was her instead of me. Little did I know that kharma would come back to haunt me.) The prize for the next day was a three way tie. The girl's negotiated a $20 per person rate for a glass bottom boat ride to Dunn's River Falls including a stop on the way back for snorkeling. Excellent price since the tour operators at the hotel were quoting $75 and up. The boat was a rickety old outboard and the glass on the bottom was so cloudy you could barely see through it, but you could see that it leaked. Hey, we were in Ocho Rios for the adventure, and this boat promised to be an entertaining one. The ocean was pretty calm and we got to the falls comfortably. Dunn's River Falls is NOT like 7-falls outside of Colorado Springs where they built stairs and railings for you to climb and take pictures of the falls as you go. You climb on rocks right in the waterfall here. In places the current is rather strong, so a guide is necessary and all people in the group hold hands while climbing. This is awkward, as you can't use your arms for balance, but apparently they feel it is the way to do it. In some spots it is necessary for the person higher up to pull the next one up the rocks. About 1/3 of the way up the falls there was a crossing where the current was very swift. The guy ahead of me let go of my hand to push his girlfriend farther onto the rocks. Unfortunately when he let go I only had one foot on a solid place so the current decided not to pass up the opportunity to send me back to the bottom. Jan was holding my other hand, but the current was too swift for her to hang on so down the falls I went. Estimates vary putting the distance anywhere from 30 feet to 60 feet. My face stayed out of the water mostly, and the current was strong enough to keep me above the rocks. It happened too fast for me to panic. I finally stopped falling in a pool of water, grabbed an outstretched hand and started back up the falls. Later we decided it was good Jan let go, otherwise it would have been like a snow plow going down the mountain and we would have taken out everybody else on the way down. Imagine it-bodies strewn all over the ocean shore all because some guy thought his girl friend was more important than I was. (Sure hope he got some that night!) I came away with a little soreness between my shoulder blades and under my arm but otherwise unharmed. Barb unfortunately didn't fare as well. Near the top the rocks got slimier and slicker. One of them jumped right out and grabbed her knee and yanked her down into the water face first on a rock. She got a "yeah-yeah" (sic) which should show up really well in the pictures. She was lucky however, because she was only about an inch away from knocking out her teeth, and her knee was bruised (BIG BRUISE) just below the knee-cap. (There are stairs and pathways on dry land to get back to the beach from the top of the falls which is a Very good thing.) Our adventure continued as we all got back on the boat and headed out on the ocean again. By now the weather has changed and there are waves from 1-5 feet high. The guy did a pretty good job of navigating the waves. One of his friends was in another boat and he convinced him to go in front of us so we could travel in his wake. A much smoother ride. Unfortunately, (fortunately as it turned out) the other boat ran out of gas. We threw them a tow rope and started pulling them toward shore. As we made a curve the wind shifted and caught my hat which flew out the back of the boat. The guy in the second boat simply leaned way out over the edge and grabbed it. Occasionally things work out like they should.

After dropping them off near the shore we went back out to the reef for those who wanted to snorkel. I was not among them, but remained on the boat. Jan decided she would try the snorkeling thing and had finally gotten flippers which fit and had her mask and snorkel in place ready to jump in when someone in the ocean screamed. When asked what was wrong she yelled, "That fish just bit me!" That was the end of Jan's snorkeling adventure--well, sort of. After she took off the mask, snorkel and fins she had the most delightful stain on her face. She couldn't have done a better job of grease-painting a vaudeville mustache if she had tried. We laughed so hard at her we nearly peed our pants! I couldn't get it to wipe off, but Barb gave her the old Mother's spit and scrub and she was left with red marks instead of black marks on her face. A helluva bargain for $20 wouldn't you say? We spent one day bargaining for deals at the local market. One day was more than enough for me. I got an island dress, some tee-shirts, a shot glass for my collection and a really great cat. There are feral cats all over the island, including the resort area. Relax-the one I brought back was made of wood. It is a much larger version of the one I brought back from Maui years ago. They'll look nice on the mantel if I ever get moved into the StF house. The trip back was the usual post-vacation trip. No problem with customs. Jan bought some jewelry for $410 and had to declare it as they charge duty on anything over $400 per person. The "red" customs line wasn't open, so since our luggage tags were intermingled we went through the same green line. She explained why we were there and he asked her if she wasn't traveling with someone else. She told her we were together and he told us to go back and spend more money because the two of us still had exemptions left over. I don't think he wanted to deal with the paperwork for only $10. He took her declaration, but left mine. The guy further down the line picked up my declaration so everything was fine. The flights on Sunday were no problem. The taxi from the airport to Earl's place was only $22 which was less than I would have paid to park at the airport, and the hail storm didn't go through there. (His car was at the airport during the storm and it was totalled by the insurance company.) The drive home was easy but I was really tired. A lot of the time was spent just lulling around. It was a relaxing trip and quite fun. Jan's family is so much like mine that I felt right at home. We had lots of laughs and no major disagreements. It was decided that this should become an annual event Guess I should start saving now just in case! You are all welcome to join us too-the more the merrier (and the cheaper the price. Can you say "Group Rates"?)

Mechanical Things

Why is it that when you have problems with your car and you take it to the mechanic the problem mysteriously disappears even before he works on the car? Evelyne and I had a similar experience today, only it was with a propane heater. We bought a cute little propane heater for the greenhouse (which hadn't even been delivered yet) last spring from the close-out table at Orschelns. It is turning really cold here now, so it seemed like a good time to fire that thing up. Wouldn't you know it - it didn't work. We followed the instructions exactly, but still no flame. It was pretty dusty from sitting all summer, so I took it into the garage and blew all the dust off with the air compressor. Tried again to light it--nothing. We took it back to Orschelns and our favorite clerk was there. We asked him to show us exactly how to use it. He clicked on the magic button, and fortunately, it didn't work for him either. So he took it back into the store, tried it one more time and wouldn't you know it, it worked fine. We brought it back home (after spending another $100 at the store - it is always dangerous for us to go there). I haven't tried to light it again yet tonight. We shall see if this is a gender specific thing!

A good ol' truck

Well, it is official. My sister and I are now farmers, let there be no doubt about that. For years we heard our uncles and aunts talk about repairing equipment using bailing wire and chewing gum. After moving here, more of these stories were heard. We knew farmers had to do whatever they could to keep the machines in the fields to grow the crops, and never really put much thought into the stories, thinking they very well may have been just that - stories. I bought a pick-up truck at a government salvage auction shortly after I moved here. It was designed to run on either natural gas or unleaded gasoline and I got it for a really good price. I was somewhat concerned that perhaps that would present a problem, but it has not. The engine still purrs like my cats and the truck runs like the Energizer Bunny. Except for that incident with the pack rat, I haven’t had problems with it. (If you missed that chronicle, let me know and I will post a repeat.) The problems I have had with the truck have mostly been with the doors. Shortly after I got it Dad and Earl replaced the door handle on the passenger’s side, mostly because they got tired of waiting for someone to open the door or rolling down the window to get out. The next door problem was on the driver’s side and it was a bit more complicated. When it got to the point that the door would no longer stay closed at all, we broke down and took it to the repair shop. Once we got over the shock, we paid the bill. Over the years the truck has suffered many abuses. Rick backed it up one day forgetting the little trailer was attached and put a dent in the rear fender. Numerous trips to the dump have left it scratched and battered. Only 3 of the tires match. One of the wheels has a lug which is obviously not an original like the others. Earl’s trip to Denver towing his Mustang gave the trailer hitch a whole new perspective. It remains askew, but functional, to this day. In spite of all of this, the truck has been a faithful servant with only regular oil changes and the addition of fuel and new tires occasionally. The passenger’s door was the most recent problem, as the armrest came loose and has been getting progressively worse. Although we made a valiant attempt, it could not be put back into place. We have been using the truck a lot recently, and yesterday we finally got to the point where the armrest had to be fixed. Simple enough to do, except for a few minor problems: Problem #1: Phillips screwdriver available was the wrong size for the screw. So we drove the truck over to the other garage for more tools. The power screwdriver had a bit the correct size and we finally got the rusty screw out and managed to get the armrest completely removed. Closer observation easily revealed what needed to be done. The armrest had two little plastic hooks which needed to fit into the pre-drilled holes in the door panel. No problem. Problem #2: The plastic hooks and the holes did not come anywhere close to matching up. Perhaps if we put the screw back in part way it will help. Nope, that doesn’t help. Ok, how about a hammer? We have one of those…it didn’t solve problem #2. A coping saw to cut off the little hooks will easily solve the problem. Problem #3: Even with the modifications, the armrest won’t fit correctly after the screws are put back in the door. Not a problem as that was why duct tape was invented. Problem solved. Well, not really. The duct tape only worked as long as you didn’t try to close the door using the armrest which is about the only option other than rolling down the window to grasp the door. Problem #4: There is no junkyard close by to look for used parts. It is ludicrous to put NEW parts on a truck that is already over a decade old, and if they are even available are probably out of our budget. Dilemma: What can we do now to fix this problem? SOLUTION: Suitcase handles. We still have a box full of them which Dad got from Uncle Harry years ago. We have used several of them on our home built, portable animal cages to make them easier to move. We simply screwed the suitcase handle into the door where the armrest previously resided and BINGO, the door is easily closed. It is JUST A FARM TRUCK, after all (but please don’t tell the truck).

Sanity

My desire to be well informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane. I'll sure be glad when the elections are over!

Milo

Well, some of the milo is ready to harvest. The chickens are so excited to get GOOD grain again. Yesterday we drove to Brush to meet Cara to pick up the twins and Ethan so they could come to the farm. It is too bad there isn't some way to package all the energy young children have. They are having a great time at the farm playing outside, feeding animals and gathering eggs. Today they got to see a combine up close. We get grain directly from the farmer's fields for our animals whenever possible. For milo we put our containers in the back of the truck and have the farmer load the grain directly into the back of the truck. The kids were having fun "hiding" in the containers in the back of the truck and then this big THING came over the top of them. A combine is a big machine! They got out of the truck and then their eyes got huge as they watched the milo come out of the combine and drop into the truck. But more fun than watching that was getting to walk around in the milo and scoop it out of the truck. Unfortunately, then they found out the big drawback to playing in milo...the dreaded itch! They were ready to take a bath and wash that itch off! They talked on the phone to their Momma tonight. The conversation included a discussion of when they should go back home. Three kids-three opinions. The compromise was to go home on Friday morning, so Evelyne and I will be making the trip to Brush again on Friday.

Sleeping with Chester

Having a warm body sleeping close by in the winter is a pleasant thing. Generally. When Rascal is in bed with me, she rarely moves (I move and disturb her) and when she purrs it is so soft you can barely hear her. She is a good companion for sleeping.

Chester? Well that is another story.

Chester was an orphan born in 2007 who came to our house to be fostered because the vet didn't have the heart to put him and his littermates to sleep. (He came here with 3 other kittens. Two were adopted by local people and Earl has the third one.) All of these kittens had really good motors. When they started with the purring it could be heard two rooms away. Chester still purrs loud enough to awaken me from sleep. He doesn't get to stay in the house very often, but he and Rascal were the only ones in last night. I remembered too late why I don't have him in the house at night more often. Not only does is he purr loudly, he drools when he purrs. If he is sitting on your lap purring, that is annoying, but not such a terrible thing. When he awakens you from a sound sleep with his purring and you find the covers are wet from his slobber-that IS a BAD thing. He is a handsome dude...but he is still sleeping in the big building with other cats tonight.

Four Letter S word

The weatherpeople predicted anywhere from 3 to 14 inches of that white stuff would be on the ground this morning, (they all seemed to have differing opinions which only proves they use their "best guess" not science). Blizzard warnings were included by all of them with sustained winds in the 40 m.p.h. range. The last two days we have spent getting places fixed so the animals could be comfortable regardless of the scenario. We are getting pretty good at fix-it projects like that. We moved our big hay wagon into the big barn and fastened a board to the end of it so the goats have several places to go to get out of the wind. We put the hay bales back in the chicken house to close off the summer draft spaces, put boards around the rabbits' area and added covers to the fronts of their cages. They all have extra feed and water. Now, in case the pessimist (unless its a skiier-then optimist) weatherperson is correct at least the animals will be ok. Cats you ask? Oh yes, they are covered too. They have beds in the big building, the first greenhouse, and the bus with food and water in each of those places as well. Of course, Rascal gets to stay in the house with Mom. And occasionally others manage to find their way in as well. The wood stove has been fired up for two days now and they dearly love to sleep beside that. Wish I could do the same! So far we only have a light dusting of s*** on the ground and not much is falling from the dreary, gray, sullen sky. I'm not fooled by the pause. As a result, it is too nasty to be outside and perhaps some of the laundry, paperwork, vacuuming, dusting, canning and baking will get done today. OK, you are right...some of the canning and baking might get done today, but there is a slim chance some of the other chores will be accomplished. I hope the storm isn't a bad one. Tomorrow I have a busy day scheduled. Low income commodity distribution is in the morning, which will take a couple of hours of our time. After that my entire afternoon and evening is filled doing secret shops in Burlington. I don't like doing them, but when they offer those bonus $$ I have trouble saying no. Since the money I earn from those jobs as well as the waitress jobs goes directly into my entertainment fund, and I have another entertainment trip scheduled for mid November, I have incentive to do the work. The Post Office j-j-j-&%, on the otherhand, goes to pay bills. No wonder I don't like that j-j-j-&%! We came up with a new idea for the cactus jelly. Evelyne made some yesterday with our new secret ingredient and it is heavenly! Too bad that fruit is only available seasonally and in limited quantities because this stuff is the best jelly ever. Next year I will obviously have to be out doing scouting missions in September to gather the cactus for the juice. Fortunately, it is something most land-owners don't care if you remove it from their land. Before this white stuff fell on the ground we had some really nice green patches around the homestead. The wheat we planted came up nicely, and the small amount of pasture we seeded looks fantastic. I hope we can duplicate the seed mixture to plant more of it next spring as it looks like it will serve us well. Ok, I'm off to peel garlic so I can get it in the dehydrator. Home grown, dried and chopped garlic is SO much better in our herb mixes than the stuff from the store. The dehydrator has to be in the greenhouse when it is drying the garlic however. Othewise the scent of garlic becomes overwhelming experience has taught us. Hope you are staying warm and cozy. Aunt Jo

Greenhouse Observations

The greenhouse was a wise investment. I can feel my blood pressure decrease, my body relax and my attitude improve as soon as I enter. Apparently it has positive effects on the cats too, as they get in the door quicker than I do. I have a couple of jalapeno peppers which are red and screaming "Pick me!" and the little tomatoes on the vines are now medium size. YUMMMY vine ripened tomatoes in December...what a concept. You can tell you've had a long day when you notice at bedtime that you've had your underwear on inside out all day. Don't ask me how that revelation came about! Yesterday's board meeting for HPFC was a long one, but I think we may be making forward progress. Unfortunately, we have grown to the point where "committees" are rearing their ugly heads. I've always thought of a camel as a horse which was designed by a committee. Hopefully ours will be more successful than most committees I've been exposed to. The economy is having a negative effect on the coop and sales this month were down to just over half of what they were in August. I would be worried about that, but Oklahoma's sales were also way down so I suspect it is simply a sign of the times. We have an appointment on Monday to take some chickens to be processed. We did 5 on our own last week just to prove we still can do it. It is not one of our preferred tasks, hence the trip to Wray to have someone else do them. The texture and flavor of these chickens is so different from that crap you get at the store it is unbelievable. It makes all the time and effort we spend caring for them worthwhile. Our little bantam chicks are laying eggs again. They chose to put them in an enclosed box. We wouldn't have even know they were laying eggs except one had rolled close enough to their little door for us to see it. Yesterday I took the screws out of the top of the box and put hinges on the back so it now it has a roof that opens and we can get the eggs out. There were 10 eggs in there. Since I don't know how long it has been since the first one was put in there, and there was no way to tell which was the last one...they all became cat eggs. (Eggs for cats to eat...not eggs that become cats!) The cats are greatful as they really like to have eggs for dinner. We planted a couple more patches of wheat for the creatures to nibble on. The ducks and Bad Goose are enjoying their wheat grass a lot. The weatherpersons are predicting that 4 letter s word for Wednesday this week. We can still use the moisture, but what would be wrong with rain instead of that white stuff? Since we know winter will be here before we are ready, we put the plastic covering on the chicken house so it will be warmer for the chickens when the cold comes. We still have to move some straw bales in there for them and their house will be cozy. We pulled all the tomatoes out of the garden. After picking off the larger fruits to be used by us, we fed the rest of them, plants and all, to the goats. Tomatoes are one of Ginger's favorites. Anything to eat is Star's favorite. I still need to split wood for the stove for the winter. It is a sunny day with just a slight breeze. I think today is the day to work on that project, so I will do that while you enjoy your afternoon. Love, Aunt Jo

A Tale of Ebony's Tail

Our little kid Ebony is one of Ginger's triplets from late this spring. He is a spirited little creature with interesting fleece. Like all of the goats he is allowed to roam around the grounds and comes into the barnyard whenever he wishes during the day, but always has to come in at night to protect him from predators. Our buck, Blanco Billy, has become very ornery lately. He growls and barks sounding remarkably like a dog whenever we feed the goats grain. He has definitely taken over Alpha position from Ginger and the kids are definitely at the bottom of the pecking order. I noticed one morning as the goats went out of the barnyard to browse that Ebony's tail looked shorter than it usually appeared. Upon closer observation it looked just like a puppy's tail that had been recently docked (a totally awful thing that people do to dogs, by the way). I immediately accused Blanco of chewing it off. Ebony didn't seem to be in any pain, and the tail was not bleeding so there wasn't anything I could do about it. I mentioned the situation to Evelyne and she also thought it was a strange thing to happen. We discussed if it was time to send Blanco someplace else to live. We MAY have unjustly accused Blanco. Evelyne found the rest of the tail under the table they sleep on in the barn. We still don't know how it came off, but we are pretty sure it hurt a lot when it did! I have been watching him closely and it doesn't seem to be bothering him at all and appears to be healing nicely. I guess it is just another of the strange happenings at Prairie House.

Coming Soon---More frequent updates on Chronicles

Good news. Since I have been so severely chastised for my negligence in sending out timely Prairie House Chronicles, I have decided to start a Blog for more frequent updates. Don't expect daily updates, although on occasion that may happen. I will however give you an update at least weekly, even if nothing is happening. The most recent events worth chatting about would have been poor Ebony and the story of his tail, a story about my new greenhouse, and the progress of High Plains Food Coop (www.highplainsfood.org). I will review the status of the goat herd, the guinea fowl, the ducks, the goose, the chickens, and of course, the cat population. Oh, yes...there will be a story about a raccoon in there some place too. Hint: It DOES NOT live here anymore!