The past couple of days have been so mild that I let the pullets (young hens) out at home and also let out all the poultry at our neighbors.
Matter of fact, their chicken house smelled too much like ammonia so I even opened the windows. Poultry can't handle ammonia -- if we can smell it, it's already too much for them.
But, only days ago we had so much ice that the interstates were closed and our county declared a state of emergency. The day before -- Christmas day -- was clear and cold so we took the kids sledding.
Days before that, we went through near blizzard conditions and I thought my feet were frost-bitten.
Day before that ... we had thunder snow.
The secret to Midwestern weather -- if you don't like it now, wait a minute and it'll change.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
In the bleak midwinter ...
And by the way, it's just barely winter!
While the neighbors are on vacation, we are doing their chores for them. Yesterday being Sunday, DH fed the cattle and poultry before church. He thought he left everything done up "ship-shape in Bristol fashion" all but gathering eggs. Neighbor and the kids have a big flock of poultry for 4-H including ducks, guinea hens and chickens -- all sorts.
In other years with nice weather the kids and I have walked down the road there to chore for them.
This year, though, a winter storm went through. Only a few inches of snow and a quarter inch of ice but a stinging cold wind howled all day. County highway ran as few snowplows as possible. Thus we almost didn't make it home from church and dinner in town with the out-laws due to all the drifts.
At home we added layers, took some hot water just in case we needed it and headed down there. I found the water frozen in the shed for the ducks and guineas. Somewhere along the way I misplaced my gloves. On the way over to the chicken house the wind caught my "magic scarf" and blew it all around my head. I could still see but not very well and blundered into crusted drifts that were more than knee deep when I broke through. When I made it to the chicken house, I found they'd been fed and assumed DH and DS1 had finished gathering eggs. But when I checked the water, found no one had been over there yet.
Well, what was going on? I hated to leave the warm chicken house but ...
When I made it to the cow barn the wind was behind me and I could not pull the walk-in door closed for a minute or two until that gust passed. I went in the cow barn and found ... well, things were no longer ship-shape. DH and DS1 had cornered a drooling panicky steer who had gotten a gate over his head and was running around with it. It was a walk-in gate . He looked like he had a four-foot metal ladder over his head. He was panting and drooling as though he'd been stuck like that for quite awhile, clanking around and banging into things. DH and DS1 had moved the other cattle out of his pen and replaced that gate and finally had him cornered.
I thought of a cutting torch but in a straw-filled wooden barn ... bad idea. When one of the kids got their arm wedged in teh carved back of the dining room chairs and panicked, we got the kid out by soaping their arm. What about soap? My next idea was that, like a horse collar, we'd have to turn it while trying to get it over the widest part of his head, right across his ears. If the animal would hold still for that. If he got his head in the gate, surely we could get it out. DH thought if he broke the welds we could pop the steer loose. We decided to try that, first. DH got a sledge hammer and took a couple of whacks. One bar bent slightly. While pulling on it to hold the steer still, he got one ear through. The gate hung up behind the steer's poll, the bony knob on top of his head. DH grabbed the gate and twisted again and the steer finally pulled back hard enough to get loose.
As far as I know he's OK this morning.
Well, what did we learn here? Sometimes the best solution is very direct -- a few whacks with a hammer and pull -- but it's a lot of hard work. Are we sometimes scared to be that direct, thinking there must be an easier way?
Also, we need to be thankful that the steer survived and no one got stepped on, maimed or even broke their glasses with that combination of large panicky animal and metal gate caving around.
Back at teh house I did my own chicken chores. My feet were numb with white blotches when I got in, so had to soak them in warm water. Boy, did they hurt when they warmed up!
This would all seem a lot more do-able at 25 or 30 degrees.
While the neighbors are on vacation, we are doing their chores for them. Yesterday being Sunday, DH fed the cattle and poultry before church. He thought he left everything done up "ship-shape in Bristol fashion" all but gathering eggs. Neighbor and the kids have a big flock of poultry for 4-H including ducks, guinea hens and chickens -- all sorts.
In other years with nice weather the kids and I have walked down the road there to chore for them.
This year, though, a winter storm went through. Only a few inches of snow and a quarter inch of ice but a stinging cold wind howled all day. County highway ran as few snowplows as possible. Thus we almost didn't make it home from church and dinner in town with the out-laws due to all the drifts.
At home we added layers, took some hot water just in case we needed it and headed down there. I found the water frozen in the shed for the ducks and guineas. Somewhere along the way I misplaced my gloves. On the way over to the chicken house the wind caught my "magic scarf" and blew it all around my head. I could still see but not very well and blundered into crusted drifts that were more than knee deep when I broke through. When I made it to the chicken house, I found they'd been fed and assumed DH and DS1 had finished gathering eggs. But when I checked the water, found no one had been over there yet.
Well, what was going on? I hated to leave the warm chicken house but ...
When I made it to the cow barn the wind was behind me and I could not pull the walk-in door closed for a minute or two until that gust passed. I went in the cow barn and found ... well, things were no longer ship-shape. DH and DS1 had cornered a drooling panicky steer who had gotten a gate over his head and was running around with it. It was a walk-in gate . He looked like he had a four-foot metal ladder over his head. He was panting and drooling as though he'd been stuck like that for quite awhile, clanking around and banging into things. DH and DS1 had moved the other cattle out of his pen and replaced that gate and finally had him cornered.
I thought of a cutting torch but in a straw-filled wooden barn ... bad idea. When one of the kids got their arm wedged in teh carved back of the dining room chairs and panicked, we got the kid out by soaping their arm. What about soap? My next idea was that, like a horse collar, we'd have to turn it while trying to get it over the widest part of his head, right across his ears. If the animal would hold still for that. If he got his head in the gate, surely we could get it out. DH thought if he broke the welds we could pop the steer loose. We decided to try that, first. DH got a sledge hammer and took a couple of whacks. One bar bent slightly. While pulling on it to hold the steer still, he got one ear through. The gate hung up behind the steer's poll, the bony knob on top of his head. DH grabbed the gate and twisted again and the steer finally pulled back hard enough to get loose.
As far as I know he's OK this morning.
Well, what did we learn here? Sometimes the best solution is very direct -- a few whacks with a hammer and pull -- but it's a lot of hard work. Are we sometimes scared to be that direct, thinking there must be an easier way?
Also, we need to be thankful that the steer survived and no one got stepped on, maimed or even broke their glasses with that combination of large panicky animal and metal gate caving around.
Back at teh house I did my own chicken chores. My feet were numb with white blotches when I got in, so had to soak them in warm water. Boy, did they hurt when they warmed up!
This would all seem a lot more do-able at 25 or 30 degrees.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Small town Christmas
Wind-chill is below zero ... the star's lit on top of the feed mill ... Santa's reindeer and 4-H Club llamas have arrived ... a live nativity scene is set up in the horse & buggy parking shed ... burn barrels full of sawmill scrap are blazing ... it's time for the town Christmas festival!
The kids' choir including DS1 entertained at our hometown Christmas festival following a six-block parade from teh library to the depot plaza ... er, parking lot.
We had not gone before since this is DS1's first year in the choir, so we didn't know what to expect.
First, the mayor (in a Victorian top hat and tail coat) welcomed everyone and read the Christmas story, including " ... and they all paused for the west-bound freight ..." which roared by about 45 miles an hour, before continuing with the shepherds deciding to go into Bethlehem.
Then the city council (all in Victorian costume) lit the town Christmas tree. It's a 30-foot live spruce in front of the depot. It had two strings of lights, large bulbs and small. Everyone ooo-ed and ah-ed all the same.
The kids took the stage in the retired mobile grandstand stage from teh county fair. The fairgrounds got a bigger, better one some years ago and this one was handed down to our hometown.
But as the boys and girls bounced up and down the sound system started to fade. It could have been age, or cold weather, or kids jiggling stuff loose. DS1 said later that when the next freight train went by the stage shook the whole time.
Anyway, the kids had to finish their favorite song with no accompaniment and no microphones. Teacher belted out the accompaniment and they all carried on and finished the song. We would have given them a standing O but we were all standing anyway.
Next year we hope to go a little earlier, see more of the sights and if the weather's better will bring the rest of the troop. It's not to be missed!
The kids' choir including DS1 entertained at our hometown Christmas festival following a six-block parade from teh library to the depot plaza ... er, parking lot.
We had not gone before since this is DS1's first year in the choir, so we didn't know what to expect.
First, the mayor (in a Victorian top hat and tail coat) welcomed everyone and read the Christmas story, including " ... and they all paused for the west-bound freight ..." which roared by about 45 miles an hour, before continuing with the shepherds deciding to go into Bethlehem.
Then the city council (all in Victorian costume) lit the town Christmas tree. It's a 30-foot live spruce in front of the depot. It had two strings of lights, large bulbs and small. Everyone ooo-ed and ah-ed all the same.
The kids took the stage in the retired mobile grandstand stage from teh county fair. The fairgrounds got a bigger, better one some years ago and this one was handed down to our hometown.
But as the boys and girls bounced up and down the sound system started to fade. It could have been age, or cold weather, or kids jiggling stuff loose. DS1 said later that when the next freight train went by the stage shook the whole time.
Anyway, the kids had to finish their favorite song with no accompaniment and no microphones. Teacher belted out the accompaniment and they all carried on and finished the song. We would have given them a standing O but we were all standing anyway.
Next year we hope to go a little earlier, see more of the sights and if the weather's better will bring the rest of the troop. It's not to be missed!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
We're Scrooged
Our state has been "fixing" the property tax mess for the past couple of years. First, our the value of our house was marked up unrealistically. Apparently, many others' homes were also over-priced. After great wailing and gnashing of teeth, the state adjusted the system again and provided tax relief! To home owners! Yay!
Well, the money had to come from somewhere.
They re-assessed farmland -- bare, unimproved farmland -- and raised the taxes on our ground.
So, we are still paying a staggering (to us) amount in property tax, but not on the house. On the ground instead.
The best part, though, is that bills were delayed ... the first installment was due Dec. 1 and the second is due in mid-January.
Just in time for Christmas.
Well, the money had to come from somewhere.
They re-assessed farmland -- bare, unimproved farmland -- and raised the taxes on our ground.
So, we are still paying a staggering (to us) amount in property tax, but not on the house. On the ground instead.
The best part, though, is that bills were delayed ... the first installment was due Dec. 1 and the second is due in mid-January.
Just in time for Christmas.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Parts run ... Eph. 4:16
BIL, who was a missionary in Russia for many years, preached about Ephesians 4:16 at church yesterday ... about all parts of Christ's body, the church, working together. I've always pictured that as body parts and had kind of an "eww" reaction.
But BIL recalled traveling with a Russian friend to a church conference. In their free time they visited a museum. His friend did a double-take when he saw an old-fashioned home movie projector. "I had forgotten -- how could I forget somethign like that?"
His friend explained that various cells of the underground church in Russia would each obtain one part of the projector. If any group ordered a whole projector, or even more than one part the state would become suspicious. At an appointed time, the groups would gather, assemble the projector and then they could watch a Christian movie for encouragement or teaching.
That really illustrated how all of us are parts of Christ's body. Perhaps I am only a cog or a lever or a wire ... but without every part working perfectly, the whole thing struggles.
But BIL recalled traveling with a Russian friend to a church conference. In their free time they visited a museum. His friend did a double-take when he saw an old-fashioned home movie projector. "I had forgotten -- how could I forget somethign like that?"
His friend explained that various cells of the underground church in Russia would each obtain one part of the projector. If any group ordered a whole projector, or even more than one part the state would become suspicious. At an appointed time, the groups would gather, assemble the projector and then they could watch a Christian movie for encouragement or teaching.
That really illustrated how all of us are parts of Christ's body. Perhaps I am only a cog or a lever or a wire ... but without every part working perfectly, the whole thing struggles.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Breakdown list
I forgot to update the breakdown list.
The wooden hay wagon is now in pieces. I have a pile of plywood up here for improvements in the chicken barn. DH can use the running gear over again and contemplates making it into another flat wagon.
Everything else (touch wood) seems OK
The wooden hay wagon is now in pieces. I have a pile of plywood up here for improvements in the chicken barn. DH can use the running gear over again and contemplates making it into another flat wagon.
Everything else (touch wood) seems OK
Surviving the flu
We did all survive but I was starting to wonder. The flu has been going around at school but the kids seemed to be shaking it off until this weekend. First, DS1 got sick. Later we learned half of his classmates were sick at the same time as well as his teacher. Then DH and I and DS2 all got sick at the same time, which was a lot fun for me to clean up. (But, as I told MIL with a dramatic gasp and weak voice trailing into a whisper, "But ... I got 'er done.")
I do believe I was the worst off. High fever and slept all day. Poor DH hoped I could go out and do his chores for him but couldn't wake me up.
DS2 bounced back almost immediately. Our perpetual-motion machine read books and colored all day instead of running. He must not hav felt 100 percent.
When the "big kids" got home they ended up feeding the cows and calves and cooking supper. They fixed plain spaghetti coated with parmesan cheese, served with Gatorade.
Finally the next day DD got sick. She had the lightest case of all, thankfully.
So ... all better just in time to go back to work.
What are the life lessons here? Pretty proud of the kids for pitching in and helping. DD also thought to run to grandma's and borrow a can of soup. One of DD's friends called later to ask if we were all right. Basically we are grateful to be well.
I do believe I was the worst off. High fever and slept all day. Poor DH hoped I could go out and do his chores for him but couldn't wake me up.
DS2 bounced back almost immediately. Our perpetual-motion machine read books and colored all day instead of running. He must not hav felt 100 percent.
When the "big kids" got home they ended up feeding the cows and calves and cooking supper. They fixed plain spaghetti coated with parmesan cheese, served with Gatorade.
Finally the next day DD got sick. She had the lightest case of all, thankfully.
So ... all better just in time to go back to work.
What are the life lessons here? Pretty proud of the kids for pitching in and helping. DD also thought to run to grandma's and borrow a can of soup. One of DD's friends called later to ask if we were all right. Basically we are grateful to be well.
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