Oh look… MORE snow

January 10, 2011January 10, 201114 Comments

It was deep! Seven and a half inches of pure powder!

We even had icicles on the back of the Silkies hutch!

Oh, and the snow-covered thing in the foreground is my new potting bench that Bob and I built at the end of summer. It even has a dry sink on the right side. I am looking forward to better weather in spring so I can put it to good use!

OK, I should be all excited about a snow day and Bob being home and all, but the fact is, it’s nice to look at but you don’t want to be in it for working. Which is precisely where I found myself at 6:45 this morning! Well, at least I wasn’t the only one who was less than impressed with it all…

Claus’s solution to getting though the snow? Jump!

Bertha confers with Little Red Hen, “What do you think? Shall we dive in?”

Little Red Hen, “Oh sure thing Bertha, you go first!”

Meanwhile, I shoveled a small path from the gate to the barn for the geese. Did they use it? NO. They waddled through the chest deep snow anyway!

Well OK, it did make it easier for me to get through and was a bit less cold on my toes.

While I worked, a little squirrel made a bee line for the maple tree and disappeared into the top! Can’t say as I blamed him!

Maybe I shouldn’t complain, after all, it could always be worse!

Photo link: http://www.strangedangers.com/content/item/15279.html

Oh Chickie it’s Cold Outside!

January 6, 2011January 6, 2011Leave a comment

~*~

Chickens inspect the water fount and peck in disbelief…

“Is this a joke?” the Little Red Hen asked as she pecked an icicle running off the side of the bowl.

“If only it were!” replied Buffy.

“Bok, bok, bok-burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” was all their owner heard as she poured boiling water over the ice and plugged in the fount’s heater.

Reposted from: My Camera’s Eye 2010 – ( It’s mine)

If they only had a brain

November 27, 2010December 16, 201018 Comments

The temperature dropped to 27 degrees just as the weatherman predicted it would. I had made all the necessary precautions…

Heat lamps for the chickens
Plugged in heating base for the water fount
Covered my little citrus trees and my precious succulents from California
Hung the winter drapes

I was ready, “Bring it!” I boasted…

But what neither the weatherman nor I could have predicted was the hungry owl that would come in the night and steal away with one of my Guinea hens. The chilling thing was that I heard the geese honking furiously last night at about 1:00 AM, and I should have known something was wrong! Though I doubt there was little I could have done about it. Owls, like hawks, gotta eat, and so it was that last night I lost another Guinea but to an owl this time.

The curious thing about Guineas is that they refuse to roost anywhere but up in a tree, which is fine if it is fully leaved. But, when fall and the wind have stripped it bare it just doesn’t make sense, but then guineas have no sense.

~*~

Things Guineas are most likely to do:

If left by your fowl friends on the other side of the fence, then you run back and forth for hours crying till your little feet have run a track in the dirt. You could fly over the same way you got in, but this will never occur to you.
Run in terror from a little white fluffy Cockerel who is easily less than half your size.
Screech out “WEE-choo, WEE-choo, WEE-choo, WEE-choo, at the top of your annoying little voice… all day. Every day. Until the husband of the owner of the ugly, little, brainless, feathered fowl turns to you and says: “I HATE THOSE NASTY BIRDS!” Whereupon you remind him that he was tick free this summer and he acquiesces.
Come rain, wind, or freezing temperatures, you will roost in the trees to be eaten by a large bird.

So now I have a choice to make. Let them take their chances or put them in the freezer for dinners this winter. I can order more in spring for tick control and I know it will make the husband happy, if only temporarily, that I got rid of them. What would you do?

~ Epitaph For a Guinea ~

If I Only Had a Brain

(with apologies to the original author)

I could while away the hours, conferrin’ with the flowers
Consultin’ with the rain.
And the dirt I’d be scratchin’ while
my thoughts were busy hatchin’
If I only had a brain.
I’d unravel every riddle for obtaining any viddles,
In sunshine or in rain.
With the thoughts I’d be thinkin’
I could be another chicken
If I only had a brain.
Oh, I would go inside to sleep at night,
I wouldn’t have to fear of Owls in flight,
And then I’d live to see another day!
I would not be just a nothin’ my head all full of stuffin’
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a-derry,
If I only had a brain.