It was a real "rip snorter". The forecast got it right for our region: 40 hours of snow with gusting winds of up to 55 MPH causing dangerous white outs and the accumulation of upwards of 2 feet of snow. Check. Check. Checkity-Check. Safe inside home and barn, we weathered the storm with nary a hitch. We were prepared for losing power, but surprisingly, that didn't happen. Not even a blip. The worst part for us (read that Sean) was braving the cold to bring food and water to the critters in the barn and coop. For our family, the Blizzard of '15 was a day spent laughing, relaxing, and eating homemade french onion soap.
The turkeys we worried over awoke confused about their new surroundings, but then in laid-back turkey-style accepted it and set about checking out their new digs. They will be housed in the barn for the remainder of the winter. It makes caring for them easier and for that reason alone, it makes sense. What they will lose in fresh air and yard to roam, they will make up for in dry, secure, warm shelter. Sean captured this image for us. It is a great shot showing the lovely iridescent feathers of Aquila, our Red Breasted Bronze tom next to the more muted tones of Priscilla, his hen. Lazarus is the big tom on the left. His hen, Martha, is facing away from the camera, looking around their new home.
"What did You do?" the bucklings seem to ask.
It is easy to see that the bucklings were not pleased with the howling winds; tails tucked and eyes wide. Poor lads!
In extreme weather, such as that which we were having, we keep the barn doors closed tight and latched. We go in as little as possible because every time we open the door, heat escapes and a freezing blast of air and snow blow in. Despite the wind pummeling the building and against the metal roof, the goats, Jasmine, Ebony, barn guineas and chicks all rode it out well. I imagine they are going to be a little stir crazy by the time we get the doors to the pasture shoveled out and clear to open, but we'll bring them extra yummy treats to placate them in the meantime.
Sean took this image of Molly. I love her nose and head covered in snow. :) Silly puppy!
Molly, in contrast, was just loving the new development of snow. That silly puppy whined at the door to go outside repeatedly. She was the image of pure joy, swimming through snow drifts and making a complete mess of herself. We let her play as long as we thought it prudent and then, called for her to come back inside, but she couldn't hear us over the wind- or more likely, ignored our calls in favor of running through another mound of snow. Wet, cold, and shivering Molly raced inside to plop down in front of the fire or onto the unsuspecting lap of whoever was sitting most conveniently accessible to her. With a mighty shake, snow was dislodged and strewn across the room followed by shrieks of "Molly!" An hour's rest and Molly was back at the door to be let outside again.
So how much snow was there really?
3 pm Sean shoveled off the steps to make checking barn less hazardous.
3 pm Snow drifts up to my waist in spots. Sean shoveled a path to the barn.
4:30 am. Still snowing, but it was time for Sean and I to shovel out the van so
our working people could get to their jobs. An hour and a half later, we finished.
Some perspective.
We have a path to the outside water supply, but the front steps will have to
wait a bit longer. I am thinking, Spring thaw. ;)
When the wind died down, the morning snow was sort of pretty floating from the sky.
The chicken yard was one huge snow drift, but the path shoveled to remained
semi-clear for the most part.
By noon, the snow had stopped. We certainly have our work cut out in
shoveling off the front steps.
Sean came home of lunch and we decided to open the door for the geese and ducks. Our coop and it's attached ell has plenty of room for the chickens to roost, but so many birds in close quarters makes for unhappy, grumpy birds. The chickens chose to stay near the door. The geese and ducks eagerly swam through the snow in a flurry of quacks and honks and played until the sun began to set.
With another smaller storm expected to hit on Friday into Saturday, it seems that winter is finally here. We really can't complain, we are at the end of January already. Realistically, it has been a fairly mild winter. Still, I am hoping for an early spring. :)
Thanks for checking in with us today, friends. I am glad you came.
As self-serving as it is, one of the things I love the most about our pair of China Buff geese is that they still like to be with me. When the weather cooperates, which has not been frequently, I can loose them from their yard. Dutifully, they follow me to the flooded part of the lawn to get their "bath". (We are hopeful to have the money to have a proper pond dug for them in later summer or early in the fall.) Not as friendly as the goats or chickens, our geese will stay in close proximity to me. They like me to be within 10-15 feet of where they are. When I get further than that, they begin honking and tag along to wherever I am heading. If I want them to follow me, I just begin walking away. I can get close enough to touch them, but they prefer if I merely keep them company and keep my hands to myself. They tolerate my picking them up, but they certainly do not like it.
At bath time, our geese dunk their heads to wet them. They slosh water down over their backs, wetting their feathers. Then, it is time to preen each feather into place. Once preening is complete to their satisfaction, they open their wings and flap madly to dry themselves.
It is a little sad that our geese do not know they can fly. They have never really tried to and we have never clipped their wings. Once last summer, Caitlin took off running towards me, caught some lift and managed what amounted to a very long leap across the back yard. She managed to get about 5 feet into the air. She looked as startled as I did. We watched to see would they continue, but flight was abandoned for policing the other yard occupants.
Can you tell them apart? Justin's bill has a bright, orange nub on the top of his. Caitlin's bill is smaller and colored black. Justin is slightly heavier than Caitlin, too. Caitlin's more vocal of the two. If there is any doubt who is who, Justin will be the one with his neck straight out, hissing, and charging towards Sean or any unsuspecting stranger nearing his nesting site.
50 degrees today
felt soooo good, even if it means that the snow is melting quickly, causing the lawn to flood and the animal yards to be covered in mud. Everyone seemed to be in good cheer, regardless.
The chickens laid us a total of 7 eggs today to go with the 8 eggs from yesterday. We have collected a total of 80 eggs so far this year, giving us an average of 5.7 eggs each day. Not too bad. Since the day was so mild and the sky full of bright fluffy clouds, I spent some time playing with my camera. These are two of my favorite pictures from today. I don't know what I'll use them for, but I'll think of something!
Once Sean got home from work, we decided to make use of the pond developing on what should be our front lawn. Sean carried the geese to the front yard one at a time. Caitlin first. She was not pleased at all about being without Justin and honked madly until he was retrieved. Justin did not appreciate being carried, but was more stoic about being moved to the front yard. It took him only a few minutes to decide an opportunity to swim and play was worth the affront of being carried.
I enjoyed watching them play, but I was a little worried that they would not return to their pen easily. Mostly because I knew how badly I would feel for poor Sean to get drenched while I filmed his efforts. I need not have worried. These geese have been hand raised since they were just a day old. They spent many an evening curled into the neck of one of my sweaters. Long gone are the days where they would fit, but they still prefer to be near us.
I had to include these shots of our geese, too.
I like this action shot. You can see water droplets flying off of Caitlin's head.
Once a goose is wet enough, what is left to do? Flap, Flap, Flap!!!
The next few days are supposed to return to the mid-thirties then, drop lower in the days that follow. I am certainly going to enjoy the warm days while they last.
Thanks for stopping in to visit with us today. We're glad you came.
It was snowing this morning making nobody happy. The girls, disappointed that school was not cancelled, trudged themselves to the end of the drive-way to await the bus. The geese and ducks were uncharacteristically silent, snuggled together in the snow. The chickens lined up inside both their coop and what was meant to be a goose/duck house, casting baleful eyes on the feeding station. The cats were all inside; some were sleeping on the chairs in the piano room. Others were breaking house rules by resting on the folded laundry on top of the kitchen table, which made me slightly annoyed.
This snow is not supposed to last. The weatherman forecast a change over to rain and sleet for most of today. At some point, the snow we get will stop melting away. The ground will freeze solid. And, winter will well and truly have come to Maine. I do not know if this is the inch that begins it for this year or if we will have another brief respite, but it is just as well that we are ready for it, whenever winter decides to come for real.
I felt badly for the birds and warmed them some stale bread in the microwave. I don't generally give them bread because I have read mixed reviews on its safety and nutritional value, but it was a nippy morning and I thought it would be a treat to help warm up their bellies. And, I am out of oatmeal. (I put that on my shopping list.) While I attended to the morning's feeding chores, I remembered snippets of dreams from last night. Many nights I go to bed thinking of a problem or some situation that needs fixing, solve it in my sleep and awaken with fresh ideas for how to remedy the situation.
I spent much of last night dreaming of creating more hair accessories from lovely feathers, contemplating making another batch of soap, and an idea to make some molded, hangable chicken treats from scratch and gelatin and awoke excited to make this so. I had to drive to Bangor this morning and stop at the grocery store for some soap making supplies before I could tackle any of the projects dancing in my mind.
And then, the day slipped away somehow. The roads were very slick and icy and I was forced to drive exceedingly slow. I did try out my gelatin treat idea, taking pictures as I designed it. 3 muffin tins holding 30 small round treat cakes are cooling and setting up on my counter as I write this. I will know for certain that they were successful tomorrow, when they are unmolded, if they stay together. I will post about the finished product tomorrow whether or not this works out, but I hope it works.
The day of worship. ✔
The day of family. ✔
The day of football WORKING around the farm. ✔
I have never been big on winter, but I am starting to look forward to days of rest. Oh, don't misunderstand, there will be plenty to do inside this house for the next few months, but it won't be the seemingly endless list of back-aching manual labor that we toil at the rest of the year. I don't much like the cold weather, but I am sooooo looking forward to some slow days ahead to recharge and get ready for Spring.
Today's schedule went something like this:
Feed and water dogs, cats, bunny, chickens/ducks/geese, goats, pigs, and horse. The feeding was easy, but the watering entailed chipping ice out of the containers and buckets this morning for Sean.
Shower and get ready for our meeting for Worship
Attend our meeting for Worship and visit with friends
Lunch
Spend an hour as a family in our Volunteer Bible Study Ministry
Shovel, Haul, and Level 5 loads (each approximately 12 cubic feet) of dirt and rocks to level the driveway
Meg mucked Jasmine's stall
Kristen cleaned bathroom
Sonja mucked chicken coop
Sean hauled hay
Sean worked on Geese/Duck house
Sonja put away lumber scrap (At this point, the sun was setting and I could barely stand.)
Evening Animal check & more hay to pigs (for bedding), horse & goats (for eating)
Sean washed dishes and swept floor
Sonja folded laundry and prepared dinner
Dinner
Sonja baked cookies (pre-packaged, but I want credit anyway!)
Family Bible Study with Meg & Kristen
Sonja completed some work for her "real job"
Everyone had some "down time" beginning at 7:30 pm...
And, I have the sore muscles to prove it! I am not complaining, but I think it is important to be honest. I really think that in time, there will be slightly less to do around here in terms of large construction projects. After all, once we complete the barn, we are not going to need to continue working on it each day- save some maintenance. Once the driveway is level, we will stop that project. Once the raised garden beds are built and filled, that is done for a while. But, trying to grow a farm means that there is always going to be something else that needs doing. Always.
On the up-side: I sleep like the dead every night.
I took some pictures of our busy day, (of course). And, so I leave you with them. Thanks for stopping in for a visit today, friends. We are sure glad you came!
Sonja ♥
The dirt pile before we started today. I had already loaded a wagon full
yesterday in preparation for today's work.
"By My Beard! I swear the thing is growing each night"
This is what we had left AFTER removing 5 wagon loads.
Meg's main job was to remove large rocks to my pile. I am planning to put
them to use as part of a nice rock wall.
Kristen is part of the "Leveling Crew". She did a fine job working with Sean,
smoothing out the dirt I hauled with the lawn mover and Sean dumped.
Sean unloading my wagon.
The "Leveling Crew" hard to work.
With more than 3/4ths of the driveway filled in, we call it quits for the day...
So we can continue working on the goose/duck house and muck the coop.
Clean Coop... for all of one minute. Immediately, the hens
must check out and scratch in the pine shavings.
We put a few of the ducks in the new duck/geese house
and eventually, both geese- hoping they would like it and stay put.
I even stuck a bowl of feed and carrots in there, but I cannot
yet call it a success. ♥
Today, Sean and I are finishing roughing out the duck and geese house. This will be attached to the chicken coop, but will have it's own entrance door. While Sean is cutting lumber for the floor, I stole off to upload this video spliced together from pictures and video taken last week. I don't have long to hide away, though. Sean cuts the 2x4's to size and then, it is my job to screw them in place. I think I will be missed before too much time elapses!
I will snap some pictures of it when it is complete and share them with you later this weekend.
It will be good for the ducks and geese to have their own house. Chickens roost high in the eaves of their coop. Ducks and geese do not. They huddle together in a corner or more usually sleep in the yard. With a house of their own, they won't need to watch for droppings from above when they hazzard to sleep inside chicken coop anymore.
I am of two minds. On the one hand, the idea of going away from the farm for the weekend, especially to a Christian Convention with over 5,000 of my dear brothers and sisters from the New England area is exciting, soothing, and just plain wonderful. No stalls to muck, no llamas to tame, nothing to build. On the other hand, we will be away. And, though we have a capable friend caring for our homestead in our absence, we will be... away. No pigs to love, no goats to greet us, no goslings snuggled in my shirt. And, I am completely sure that in the 60 hours of our being away, all the fencing will fail, the basement will flood, the bunny will escape, the chickens will revolt and stop laying their eggs, the ducks will make off into the wild... you get the picture. I am not a pessimist by nature, but I have some little experience in these things. It is almost guaranteed. Things will grind along just fine, as long as we have nothing else on the agenda. But, the second we have plans... that is just asking for trouble.
A sampling of the 36 sweet and hot peppers started and living on our porch.
I was planning on updating you all to our gardening and how the water fowl residing in my living room are faring in great detail, but I still have to pack and get this show on the road. So, for now, I will leave you with some pictures with the hope that each of them speaks the 1,000 words they are rumored to and hope you all have a bright and sunny weekend.
See you soon!
Sonja
Last years onions wintered over in a garden bed. We'll eat the greens, since we have never had any success in growing the onions themselves to full size after a winter's rest. They will be delicious, though! And, I might count this as our first harvest of 2012.
I was playing Momma duck/goose with the babies. They all snuggle into my arms and settle to sleep.
What else can you expect? You drive an hour to buy a llama and you come home with not only the llama in question, but also, two- day old Brown Chinese/Buff goslings. They are adorable fluff balls, but LOUD. Though they are younger than our ducklings by several days, they are slightly larger. We are hoping for both a male and a female. Or two females. The only combination that would be really inconvenient is two males, but the odds are in our favor. As I am attempting to update, they are snuggled in the top of my shirt, pecking at my necklace, hair, and earrings with their curious little bills. It is distracting, but they are warm and bonding with me... I hope. The alternative of sitting on them seemed chancy.
Yesterday afternoon, the ducklings took their first bath in the kitchen sink. Ducklings do not float like adult ducks can and must be watched very carefully. Ducklings produce a natural oil from a gland in their tail region which coats their feathers as they preen. Without that protection, they can drown. Another danger is catching a chill and getting sick. With these dangers in mind, we added just a few inches of water to the sink to get them used to the water and watched them intently- while filming video, of course. In no time at all, they will be swimming pros!
Tonight, we introduced the ducklings to their new neighbors. The ducklings were not sure about this turn of events and tried to establish some kind of pecking order with the ducklings sitting on top, but the goslings were having none of that! A few dabbles with their bills and everyone was sorted. That settled, the ducklings settled under their lamp for the night. As it is also long past time for this girl to be in her bed, too, the goslings must be returned to their nest box.
I intended to write about the new llama and our amazing adventure in getting him today, but I am zonked! So, tune in tomorrow for pictures and video of our new pal, Dilly!
Good night, friends!
Sonja ♥
Adult Buff Goose
P.S. Thse pictures are similar to what these new little guys are going to grow to look like.
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