About Me

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I am a 42 year old woman that is about as happy and content as one person can be. My husband of 21 years and our 15 year old daughter live on five and a half acres out in the country. We moved from the city four years ago and never looked back. I homeschool our daughter. We also love our animals. Our daughter has a miniature horse and two rabbits. We also have a border collie, two cats (again), two pot belly pigs, four peafowl, three emus, 2 llamas and an undetermined number of chickens, lets just say ohhh about 200. I have many breeds, from layers to fancy chickens. I love poultry shows, I love fowl in general as I have come to find out through having more than just chickens. Chickens will always be my first love though. I do show some of my birds occasionally.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Snow Pictures...Weekend Time

Did you wonder if I was coming back?

Its been a few days hasnt it. I tend to get wrapped up in the weekends when Ian is home. You would think with it being as cold as it is (like 15 degrees this morning) I would be stuck inside with nothing to do but laundry and the internet, but that is not the case.

Yesterday I spent the better part of the day breaking up ice out of watering pails and hauling warm water out by buckets from in the house to thaw out what  ice was solid and wouldn't break and fall out to be replaced with water, from in the house, because the hosepipe and the faucet outside were...yes...frozen, all day.

Lets see, all in all, there are 11 individual waterers for the chickens in pens. Then there are two pails in the pigs pen, three pails out in the yard for the chickens, four water bottles of the rabbits, and Derbys huge water pail. I filled buckets, Shelby hauled them out to his water tub.

Everyone needed food in the pens, so after all the water had been replaced it was feeding time.

There was a tremendous slab of ice on the Sultans pen. I had a bit of fun sliding that off and watching it break into pieces off the backside. Shelby went over to pick up a piece and was amazed at how thick it was.

After covering everyone back up I was about frozen myself. I quickly collected eggs and went inside to the blessed warmth of the house. As I thawed out I wished for some warmer weather. I looked over at Ian and said,

"I am not rushing our lives away, because I know we dont plan to move to Florida until we are 60, but I sure could use some Florida warmth right now!"

It is in the teens at night, and has stayed in the 30s during the day, even with the sun. The chickens are grumpy and arguments easily break out between normally easy going girls. Yes, I said the girls, not the guys are fussing at each other.

Saving...be right back... 

I have to stop and save, I am still wary of getting cut off...that Out Of Range signal could pop up and then I would have to lose my mind. ;)

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You think humans are the only ones that get cabin fever? I am here to tell you I witnessed first hand that chickens get it too.

Bonnie and Clyde have always been together. Usually if one gets seperated from the other, either one will have a fit. As cold as it has been, they have had to stay inside in a pet carrier. Even a heat lamp is not enough in temperatures like it has been. I let them out for short periods to stretch their wings and legs so they arent in the carrier all the time. The last couple of days soon as I let them out Bonnie starts in on Clyde, and Clyde tries to defend himself. I dont think he could whoop his own butt, much less Bonnies. They are both so tiny, but Bonnie, as small as she is, has a weight advantage over poor Clyde. Yesterday she knocked him into a little basket on the floor and he got stuck. His feet werent touching the bottom of the basket, but his wings were caught on stuff in the basket, so he was peddling in mid air. I helped him out. Clyde came running to me and settled down on my chest to nap, up comes Bonnie, sitting down beside me I pulled her up close and cuddled her. They both seemed content after their little spat and settled down. This has happened for several days in a row...poor Clyde, he just wants to get along.

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The weather guessers predicted we were going to get snow, and a good amount of it on Saturday. It did finally get here, and accumulated quickly for the short period of time it fell...but it just wasnt cold enough and was melted by sundown. There was talk of Ian coming home early from work, but it never got bad so he stayed til time to leave. The roads were not bad at all.

Winter is good for one thing, watching movies. I love having Netflix. Dont have to go anywhere, they just appear in the mail. Over the weekend we watched Wind Chill...that was different. It wasnt a bad movie, it wasnt the best I had ever seen, but it was good for watching once. We also watched The Invisible...now THAT was pretty good!

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The new chickens are finally starting to relax some. They are not fully integrated into the group, but, no one is fighting anymore, so that is good.

Three sleep with Bubba on the fence. The white guinea, Vella, she sleeps on the pool deck railing right above Bubba and the girls. The other buff, well, I think she is actually sleeping in the chicken house, so she has actually entigrated.

Now listen here, it is 8:30 am...and Phoenix is finally getting up out of his bed off the back of the couch...can you believe it? What a useless alarm clock he is! ;) I cant blame him, hey, it is cold outside...staying under the covers sounds like an excellent idea!

Saving...be right back...

I wanted to add some pictures of the snow we had on Saturday. This was about the extent of it, after I took these the rest of the day it was melting away.

 

P1210001 P1210002 P1210003 P1210004 P1210005

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the pictures, your house is very nice ~ I wish I had a big porch like that.  Isn't water just the biggest pain when it is cold?  Of course we have all of our waterers heated since it is much colder up here but just handling the water when it is cold is bone chilling!!  It was only 3 degrees this morning....that is just insane!  Glad to hear things are settling down a little with the new guys & gals.  Derby looks content in his stall...did he paw the snow at all?  Have a good one.
xxx
Lisa

Anonymous said...

I don't remember seeing a picture of your house before.  How cute it is!  Your chickens sound like our dogs.  They are very tired of being in all the time.
Traci

Anonymous said...

This cold really hurts doesn't it. I see Derby did stay in his stall. Poor Clyde, Bonnie is being mean to him. He needed that cuddle. Glad that the new flock is settling in some. I know it is rough having to hawl water outside. Hope these temps let up soon. Your snow looks about like how much we got. Hugs, Helen

Anonymous said...

Love the pictures! Just hearing you talk about the frozen water made me cold. I have to do the same with the outside cats water bowls. It's been so cold I've been bringing them in one at a time to warm up in Doc's music room. A couple of the cats are feral strays that won't let me pick them up yet. Either way they all have cat beds with blankets on an enclosed porch. Still cold, but at least it's out of the elements......

Poor Clyde...I can just see his poor fusteration at wanting to just get along.

As for movie's, haven't rented any recently. But did catch Batman the begining on Cable. Loved it! Explained alot about how the Batcave and such came to be.
(Hugs) Indigo

Anonymous said...

I thought about that yesterday that I hadnt gotten any journal entry alerts from you. wondered where you were :) I'm still here, lurking. LOL

Anonymous said...

Glad to see ya here!   I love ur house..it reminds me of the show "The Waltons" on waltons mountain. lol  Its just so homey looking!   And of course I loved seeing the pics of the animals and the snow ;)  

Anonymous said...

The pictures of your house and yard in the snow was beautiful.  Like something on a greeting card!  My hat is off to you (and Shelby) for all of the work you do with taking care of all your babies.  I now feel ashamed for being a sissy when I thought it was too cold in Columbus to go to the store!  You are "mini wonderwoman", in my book.  love you.....stay warm.........and ignore the call of the warm bed, lol!  

Anonymous said...

Kelly your pictures are beautiful.

Hollie

Anonymous said...

Hi Kelly~
I now have a picture of myself cuddling a chicken one day on my couch, watching a good movie (lol). That is just cute that you snuggle with Bonnie and Clyde...I love it!
The pictures of your house are beautiful. My hat is off to you all for your hard work. Really great job! :)

Hope it gets warm soon.
Huggers,
Gayla

Anonymous said...

The snow pictures look pretty. We had a heavy frost one morning that looked like snow. Paula

Anonymous said...

Cold weather + animals -always- equals more work!<LOL> It doesn't get as cold here, nor do we have snow, but since our animals aren't used to the cold, it can be a big deal. When they are used to it being in the 70's in the daytime and 50 &  60's at night, a night where it gets down in the 20's is a big deal. Also, all of the show horses are in and they don't have the advantage of a winter coat to help out.

The cold means heavy blankets on the show stock... lighter, but wind proof blankets on the older guys that live here all year round. If it drops below 28 you can count on the outside pipes trying to freeze up if they aren't left running.. which can mean hauling buckets. Luckily, I usually remember to remind whoever is last to check on everyone to turn the farthest hose on at a dribble. Yeep! I live in Florida, you would think cold weather wouldn't be a problem. We just aren't used to it. <LOL>

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