A root Cellar?

I went to the bank the other day and the teller asked if I had a dog now.  I said, "yes, but he is only allowed in the fenced pasture when I'm not with him.  Did you see him on the highway?"  She said, "Oh no.  He was in the yard just digging away and tossing dirt everywhere.  Then he would run around the hole he was digging and just seemed to be having the best time.  He must still be a puppy but he looked pretty big already."

So, needless to say when I got back home I let the dog out of his kennel and we went out to the front pasture. Thor gets to spend a lot of his day out in the front pasture/garden area.  He has some of his toys out there with him and the goats don't know the gate between the areas is open so they leave him alone.    Sure enough he has a couple of holes dug there.  Both of them are already at least two feet deep.  Maybe he is digging for water or he knows I have wanted a root cellar to store veggies in.  That isn't quite the location I had in mind for the root cellar.  Realistically, however, I suspect he is trying to get the gopher or mole family that has been making gardening in that area a real challenge for the past few years.  Go Thor!  I hope you catch them.

Don't forget the furry friends

Tis the night before Christmas and all through the town, 
every shelter is full - we are lost, but not found, 
Our numbers are hung on our kennels so bare, 
we hope every minute that someone will care, 
They’ll come to adopt us and give us the call, 
“Come here, Max and Sparkie - come fetch your new ball!! 
But now we sit here and think of the days… 
we were treated so fondly - we had cute, baby ways, 
Once we were little, then we grew and we grew 
now we’re no longer young and we’re no longer new. 
So out the back door we were thrown like the trash, 
they reacted so quickly - why were they so rash? 
We “jump on the children:, “don’t come when they call”, 
we “bark when they leave us”, climb over the wall. 
We should have been neutered, we should have been spayed, 
now we suffer the consequence of the errors THEY made. 
If only they’d trained us, if only we knew… 
we’d have done what they asked us and worshiped them, too. 
We were left in the backyard, or worse -let to roam- 
now we’re tired and lonely and out of a home. 
They dropped us off here and they kissed us good-bye… 
“Maybe someone else will give you a try.” 
So now here we are, all confused and alone… 
in a shelter with others who long for a home. 
The kind workers come through with a meal and a pat, 
with so many to care for, they can’t stay to chat, 
They move to the next kennel, giving each of us cheer… 
we know that they wonder how long we’ll be here. 
We lay down to sleep and sweet dreams fill our heads… 
of a home filled with love and our own cozy beds. 
Then we wake to see sad eyes, brimming with tears - 
our friends filled with emptiness, worry, and fear. 
If you can’t adopt us and there’s no room at the Inn - 
could you help with the bills and fill our food bin? 
We count on your kindness each day of the year - 
can you give more than hope to everyone here? 
Please make a donation to pay for the heat… 
and help get us something special to eat. 
The shelter that cares for us wants us to live, 
and more of us will, if more people will give. 


Author unknown


Merry Christmas to you and all your loved ones, furry or not.

Another Freeloader

We've named him Stumpy.  He looks like a purebred Manx.  Very large head, chunky body, long hair and no tail.  Possibly he was dumped here...or maybe up the street at the neighbors, but he seems to be here to stay.  He is very friendly to people and really thinks he should be inside.  The original resident cats have screaming fights with him, but no blood has been shed.

I'm pretty sure if the neighbors next door didn't already have two huge cats, this one would be moving in there with them as their little girl (as well as Momma) really like him and always ask if I've seen him if he hasn't been around during the day.

Thor's First Chicken episode

Hopefully Thor's first chicken episode will be his last.  The rooster was where he shouldn't have been, on the west side of my house.  The rooster is now missing 95% of his tail feathers and a large chunk of feathers from his back.  Thor obviously was playing and not trying to kill it or the rooster would have been dead.  Thor did drop the bird as soon as I yelled at him.  He knew he was in trouble.  He was severely chastised but I'm not sure I put the fear of death or dismemberment in his mind for the infraction.  I did not strike him.  However, if it happens again sterner measures will be taken.  He also chased one of the cats today.  He is obviously feeling quite comfortable at Prairie House now.  Discipline will apparently need to be increased as he is very much still a puppy in spite of his size.

Maybe I'll just turn him over to Mulberry and Ginger.  They are good a getting his attention and keeping him under control.

Six wasn't a magic number

Alas, six is not the number of young an opossum bears.  It is at least 7.

Last night in the small chicken house another of those rascals was residing in a nest.  This time I baited the trap immediately with that valuable commodity...the egg.  Within an hour I had him in the trap and under the water.  I'm sure tired of dealing with these creatures:

We can't keep up with the demand for eggs and cannot afford to have one of those ugly things having complimentary dinner on Prairie House.  I have been turning away people wanting eggs...especially those who have never purchased eggs from us before.  I had the eggs we set aside to sell to the food coop in a separate refrigerator in the shop.  While I was gone getting a permanent, some customers decided they were fair game and bought those.  I'm afraid some of our regular coop customers may be disappointed this month.

 Looks like I'll need to keep the shop locked up when I'm gone...honor system be damned for now.

Thanksgiving or Christmas Cactus??

Either way, I think they are really pretty.

That sneaky Ginger

Thor has been a really good puppy since he arrived.  He stays close by whenever we are outside.  Sleeps all the way through the night.  Doesn't bother the cats.  Doesn't chase the chickens or turkeys.  Doesn't torment the goats.  But that didn't stop Ginger from teaching him goats are nothing to mess with.

Thor and I were in the barnyard yesterday.  I went into the chicken house and he patiently waited outside.  When I came back out Ginger was staring at Thor intently.  She looked at me, then turned away and started eating on the bale of alfalfa I put in the wagon for the goats.  I no sooner turned around and headed for the gate than she came charging at Thor and tossed him hind over front.  He yelped and beat me through the gate which was only gaping open a little at the bottom.

Today he said "NO WAY!" when I opened the gate and went into the barnyard.  Smart puppy.

Population Changes

Since the middle of October Prairie House has:

Deleted 2 humans
Added 1 cat
Deleted 4 opossums (cheering is appropriate here) and now 1 more for a total of 7 since July.
Added 1 dog
Deleted 1 goat
Added 3 people
Deleted 21 chickens

Which brings the current population totals to:

41 chickens
9 cats
7 goats
7 turkeys
4 humans
3 rabbits
1 guinea fowl
1 dog

but no partridge nor a pear tree

Woohoo! The beast is dead!

Thor got extra points this morning.  I have only heard him bark a couple of times since he came to Prairie House.  He is a very quiet puppy.  Usually when I let him outside in the morning he simply checks things out, takes care of his business and comes back to the porch when he is ready to come back in the house and waits for me to get ready to let him in. (In the meantime, I usually get back under the warm blankets to grab a few more minutes of shut eye.)

This morning started out normal, but before I could get back under the covers he started barking and raising such a fuss I knew something was amiss.  I grabbed my robe and slippers and went to the door.  He was looking at the barnyard where all the goats were upset as well.  I trudged out to the barn to see what was causing the ruckus.  Then my mind remembered I had the trap set.  I went in the chicken house and sure enough, the door on the trap was shut.  I couldn't see anything in the trap in the dim light so I went closer.  Yeah! there was that nasty rodent in the trap.  The eggs and Bierock worked.

The rodent went for a swim in the stock tank where the water was over his head.  I'll go back out later and drain the tank, take out the trap, haul the trap out back, and dump the nasty thing in the pit for the coyotes.

I hope she only gave birth to six of those disgusting things and we have wiped them out.

I do have to admit a felt a pang of misgiving before I plunged the trap into the tank, but then I remembered all the grief these things have caused and how much damage they can do to other creatures. Then there was no problem letting the trap sink to the bottom of the tank.

Betsy

Betsy is a great hunter.  She prefers to be outside and does not come into the house even when coaxed.  She has injured her front leg either from a predator attack or getting it caught in something.  She won't let me touch it so I can't tell if it is broken or not.  She does put some weight on it but it really looks like it hurts.  Of course, by the time I noticed it, the vets office was closed.

She is in the bus now in her little bed.  I hope she stays there today and rests.  If it isn't showing improvement by Monday I will need to take her to the vet which will be a challenge as she also doesn't like kennels or carriers of any kind.

Keep positive thoughts that she will get better this weekend.

I will get this rodent yet!

The opossum has been a challenge.  I was in Denver most of the day for High Plains Food Coop's distribution and didn't get back home until well after dark.  When I went to close the door on the small chicken house and gather the eggs I found 3 that had been eaten most likely by the opossum.  Needless to say, I was very unhappy.  I went to the big chicken house to see if it was in the nest there, but alas it was not.  It won't go in the trap tonight, undoubtedly since its stomach has already been filled.  I will leave the trap set with two eggs that don't meet quality standards for sale and a bierock which also didn't meet standards.

Becky's Bierocks had an entire batch of bierock she had to toss because the person in charge of making the dough forgot to put the yeast in it.  That was an expensive mistake, but my chickens are not the least bit unhappy about it.  They like hamburger and cabbage wrapped in dough.  They too, however, don't care much for the dough without the yeast.  The filling disappears first.  The goats eat the whole thing without hesitation.

Opossum update

I was encouraged early this evening when I went to check on the chickens because the nest with the oppossum was empty.  Unfortunately, when I checked one more time before closing them in for the night, the visitor was back.  Ugly things, those oppossums are, but they do have nice fur.  Sadly it is too early in the season for the trappers to be interested in them for the fur.  So I again set the trap in the chicken house and we shall see tomorrow if he is interested in cat food.  Otherwise, I may have to waste a very valuable commodity these days....an egg.  We know he will eat that, as we have seen evidence of it before.

Keep your fingers crossed that he will be captured this evening and disposed of tomorrow.

Chicken Roundup

Monday night was chicken roundup night.  The majority of the chickens in the big house are scheduled to go to freezer camp on Wednesday.  Freezer camp orientation has been moved from Wray, Colorado to Nunn, Colorado and they have to be there by 8AM so it is more complicated than usual.  Fifteen of them are still residing in the big house as they were either too wily to be sent away, are physically handicapped or are favorites.  Can't wait for chicken and dumplings!

We did have a surprise in the chicken house.  Since we have found it is much easier to round up the chickens after they have gone to sleep, it was very dark outside when we started to gather them.  Apparently momma opossum had at least six babies.  We have dispatched 5 of them so far, but one has decided a particular chicken nest is a great place to spend the night.  An oppossum's beady red eyes and ugly pointed snout is not something you want to see in the chicken house (or anywhere else for that matter).  We cannot shoot it in the nest because of the way it is situated so trapping the thing is the preferred option at this time.  We baited the trap with some really smelly cat food but Tuesday morning the trap was still empty and the varmint was gone.

Stay tuned for updates.  Hopefully all the commotion has made it decide to move on.

Thor Update

Thor says:

So far I am pretty happy in my new home.  There are amazing things here.  I have been really good and not chased any of them.  Well, except for one chicken.  I got scolded for that so I haven't done it again.  I get to spend a lot of time in the house in my kennel.  It has food and water so I'm ok with that.  I haven't had to go potty in there.  I did get in trouble for going potty in the house, though.  But that was partly my new master's fault.  She didn't leave me outside long enough...I didn't think it was all THAT cold.  Since then she has figured out it is okay for me to be outside by myself.  I like that.

Annabelle and Thor

There is another creature in the house here.  I like her.  She doesn't run from me or try to scratch me.  I think we will be great friends.  She seems a little upset that I am in this kennel.  At first I thought it was because she felt sorry for me.  Now I find out it is because she wants to be in here.  Apparently it was her house before I got here.  It seems like every time I go outside and come back in she is IN my kennel.  But she doesn't eat my food so I think she is okay. 

Newspapers?  I thought it was a toy.

There were these newspapers on the floor of my kennel.  I'm pretty sure they were put here solely for my entertainment.  I love tearing them to shreds.  They make such great noise.  Then I have a lot of fun scattering them around.  After I get them all arranged just right, I go to sleep and they make a great bed.

So far Thor is working out well.  He and the goats had a staring contest in the beginning, each wondering what was the story.  He doesn't chase the turkeys or the chickens and this morning he went into the goat pen with me and there were no incidents.

He was obviously abused before and training will be a challenge although he appears to be a smart dog.  He is adamant that no lead will be put on him and we are just now to the point where the collar is okay.  He stays right with me when I am outside with him and waits patiently outside the bus or the chicken house while I do chores.  I did find Pete stuck up a tree when it was bedtime one night.  He was too high in the tree for me to grab him (and at 20 pounds he probably would have broken my wrist had I tried!) but eventually he found his way down.  I think he ran up the tree because he remembered previous encounters with canine creatures and not because Thor chased him there.  Betsy is not afraid of him, but Thor is afraid of her and has great respect for the other cats, even when they run from him.  EmmaPatches has her nose out of joint because he is in the house, but she is adjusting.  You can see her annoyance if you check out her expression below.

The only problem I foresee is the highway.  I'd like to be able to leave Thor outside unattended most of the time, but that will take a lot of additional training.  Too bad it isn't springtime instead of fall...it sure would be nicer weather for training!

Another random thought

You can be sure of hitting the target, if you shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Some comments on being a farmer.

This posting is from the blog of Dev Valencort (Dev & Kip, High Tides & Green Fields LLC, Middleberg, OK).

I wholeheartedly agree with her posting and think it is worth sharing.  Dev is directly responsible for getting Prairie House involved in our food coop (www.highplainsfood.org)  as a result of her membership in Oklahoma Food Cooperative.

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.” *

As a farmer, I find my list of talents/jobs changes and expands (rarely lessens) each year. You start as a planner– picking seeds, mapping your garden space, buying the seeds — and quickly become a food storage expert — canning, freezing, drying, pickling, salting. In the field you’re a meteorologist, soil analyst, entomologist, biologist, herbologist, flower arranger, field hand, investigative scientist, engineer, inventor, and mathematician. Math expands from geometry to physics. Engineering from structural to hydraulics. Ad manager, salesman, graphic designer. Carpenter, plumber, electrician, painter, landscaper. This week I’m adding logistician. Back to the Robert Heinlein quote: I’m not an efficient fighter and I won’t know for a while yet how gallant I’ll be, but I’m guessing I’ll go kicking and screaming about something I still need to get done… p.s.  The end of the quote is. “Specialization is for insects.” * Excerpt from the notebooks of Lazarus Long, from Robert Heinlein’s “Time Enough for Love”

Coming to Prairie House on November 9

Meet Thor.


He was found skinny, skittish, obviously abandoned and wandering from campsite to campsite at Bonnie Dam hoping for food or attention .  The ranger didn't have the heart to shoot him because he was basically a pretty nice puppy.  With porky-pine quills still stuck in the pups face from an unfortunate adventure, the ranger carted him off to our local vet's office.  He has been getting socialized there for a couple of weeks while undergoing treatment and observation.  The vet had heard I was looking for a dog to help with the chores around Prairie House and called to see if I would take him and give him a loving home.  He wasn't what I expected to see, but he won my heart anyway.  His feet are about the size of baseballs and Judy (the vet) thinks he is probably only about 5 months old.  The paws are webbed so there are a limited number of breeds he could be mixed with but one of them is apparently a Spaniel of  some kind.  If he grows into his feet he will be a huge dog.  He hasn't had any formal obedience training, but is very smart and really wants to please.  (He is so smart that when his food bowl was empty he looked right at the vet and stared.  Getting no results from that, he stared at the secretary.  Still no results, so he picked up his bowl in his mouth and dropped it directly in front of the vet who took the hint and refilled it.  I hope that wasn't negative reinforcement!)



I will be gone Sunday and Monday nights so he will stay at the vets office until I get back to town.  It didn't seem fair to take him and then immediately send him back...too confusing for the poor guy.  I will pick him up when I get back and bring him here to see how he gets along with the creatures who already reside here.  He has gotten along well with all the creatures who have come into the vets office, so there is hope.  I will be gone again over Thanksgiving so he will go back to the vet then and be neutered while I'm gone.  Once I pick him up after that he should be at Prairie House to stay unless he is a goat, cat or chicken chaser.

Albert

Sadly, this morning when I went to feed Albert he had died He didn't eat much last night before I put him to bed, but there was no indication of any problem.  I was concerned that he wasn't learning to eat solid foods, but since he was growing I thought he was just behind in development due to the stress he had when he was tiny.  He was a cute little guy and even though he was only here a short time, I will miss him.

Sunrise at Prairie House

Another random thought

Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

The littlest orphan

albert

This little guy came to me before his eyes were open.  He still is drinking from a bottle but he is growing.

Annabelle thinks he might be a toy.

Another random thought

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

Orphan Kittens - again

 

These are the kittens Andy brought to me for rescue.  One has been adopted...the long haired Siamese looking one.  The other two are doing very well.

 Andy will be taking Dandylion (the long haired golden one)

Dandylion

 as long hair and the stickers we have here do not go well together.  He will add her to his family and she will be a strictly indoor cat.

                    

Annabelle

   Annabelle will be staying here.  She is vision impaired in one eye but it doesn't seem to slow her down any.  Both of them purr loudly.

Random Thoughts

 "The reason that some people get lost in thought is that it is unfamiliar territory."
Author Unknown but very wise

Itchy feet

I was again told the other day that I haven’t updated the Chronicles in a very long time.  It has been a busy summer here at Prairie House and fall is bringing about many major changes.

Rick is still infected by the “OMG, I’ve been in one place for 7 years I must move NOW syndrome” and is once again uprooting his wife and taking her away from the new friends she has made, the beautiful gardens she has created and the life she has been happy living to move her to Greeley.  This is nothing new for him, nor was it unexpected.  (censored)  Evelyne thought once they moved here her nomad days were finally over and she could at last settle in one place, keep her new friends and watch her gardens continue to develop their beauty.  His comment to a friend was, “I need to do something different and she is my wife so she will go with me.” In many respects Christians are like (censored...for the full text, e-mail me I'll forward it to you) the Goddess doesn’t require a group to bestow her wisdom and gifts.

As for Prairie House, things won’t change much.  The gardens will be smaller, the grounds a bit less tidy.  The chickens will remain cage free and the goats will have a smaller area to graze and less time to do so as I will need to be with them when they are out.  Since Pegleg came back home and we did not find a way to have him castrated in a timely fashion, our herd will most likely double in late January. I want to get a Great Pyrenees or an Anatolian Shepherd if I can find one I can afford so I can have some help with the goats.

The turkeys…our Royal Palms (7 in all) as well as the multitude of wild ones who consider Prairie House part of their home territory now are basically self sufficient.  Wanda laid lots of eggs and has one juvenile with her who has survived.  The youngster is a hen, so perhaps we will have a better hatching/survival rate next year.

The baby chicks we got in the spring are giving us eggs now.  Some of them are Ameracunas so we are getting more pretty blue and green eggs.  The eggs we put for sale on the food coop are always sold out by the end of the day when orders first open so it is good to have the extra production, especially since the days are getting shorter and colder and egg laying will gradually taper off to nearly nothing before spring finally arrives again when they will once more give us a full complement to sell to pay for their feed.

We only have one lonely guinea left.  He is the one who had the broken leg and was smart enough to stay in the chicken house until it healed.  He was the oldest one around…which proves sometimes with age does come wisdom or else with wisdom comes age.

The cats are all doing their jobs controlling rodents, snakes and grasshoppers.  We have only Pete, Slippers, Betsy, Golden Boy, Chester, Jot and Karl Kat still with us.  It was a tough year for cats.  I was a little sad all of our girls had been spayed as I missed having baby kittens around.  The boys have all been neutered as well so the only chance of kittens is fostering orphans.  As the Goddess would have it, there were some neglected kittens that were sent to me to care for.  One was in critical condition, two in somewhat serious condition and one feral little brat.  We have tamed them and adopted one out already and the critical one didn't make it.  The other two are growing, spunky, energetic fur balls.  After the first four were settled in another one arrived from a different source.  He barely had his eyes open but has survived and is even thriving although I'm not sure he will ever be litter box trained and he makes more noise than any Siamese!

I promise I will update the Chronicles more frequently…at least a couple times a month.

I’m sorry if any of you were disappointed by not being able to read about what was happening here at Prairie House. 

May the Goddesses bless each and every one of you.

The wayward chicken

We have one chicken who refuses to stay in the area where chickens are allowed. She much prefers the yards close to the house and the bus...cats and all. We were pretty sure she was laying eggs because she announced it everyday. Although we have looked in all the likely places...under the trees and bushes, around the rabbit house, under the porch, in the bus, etc. we could never find where she had laid an egg.

Today Evelyne was going into the bus and the chicken came out of her hiding place where she apparently sleeps at night...and has a nice little nest there. It is in an old freezer with the door removed which we use for storing rabbit supplies.

It obviously made a very good nest for laying eggs:

Poppies

Our Poppies are outdoing themselves this year.  We have tried to grow them several times but last year was the first time they ever bloomed.  These are self-seeded from the few that bloomed then.

Pegleg comes home

Last fall we gave Pegleg to a young boy who thought Pegleg was just the neatest thing.  This family has other animals and we thought it would make a good home for him as he hasn't been neutered and we didn't need him nor did we need more kids this spring.

His new family had to go back east to take care of some business and arranged for a woman to care for all their creatures while they were gone.  The woman determined that Pegleg was mean and unmanageable.  She called and said we needed to do something about him.

We said we would take him back, knowing we would have a long road ahead of us to get him calmed down and trained.  When we went to pick him up he was in a large kennel with a dog house for shade and climbing, plenty of water and some alfalfa spread on the ground to eat.  No fresh grass, no weeds, no companions other than barking dogs.  I think that might have a negative effect on my attitude as well.

We loaded a collapsible carrier in the back of the van with some nice oat hay in a tray and a bowl of wheat berries.  After gathering a lead to tether him with and two leads for us to lead him and control his movements so we could load him in the van we left to pick him up and bring him home.

He was crying out when we arrived.  I fed him through the kennel fence while Evelyne entered to try to put a tether and lead on him.  He looked at her and decided the food was more satisfying than attacking her and kept eating.  The latch on the leads is a tricky one and she couldn't get it fastened.  I went and opened the gate to the kennel and joined her inside with Pegleg.  He had no problem with that.  We attached only one lead and he followed obediently to the van...not a hint of a vicious critter here.  He stopped at the end of the van but wasn't going to climb into it.  I held on to his horns while Evelyne hefted his body into the carrier.  He found the oat straw and decided that was okay.  Then the van started moving and he was unnerved about that.  He stumbled a bit and then found the wheat berries.  We could have hauled him anywhere after that as he was perfectly content.

Upon arrival back at Prairie House we opened the carrier and grasped his lead firmly, prepared to be drug by him.  He was content to go where we led him and thrilled with all the tasty green stuff along the way.

I think the lady who was supposed to care for him was afraid of him.  Animals can sense that and take advantage of it sometimes.  We had absolutely no problems with him and once he was back in the barnyard he started discussions with the others to determine who was where in the pecking order.  Ginger was uninterested and kept grazing; Star was uninterested and continued his nap after looking the situation over.  Once the lower order was established, Ginger re-affirmed she IS queen and he did back down from her.  Star hasn't even bothered to enter the fray figuring that since he is twice the size of the little whippersnapper it is a moot point.

I'm sure Pegleg will be happier here with some companions of his own kind.

A rough week

It has been a hard week at Prairie House.  A couple of days ago we lost Juliet to the highway.  We lost the little turkey that hatched with the chicken to an unknown malady.  The nest the barn swallow built sits vacant now as the barn swallow couldn't fly higher than Katie Kat could jump.  A snake that Karl Kat brought to the porch bit the dust...well, okay, that was an assisted death.  Tonight Katie Kat was lost to the highway also.

When their instinct is to hunt, they get so focused on their hunting they don't notice other things around them.  It always hurts so much when we lose them to either the highway or the predators but that is a fact of life on the farm.  Creatures get killed on dirt roads - I see their bodies when I deliver mail - so it isn't a problem only due to the highway.  The thing that really hurts however is that Evelyne and I were petting and playing with Katie Kat only a couple of hours before and she was following us around.  She didn't want to come into the house.  She wanted to play and hunt for exciting things.

We only have two calico cats left now.  One of those, Betsy (who suffers from the psychotropic alopecia) refuses to come into the house and will only go into the bus when it is on her terms.  She does sleep on the porch.  EmmaPatches and the 6 boys (plus Earl's Buster cat) are all safe in the house or the bus. We try to make sure they all go in at night to protect them from the coyotes, foxes, owls, opossums but sometimes they have other ideas.  All of our cats are spayed or neutered so unless we end up fostering kittens again we won't be having any additions.

Barn Swallows

I think barn swallows are beautiful birds.  Bright blue feathers with a yellow/golden chest and an adorable "V" tail when they fly.  We have had them nesting out in our lean-to behind the barn for several years.  They catch tons of bugs and are a valuable bird to have around.

Now a pair of them has decided to move in closer.  Much closer.  They have been busily building a nest at the corner of my kitchen window.  I am ambivalent about this.  I suspect they will make quite a mess there by the time the little ones fledge.  But I love watching them and keeping track of their progress...building a nest is hard, tedious work for a bird. Both partners share in the work.  Originally they thought the light just outside the back door was a good location for the nest but fortunately changed their mind on that one.  I cannot actually see the nest from inside but do see all the activity as they diligently work at "home improvements".

The potential error in their choice of residence:  traffic.  Both people and cats frequently travel beside their chosen spot for the nursery.  This makes the momma bird nervous.  It makes the cats intrigued.  The patio table is too far away to be of assistance to them in their quest to satisfy their curiosity about the commotion...and too far away to be of any use when at meal time but that fact does not stop them from perching on the table and watching intently.

I cannot tell if there are any eggs in the nest yet, or if it is simply nearing completion of construction.  I do know that their day starts a lot earlier than I intend for mine to start and they are happy in their work, singing away ever so joyously early in the morning.

Darn spiders

Those darn spiders!  If they aren't building webs which are invisible until you walk into them, or lying in ambush among the plants they are cutting off the water supply.

Yes! Cutting off the water supply.  Our well has never given us any problems...until tonight.  All of a sudden we had no water.  We checked the breakers...none were tripped.  We checked the fuses and even changed them out...still the well pumped no water.  With visions of astronomical costs looming we called the trusty electrician.  Fortunately, he came out promptly.

After some cursory inspections using all the appropriate tools, including his flashlight as it was well past twilight by then, he determined there was nothing wrong with the wiring.  Everything was fine up to the electric box dedicated to the well.

Puzzled, he remembered a previous experience he had where a spider had built a home in the electrical box and created a short.  Alas, that was the case here...the electric current could not jump across the fine web the spider had created in the box.  The electrician cleared that web and BINGO the pump worked and the water flowed.

It is always something weird here, isn't it?

Wanda is relocated

We managed to catch Wanda and move her and her clutch of eggs into a nesting pen.

Her nest was not in an easily accessible location in the creek bottom but we tromped into the weeds once she was settle on the eggs and attempted to catch her.  She wasn't all that thrilled with the idea and left her nest.  We pursued her and it became obvious that she was better at maneuvering rocks, weeds and sticks that we were.  We gathered her eggs, carefully climbed back out of the creek bed and brought them into the yard where they were placed in her intended new residence.  As we were trying again to catch her it started to rain.  Although that was cold, wet and uncomfortable for us, it did work to our advantage as she was smart enough to go into the pole barn for shelter from the raindrops.  We grabbed our trusty trapping net (originally designed for sport fishermen but makes a wonderful fowl catcher) and with limited space for her to escape to managed to get the net over her.  She struggled and it took both of us working on the task to get the net removed from her feet and head.  She is a heavy bird and when squirming is most difficult to manage!

We put her in the nesting pen where her eggs were and she immediately threw herself against the wire trying to get out, then paced back and forth.  At this point we were dripping with water from the continuing downpour and wondering if we would be putting 17 turkey eggs in the incubator to hatch.  We left her unattended while we went inside to dry off and wait for the storm to pass.

Upon inspection later that evening, she was peacefully sitting on her eggs.  She has remained faithful to the task and hopefully there will be baby turkeys by the end of the month.

How does the garden grow

The garden is growing.

We've been picking lettuce for over 4 months now.  Salads taste much better when you know how the lettuce and herbs were grown.

   

A new little turkey

One little turkey has hatched under one of the chickens sitting on the turkey eggs.  That is a real surprise, as those eggs got off to a rough start.  The chicken who finally hatched the egg is the 3rd hen involved.  There are still other eggs that MIGHT hatch, but it is doubtful.  The humans got involved and moved the first Momma hen into a "better" spot.  She heard the other little chicks peeping and decided her task of setting was done.  Once she abandoned the nest, we put the eggs in the incubator for a few days and then had two more hens who were going to set.  We divided the eggs between them.  I suspect they got too cold in the meantime and doubt any more will hatch.


However, I found Wanda's new nest with 16 eggs in it.  It is not in a location easily accessible to people but probably readily accessible to predators.  I'll need to go across the highway and come back under the bridge to take the eggs and move her nest.  I'm not sure if I'll do that or not.  I would hate to lose her to a predator since she is the only hen turkey we have (except for Wilma Wildbird who is doing her own thing these days and shows up only occasionally for a visit and a bite to eat), but I  hate to take her eggs from her again.  If we can capture her we might put her in a separate nesting pen for her to hatch them where the predators cannot get to her.

Two cents worth

"When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one and a flower with the other.. for the loaf feeds the body, but the flower feeds the soul" 
Chinese proverb


In today's economy this proverb becomes even more thought provoking.

Steamboat Springs

I was recently invited to Steamboat Springs to represent High Plains Food Cooperative and Prairie House Herbs as the keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the Community Ag Alliance.  Public speaking is not my forte.  I pondered about what to say, actually considered making some note cards with things listed I wanted to include in my speech.  As it ended up, I just stood up there and talked about how the coop got started and other things which were of interest to me that I thought might be helpful to the group as they considered whether a coop would be right for their organization's producers and allowed extra time for questions and answers.  Thankfully no one asked a question I couldn't answer!  Amazingly it turned out well and I received numerous compliments.

Since I really don't like driving anymore...the thrill is gone...I asked Jan if she would like to go along as the driver.  Her life is rather complicated now (one daughter graduating, one preparing to leave for Africa for the summer, an ex who has decided he no longer needs to pay child support, etc.) and I thought a break would be good for her.  She agreed and that made the trip most delightful.  We had accommodations at The Lodge, an upscale condo with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths.  After my speech we went out to dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant and planned on doing the tourist sightseeing thing the next day.  When we awoke it was snowing heavily and the ground was covered in slushy white stuff.  So much for sightseeing!

The producers of the area were having an expo on Saturday morning so we attended that and then headed on home.  By then the roads were pretty much cleared off and the trip was easy.

It was a nice break in our routines.  And, as it turned out, a "last harrah!" for Jan for a while.  On Tuesday morning they sent her (and 17 other people) home from work because their jobs had been eliminated in the United States and sent to India.

Orphan Kittens

It is spring again.  That time of year when cats have kittens and coyotes have cat for dinner.  Our friend, Jane, had the sad experience of losing the mother cat leaving behind kittens whose eyes were barely open.  Prairie House's reputation as an intensive care nursery for cats has spread throughout the county.  Yes, you guessed it, the kittens were brought to us to care for.  It isn't as bad as it sounds, however, because this time it was only a temporary stay.  Jane was leaving town for a few days and said she would re-claim them on her return.  She was true to her word and did come to get them after only 5 days.  She was amazed at the fact they had doubled in size while she was gone.  I think Prairie House has the orphaned kitten care down to a science now.

Jane was sure we needed to keep a couple of the cuties to live at Prairie House.  We told her 10 healthy cats and one invalid cat is the limit here.  No room at this inn for permanent boarders of the feline kind right now.

More Spring Flowers

Quest for a gate

My friend Becky (the Bierock lady) is re-doing her landscaping.  Last year she put in several raised beds (and from the tomato plants we gave her reaped a tremendous harvest when all around her were bemoaning the state of their tomatoes).  She has put and old fashioned pump in one of the beds for a decoration and thought and old fashioned gate would look good on the path between a couple of the beds.  Nostalgically remembering a gate her Grandad had made which was on the old homestead she recalled that it was still there last time she was by the place even though the house and the barn were both gone.

Figuring it wasn't fair to just take the gate, she found a substitute gate and with that and a tool chest full of tools in the van we took off on a road trip.  Sadly, when we got to the homestead the gate was no longer in one piece and now in no way resembled a gate.  Obviously disappointed, we started our return journey and figured we would just chalk the trip up to an outing we each needed.

She has a friend who was a classmate of hers all the way through school who owns a nifty little greenhouse in Colby.  She wanted to check out the flowers for her yard for this year so we stopped in there.  Behold! In his "Junk Pile" he had a perfect gate for her purposes.  He was happy to get rid of it.  She was happy to take it.  And the world is in balance again.  Except, there is now an extra gate.  Not a problem.  It is a nice, white gate.  It will look very nice across my sidewalk at the front of the house.  With a fence coming up to meet it on both sides it will make Prairie House look more like and old fashioned homestead too.

Katie Kat is alive and well.

After being gone long enough for me to give her up as having been a meal for a coyote, guess who came out of the bus this morning with all the other cats.

Katie Kat who is now an adult.  She looked only a little the worse for wear and begged for attention.

Remodeling....AAAARRRRG

It is not a surprise that carpenters charge extra for doing remodeling work vs. new construction.  As you may recall, we are re-doing the upstairs into a master suite.  We have the sunny, south room ready for the trim boards now.  Piece of cake, we are almost done!   And that would have been the case had all the angles needed been the standard 90 degrees....or even a standard 45.  But NOOOOO.  The angles around the fireplace ended up being 34 degrees and 60 degrees.  Not being professional carpenters, we did not have any "magic tools" to help calculate these angles.  Nor do we have a good miter saw other than the nifty wooden box which is a guide but only has the standard cuts available.

Have no fear, we do have the boards cut, and they look like they fit.  It took some time to figure out how to make the table saw do what we needed, but it was a good feeling to see them hug the wall when we put them there.  (I know Dad taught me how to use that thing when he was with us, but that was years ago....)

The problem now is that the floor isn't level there and the high spot makes the boards not line up exactly.  So I will take the dremel tool and file the bump on the floor and then we can nail the trim in.  We were too tired after all that mental carpentry to finish it today anyway.

What a crazy day.

We had a “Cooking with Herbs” luncheon class scheduled for yesterday.  Four ladies were to be here at noon.  We had most of the preparation done ahead of time but there are always those last minute things to be done to make it turn out impressive.

Of course, this would also be the day everything else happens.

Jane came to pick up the juvenile chicks she is buying from us at 8:15am.  Fortunately those were confined to a kennel last night so that was an easy task but it still required time.

We had a real estate closing at 8:30AM which was more complicated than a normal one because of the financing arrangements.

I just got back from that when the guy came at 10:30AM to load up Earl’s inoperable Explorer to take it back to Denver.  That took some time since the battery was dead on the Explorer and you can’t shift it into neutral to use the winch on it without the battery charged.  This guy restores Triumph automobiles (TR4s are his specialty) so he had the proper equipment to get the job done, but the Explorer is about twice what a Triumph weighs.

The luncheon went off without a hitch and the ladies were duly impressed.  (Helped out our bottom line for the month as well.)
 

When I finally got a chance to relax for a few minutes,  Pam called and wanted me to work at the restaurant Saturday and Monday.  I need to add some funds to my bad habit stash so I agreed. 

Barely got off the phone with her when Gary called saying he was ready to bring us a dump truck load of compostable wheat and where did we want it piled.  We ended up putting it in the far corner southwest corner of the property.  He brought us another truck load and now we have a huge pile of wheat that looks like a sand pile.  We will put it in the loader on the tractor to move it around where we need it.  It has fermented a bit and when the wind blows in the wrong direction it is a bit odoriferous.

Maybe things will be calmer today.

Oh boy! Turkey eggs!

Thanks to Golden Boy, I found Wanda's nest of eggs.  Golden Boy was on the other side of the creek bed and when I called to him he started running to me.  Apparently he scared Wanda and she flew off.  I climbed up the hill to the area she flew from and lo and behold! there was a beautiful nest of turkey eggs.  Since the turkeys are notoriously lousy mothers when the poults are young, I removed most of the eggs from her nest so they can be incubated and raised either by people or by a chicken hen.  Then when the young turkeys are past that fragile stage we will let Turk and his crew have them to finish raising.  The only problem with that is the turkeys then think they are chickens and don't understand why the chickens don't think they are handsome when they put on their show for them.

We have one hen who has been thinking she wanted to be a mother so we gave some of the eggs to her and hopefully she will settle on them.  The others we will probably take to our friend Sherry (hairdresser, soap maker, goat foster mom) who has the incubator already turned on and ready for more eggs.

With some luck there will be pictures of little turkeys on the blog again in 5 or 6 weeks.

Oh yes, hopefully we will have pictures of baby bunnies by then too.

Our new pond

The goats and chickens now have a new pond.
This is the largest pond they have had so far.
It was the result of a toad strangling rainstorm we had last night. It won't last long.  Soon it will disappear back into the water table below.  In the meantime, the chickens like to play in it because it attracts lots of tasty bugs and as it dries up the mud is wonderful for digging.

Update

It has been ages since I've written anything but that isn't because nothing is happening...quite the opposite.

For instance, last Wednesday we had sustained winds here of 25-35 mph with gusts upwards to 65mph.  ALL DAY LONG!  Needless to say, repairs were needed after the wind subsided.  The window blew completely off the greenhouse.  Fortunately, we found it and the window itself was relatively undamaged except for one piece of redwood.  You gotta love the polycarbonate!  Survived last summer's baseball sized hail and now the wind.  The pitch of the greenhouse roof makes reinstalling the window a major challenge.  Therefor, we now have the window back on the greenhouse, but it is no longer functional.  There is still another window in the top and windows in each end so that shouldn't be a problem.

The front of the chicken house also had to be resecured an the roof on the barn had to be nailed down again.  I still haven't figured out how to repair the missing soffit from the front of the house.

It could have been worse.  Several people had windows blown out of cars, a couple of plate glass windows in storefronts downtown bit the dust (no injuries, fortunately), and at least 4 farmers will be totally replacing the roofs on their pole barns.  A couple of the roofs landed over 100 yards from the building they were previously attached to.  There was no tornado associated with the damages...just high winds.  They didn't even classify them as straight-line winds.  Several trees failed to understand the difference and crashed to the ground anyway.

We've also been planting, digging, moving dirt and enjoying the bounty of colors springtime has presented us. The rhubarb is looking good and I've dug horseradish and put it in the fridge.  I'm nearly done peeling and drying garlic for the year.  Phew!

I shall endeaver to be more judicious in my writing and not keep you waiting so long for the next update.

Spring Flowers in bloom

I think Spring is on the way!

Gardening

We have been busy getting the garden ready for planting.  Dirt has been moved for raised beds, soil has been turned, rows have been marked off.

We have white and red potatoes; yellow, white and red onions; red and white kohlrabi; turnips; and several kinds of beets in the ground.

The horseradish and rhubarb is springing out of the ground.

Maybe ol' man winter has moved on for another year!

Wandering Wilma Wildbird Returns

Wandering Wilma returned.  She is helping herself to the treats in the bird feeder.  Apparently the food is better when you don't have to scrounge for it.  We're thinking maybe she just went off for a little tryst with her own kind since it is mating season.  It was nice to see her back.  Our toms apparently didn't even notice she was gone and don't pay much attention to her.  No wonder she left!

On a sadder note, we haven't seen Katie Kat in a few days.  I hope she wasn't food for some predator and is off on a walkabout from which she will soon return.

A beautiful day for gardening

What a gorgeous day it was for gardening today.  We got lots of compost moved from the goat yard to the rows in the garden.  Several of the rows have been turned under and are ready to plant but we still have a ways to go before the growing season starts.  Half of the potatoes are planted and hopefully we will get the rest in the ground tomorrow.  Rain/snow is predicted for Wednesday.  Peas are behind schedule but should do okay once we get them planted.  I can already taste the new peas and potatoes in cream sauce!

Wandering Wilma Wildbird

A couple of wild tom turkeys came around yesterday.  Our Toms were pretty upset by that and loudly proclaimed that this was not the wild turkeys' territory.  Wilma, however, found those wild guy pretty attractive and wandered off with them.  We feel so used...she only wanted us because it was cold and the food was plentiful.  It should be interesting to see if she comes back another time.  Apparently she found her own breed more to her liking as a mate.  Bummer!  I was so looking forward to seeing what a cross-breed turkey from our Royal Palms would look like.