Baby it's cold outside!! Animal Updates!

So it's the second day of sub zero temperatures.  Weeee!  I LOVE my new coveralls that the guys got me for Christmas.  They are pink-alicious!! AND WARM!!  I will definitely never get lost in a snowstorm....Raspberry colored coveralls, Lavendar Boots, and my Sky Blue Grandma Coat. (And don't forget my new "darth vader" ish face mask and -22 degree ski gloves!!)  I AM READY!!!

Time for animal updates.

And so far, so good.  All the animals are surviving.  They are all locked into either the barn or the coop.  We haul out hot water twice a day (sometimes 3 times) to make sure everyone is drinking and to help warm them up.  I have 10 chickens that have decided they are "too good" or "too wise" to hang out in the coop.  These are the 5 meat chickens that really need to go to "camp" and 1 rooster and my 4 oldest hens.  The majority of the occupants of the chicken coop are the 30 "teenaged" pullets that can start laying-any-day-now-thanks! and the ducks.  (I'm to the point of being ready to rehome the ducks too.  They won't go to freezer camp because we don't like to eat them. I'll have to find someone that does.)

We lost 3 of our rabbits before the cold really started.  It's sad because all of the rabbits currently are the ones with names that have been here for over a year and have given us litters.  All the ones that generally remain nameless (because they will eventually feed us) went for their drive in November.  We lost Waldo (AKA Killer) our big New Zealand White Buck.  He was very friendly, and loved to be scratched.  He was the daddy to most of our litters.  We don't know how old he was when we got him, and he started stumbling and not keeping his balance and then we just lost him.  Then there was our Florida White Buck, Lightning.  He scratched his eye and it got infected.  We treated the infection for almost 3 weeks.  One night I brought him in for his nightly wash out and treatment and he was fine...I made a decision that I was going to keep him in the house until he was well (something we DON'T do-keep rabbits in the house) and as I was telling Boy to go get me a cage to keep in the laundry room, he (the rabbit--not the Boy!) thrashed his legs, screamed and died.  It was very upsetting!  He was very docile and sweet so it wasn't the stress of being held...I think the infection took over more than his eye...and at least he died being held and loved.  Finally was the most upsetting, it was my "designer" rabbit that we got "free with purchase."  We bought some cages and she came with the cage.  She was a Trianta rabbit which is a fairly rare breed.  She was gorgeous with bright auburn hair.  She gave us a really nice litter this past summer.  She passed right after Christmas.  And even sadder is that her namesake is one of my Besties.  :(   We also don't know how old she was when she came to us, she wasn't actually sick, so we're going to call it old age also.

So we are down to 11 rabbits, and 1 is promised as a delayed Christmas gift.  My Man has been researching a new breed that we are going to incorporate into the rabbitry.  They are called AlTex Rabbits.  As soon as it is warm enough to bleach down cages, we're going to get just an AlTex Buck and breed him with our New Zealand Girls.  We have two that are currently (hopefully) bred.  We'll see around the 15th of this month if they took (fingers crossed!!)  Bred is Rexella (our new white New Zealand Doe that actually was born and raised here.) And Shadow, The Boy's black lop bunny.  We'll breed our other lop next week for Easter Bunnies.

Weldon is getting BIG!  He is doing just fine in the cold. He has his routines and doesn't like when they are messed with.  The other night I watered him and then had to go get feed from the chicken feed for the "uppity" birds in the barn, and he ran to the door out to the pasture and didn't just MOO at me to get back there to feed him his nightly ration of sweet feed...but seriously BELLOWED the whole time I was walking away.  And didn't stop until I turned around and was heading back to the barn.  Silly Bull!

Our Yellow Cat (Timmy) has taken to disappearing for days at a time, but I have recently discovered that I am pretty sure he actually is living in the loft and usually can't be bothered to get out of the hay to come be social.  Unless I call for him, which means I have some scraps for him and Iona.

When I went out to the barn this morning, I hadn't seen Yellow Cat for 3 days.  I had prayed over all the animals in the barn as I listened to the 30+ mile-an-hour winds that howled all night causing -20 degree + windchills.  I prayed an extra prayer that I would see the cat, so I would know he was not out on a prowl...I came into the barn this morning to find the cat cozily sleeping in the dog house, basically under the Pyrenees.  That is one smart cat.  That is the best place in the barn--under a big dog blanket!!  Iona (the Pyrenees) loves Timmy.  We are so blessed that all the animals get along!!  And I was blessed to see that the cat (and everyone else) was doing just fine.

In the house....it's COLD!  It's a very old, very drafty farmhouse, even with the new siding and putting plastic up on the window.  We have suspected for the last few weeks that there is a blockage of some sort in the chimney as we get smoke every time we open the door to add wood.  And really we don't seem to be getting much heat from it.  So tonight we will have to forgo our woodburner....(softly crying) and go with the emergency back up heat pump (that seems to only work well if it's OVER 30 degrees) and crank up the electric blankets. The fireplace needs to be completely cool when they come to work on it.  I think the predicted NEGATIVE 10 degrees will cool it down sufficiently, don't you??

Cold Weather Fun

On the first day of sub zero temperatures, we saw an experiment online and just had to try it
(Here's hoping it's not ever cold enough to try again!)

I'm Thankful for...Day 18

I'm thankful today that this is the only damage on our farm after high winds, and tornado watches.  Many communities did not fair as well.

Thankfully, I had taken the meat chicken to freezer camp two weeks ago, or they likely would have died from heart attacks.



Thankfully none of the animals (or people) were in the path when the telephone pole (that held our martin house) snapped.

Thankfully I have a very handy husband that can fix or rebuild my moveable chicken coop before we need to grow out more birds. 

Thankfully the storm is over.

 

 

Snowy day.

Here's to hoping this is the last snow of this winter!  We had firewood dropped off yesterday because the weather people said we might get up to 9 inches of snow.  So since we now have plenty of firewood, I would expect it is going to now get warm. (Here's praying for it!!)

Anyway, the snow was that thick packing kind and was stuck to everything and making it all beautiful outside.  I thought I would share.  My clothesline cracked me up. :)

Snow again!

The drive to town yesterday was a bit on the slippery side.  We ended up getting about 3 inches of snow here on the farm.  In this picture you can see the two cords of wood that we just had delivered last week....

 

OH, and an update on the laundry room curtain....I moved a digital thermometer into the laundry room. 

It's 22* outside, 68* in the den/kitchen..and 47.2* in the laundry room. 

Yes, I think that MUST have been why it was so hard to keep the downstairs warm.

BEES...

I know for a lot of people the reality of bees in the spring is just something to avoid and deal with...that was me a few years ago...

Now...for me it is spring because I see bees!  OUR bees.  My hive made it through the winter!  WOOHOO.  I saw where they had cleaned out all the little bee bodies of the non-survivors (read:dead) and dumped them right outside the hive door and I was sure that there was no one left in my little box.  But zooming in and out of the box in the past few days are those wonderful worker bees.  And that means...

SOMEWHERE SOMETHING IS BLOOMING!  Hooray!  Spring is here!

And as for the weather guy who said there was going to be 3-4 inches of snow later this week....
"LA-la-LA...not listening!!"  (Besides, we're out of firewood...so we're out of heat!!)

Another rite of spring is planned for later this afternoon...the official count of the animals on the farmstead....and a trip to the feed store to buy chicks!! Stay tuned for pictures.

The miracle of the power line!

Two weeks ago, we had an issue with the power line that goes out to the security light, the coop and the barn.  Keep in mind our farm house is 105+ years old.  When they put the power in, it was somewhat random.  On the circut that has the outbuildings also has the sub-box that is in Boy's room that runs ALL the lights in the house (and many of the outlets).

On that morning, I was getting things together to take to my dear friend's house (and one of Boy's BFF).  She had a beautiful baby boy the previous week and we were taking over meals and belated Christmas gifts and "stuff".  Then *poof* power out.  We checked the breaker box...and the one would buzz and then pop.  What???  Now if you are going to lose power, I suppose this is the way to do it.  We heat with wood, so that wasn't an issue.  The blower for the woodburner was running....so was all the appliances and the deep freezer, so no lost food.  And the breaker for the woodshop was running so Man could still work.  We had ONE outlet that would still work so we could get the computer up and a lamp.

So, I left a message with the landlady and went on my way.  Two days later the electrician came out and seems that there is a problem with the line going out to the outbuildings, so that was cut off and the rest of the house was restored to power.  We knew that the line going out was somewhat unsafe and had asked our landlady to look into having it upgraded over the summer.  Apparently it was too expensive because after the electrician came out in July, we didn't hear any more about it.  Now it's freezing or below and it has to be addressed.  The lines come out above our kitchen and run parellel out to the light post.  It looks as though the insulation on the lines are gone and they are only a foot apart....perfect for arc-ing. 

OK, long story, I know...if you know me...have I ever told a short story??? :) Fast forward to yesterday.  A HUGE storm came through and left about 3/4 inch of ice on everything.  Followed by high winds.  Nice combo, eh?  So during the night the power went off and on a few times.  Luckily we are in a very small rural electricity co-op and so things get restored fairly quickly.

However, we awoke to many tree limbs (large) down all over the yard.  Including one that came down over the power lines between the house and the light post!  One of the lines was pulled out of the house and was laying on the roof of the porch....over the ground...over the wooded picket fence....over the wooden wishing well....out to the post.  The other has the branch still hanging from it.

Had it been two weeks earlier, that line would have been live and because of the bad shape it was in with the missing insulation....our house likely would have caught on fire...and did I mention our house is 105+ years old....old wood...instant kindling??  Yep...there is the blessing and the miracle of us losing power two weeks before everyone else did. 

The line is still laying on the roof....waiting for above freezing weather and well, the ice to melt before getting taken care of.

Storms & Rainbows

We had a fun day on the farm today.  Friends of the Boy came over and the three of them spent all day making a secret club in one of the horse stalls in the barn.  (You can see the all 3 boys in the bottom of the picture)

Then, I had to go to work....I went in one of the most wicked storms I have ever been in.  Only to get to work and be faced with Tornado sirens.  Meanwhile at the farm...the storm seperated and went both to the north and south and left them with a gorgeous double rainbow over the barn....