Enough already!

I promised myself to lay off the weather rants for awhile, but it seems that's all anyone is talking about, even in NJ. Cold, cold, cold, snow, snow, snow, ice and more snow...

I am just back from a drive to Utica. When I left it was nice enough, other than being FREEZING COLD AND WINDY, but driving back home the snow kicked in. I couldn't even see the road for all the snow blowing across it. These photos are from just after I got home. No more pretty snow pictures, this is just nasty!

Of all the animals, I think the chickens have the worst of it. When it's even close to being decent outside, they make their way through the snow and come back here to hang out with the ducks. But when it's like this, I close both doors to the coop because the wind and snow just blow right through. That, and the wild birds come in through the half-closed door for the chicken feed and can't find their way back out. That, and it's been so cold that the chickens with large combs, especially the roosters, have really bad frostbite. Keeping the doors closed keeps some of warmth in there, but those chickens just aren't happy being closed up for this many weeks/months.

The poor hens are locked in there with 3 rambunctious young roosters who have found their favorite girls and are beating up the unfavored ones—not allowing them any food or water. I've also seen the larger 2 of the roos gang up on the other one. At one point when I came in, he was face down in the hay like my old Roo. I thought we were going to lose this guy too, but he bounced back after a few days. Now he's hiding on the top bunk with the black hens and my blue-egger. She jumps on my head and stays there every time I come in the coop. Safe haven, I guess.

A few days after I saw the struggling roo, we lost one of the blue hens. There were no apparent injuries, but the more I see how they are acting, the more I think it was the 2 mean roos and maybe some of the bad girls who did her in. I can't even bury her because I can't dig a hole in the frozen ground.

We're just hunkering down, waiting for spring. That's all we can do.

Snowed in...again!

Colder than normal, more snow than normal, but according to some of the locals this used to be the norm. About a foot and a half on the ground, more snow for tomorrow, but going up to 40° by Wednesday. WooHoo! as Little Sister would say.

Actually, I find the snow very beautiful, at least when I am looking at it from inside by the woodstove. Mr. Kelley does all of our snow removal, so we don't really need to do anything other than sweep off the front steps. In NJ we didn't have a garage or even a driveway, but we did have sidewalks. Between cleaning off the cars, digging them out from being plowed in, AND clearing the sidewalks and steps, the snow just wasn't quite as pretty.

I promised a close-up of the sleeping Sophie. (She's in competition with the WoodMan for face-time on the blog.) She was sleeping peacefully, until I took this photo and woke her up...

Better than Grumpy Cat—Waiting for spring at Lester's Flat!

I am fully recovered from my ugly flu, and getting back to being a non-grumpy person. A lot has been going on here at Lester's Flat that I haven't been able to share with the general public.

The Husband resigned from his bank job and has had these 2 weeks off (to take care of sick and grumpy wifey!). He starts Monday with a local non-profit. It's much closer to home and less stress, leaving more time for his farming (ad)ventures.

Those farm animals have been braving below zero temperatures combined with lots of wind and snow. The 3 little piggies are not so little anymore, and they're getting a little crazy in the cold. We had to zip-tie a piece of metal bedframe to the pig fence at about 8 pm one night when the 3 of them decided that they wanted to go out on the town. They were biting at my hands and head-butting the wimpy wire fence the whole time that we were out there, freezing, working to keep them where they belong. What does one do if the pigs escape?  I hope we never find out! I can't even imagine trying to convince a few 200-lb animals to come back to their not-so-cozy home...

Our 2 pregnant female goats, and their buddy Jacko, don't seem to mind the cold so much with their nice winter coats. Kids expected in early March!

Chickens and ducks are impatiently waiting for the thaw. Most of the chickens have frostbite on their combs, which looks painful. All have stopped laying eggs, except for one frozen chicken egg today—the first sign of spring!

And finally I have started putting together some artwork to sell in the little gallery in town. The Old Blacksmith Shop Gallery in Schuyler Lake was exactly that—an old building beautifully restored by a guy named Bill Isaac. I have been talking to them about bringing in my artwork for the last 2 years, and I am just about ready. These first 2 pieces are actually gifts (not for sale) but I have settled on these barnwood frames as the best way to present the printed canvas. I also have 2 stretched canvases that I want to mount on some barnwood from the falling down horse barn across the street.

The WoodMan photo is just for kicks. He looks so handsome sleeping in the sun! Sophie chooses most often to sleep on the slate floor. I guess the radiant floor heat feels nice on her old bones. I'll get some new pictures of her one of these days coming up, and if we see blue skies again any time soon, I will make an effort to get some new piggie and pregnant goat photos! Lucille is out there right now, sleeping in the baby crib full of hay. It seems to be the favorite spot on sunny days.

Grumpy Cat comes to Schuyler Lake

I am just now feeling normal again after being beaten up by some flu bug on January 19. It kicked me hard! Having never had the flu before, I was pretty cocky about not getting a flu shot. If I was at the doctor's office and they offered, I got it, but I think that only happened once, maybe 2 years ago.

The worst part about this flu was that I caught it from the owners of the newspaper, but they came down with it 2 days before me and had the weekend to recover (sort of). I got stuck with feeling the worst on Monday and Tuesday, the 2 most important days at the paper. Even though I do not believe in working when sick, especially this sick, I had to go in because the paper has to go out!

I was so bad, I even locked The Husband out of the house on the coldest night in forever. He went out to check on the animals, and I locked the door and went to bed. I couldn't figure out why someone was knocking on the door at 10 pm, even though I had just locked it maybe 10 minutes earlier... Sorry, Babe...

There is no photo that can describe the ugly flu-infested mess that I was, so you will just have to imagine me with the Grumpy Cat face and thank me for not posting a real photo of me.

Well that's a fine Howdy-Do!

Happy New Year! Welcome 2014! We're off to a fine start this January 2, it's 0° at high noon! At least the sun is shining?

I was hoping to make it to NJ for the annual Colvard-McCann party on Saturday night, but the weather does not appear to be cooperating. They are expecting 11" of snow today and possibly more on Sunday when I would be driving back. Little Sister was looking forward to my visit, but she will be happier if she doesn't have to worry about me driving.

For some color in this bleak and dreary post, I included a photo of the wreath that I won in the Adorn-A-Door Auction. Local business people and artists create some really fantastic wreath-like objects that might include coupons, pieces from their shop, or pieces of art. I also bid on the Cooperstown Distillery wreath which included a bottle of Fenimore Gin. Next year I'll know to go later in the day and only bid on the wreaths I really want...that I can also afford. I didn't even remember bidding on this nice, traditional wreath that had 2 Cooperstown mugs in the middle along with the 3 mercury glass ornaments. The auction benefits the Cooperstown Art Association.

My New Year's resolution is to create some real art and either join the Art Association or display my work in the Blacksmith Shop Gallery (in our little town) or both.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Checking e-mails before going to bed and saw one from each Sis wishing a Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas to Sisses and Bros as well as all my other (millions of) blog followers.

The Husband and I had a nice quiet Christmas at home. We did take a little trip up the hill this afternoon to visit with our neighbor Don, who also celebrated a birthday yesterday. We brought a bottle of yet-to-be-released Game of Thrones Red Ale from Brewery Ommegang, and some Beer Batter Bread that I made this afternoon. Frankly, the Saranac Pale Ale chaser was just as good as the pricey Ommegang.

The dogs had a nice walk earlier in the day, so we left them home by the woodstove. It's still plenty cold up here, so the idea of wandering in the woods with them up at Don's house did not seem appealing.

These photos are from a few short minutes ago. I tried to get pics of the sleeping dogs, but the flash awakened them. The Christmas tree looks just fine with no flash, but you can't see the pretty wreath in the window that I won at the Adorn-A-Door auction in Cooperstown.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday of your choice, and a very happy and prosperous 2014!

From frosty and frozen to mud and puddles

After a few weeks of really cold weather and plenty of snow, now, just in time for Christmas, everything is melting. At least the ducks are happy to be seeing unfrozen water and green grass.

I think Woody was happier with the cold. He was fascinated by all the tracks in the snow, following each and every track to the end. Only once did he find one of the track-makers, a sad looking black cat who wasn't going to back off from the big barking hound.

Since propane prices are out of control, I have been burning a lot of wood instead of using the heat. Problem is, I am not that good at keeping a steady temperature, and sometimes it gets to be over 80° in here. But that doesn't stop the Wood Man from getting up close and personal with the woodstove. I don't know how he can stay that close without burning up.

We have the tree up and decorated, most of the Christmas cards written and sent, but there are still a few things to get done before Wednesday. Unfortunately, the newspaper (where I work) needs to get printed before then as well. Work is taking up way too much of my Holly Jolly time...

Life goes on

The 3 black roosters are now safely moved into the coop with the girls. They have settled in and seem to be accepted as part of the flock, but probably not ruling the roost just yet.

We had some excitement here at Lester's Flat this week. Sophie took a wander down the middle of the road while I was walking Woody. She usually hangs out close to the house, and when I left her, she was walking toward the back, but I guess she changed her mind. She was picked up by a caring young couple. I was out searching frantically for her when they called on my cell to say they had her and were bringing her back home. Luckily both phone numbers are on her tag because I was outside and not planning on coming in until I found her.

That same day we had a little visitor, young Abe the studly goat (right). Karen, who sold us our 3 goats, brought the little guy over to spend some quality time with Lucille, who is in heat. After chasing Jack around the pen a few times, Abe found his new girl and took care of business.

Helen (top photo with bigger piggies in the background) looks a little confused by this whole situation. We are hoping that she goes into heat by tomorrow, before we have to return Abe. There are moments when they are all out there looking like best buddies, and then moments like a few minutes ago, where Helen and Abe were butting heads to the point of becoming a little bloody.

I think that means she is coming into heat, but I don't have much experience recognizing the signs. If both girls are bred, we should have kids by sometime in March.

Life goes on...

Life and death on the farm

We lost our Rooty Toot today. He bravely fought his way back from some critter attack in June, but never got back to his healthy, obnoxious self—the one you can see staring me down in the photo. He got a respiratory infection a little over a week ago, and even though he was well taken care of in the Chicken Hospital (a dog crate in the garage with food, medicated water and a heat lamp) today he gave up the fight. We buried him by the garage and planted sage over his grave.

When I was hunting for this Tough Guy photo of him, I found it was taken on the same day as this one of Soda Pop, my friend Jane's cat, February 19, 2012. When Jane passed away (we miss you, Girl!) her husband did not want to keep Soda anymore. He is hardly ever home, has 2 beagles, and is not a cat person. So I made it my job to find Soda a new home.

It took a year and a half, but I finally, about a month ago, found her a great home with Marcia in Clinton. Soda got a styling ride home in a new silver Mustang! Marcia just called this week to say how Soda was a bit shy for about 24 hours, but has very quickly settled in and become the loving cat that we knew she was going to be. Thank you, Marcia for giving that cat with the beautiful eyes a beautiful new home.

And since I was looking in the February 2012 photos, I found out that we got the 3 new red hens and the blue-egger the day after I took these other 2 photos.

So that's pretty much an even mix of the good and the bad, life and death here at Lester's Flat: Poor Mr. Roo, a Happy Soda, 4 Happy Chicks are now 4 Happy Hens, and a reminder to me that we lost the other blue-egger chick to my Big Lester only a few weeks after we got them.

R.I.P. Rooty Toot, blue-egger chick, Red Sweetie (the red hen who just disappeared), the black hen who lost her life a few months ago to some attacker that got into the Coop at night, one of the black chicks who was killed just a few days after we got him, and of course, my Big Lester who is still very much missed here at Lester's Flat. I had a dream about him just the other day... He said he is happy in Pooch Heaven...

A tale of 4 roosters

Since he was attacked back in June, Mr. Roo has been improving, but slowly. Then just last week after I returned from my NJ visit, I noticed he was looking worse than ever. I took some photos to show the vet, but I won't post them here because he looks so awful. Vet says he has a respiratory infection. It was so bad they did not think he would recover, so I was prepared to send him off to meet his maker on Tuesday morning (with the help of Don on the Hill, AKA the Terminator).

But Tuesday morning comes around and there is Rooty Toot out in the coop looking all healthy and eating and drinking like normal. Some of the girls were in there with him, I think to protect him. They told him this was his only chance to make himself look good...

So I went to the vet and picked up the antibiotics that may or may not cure him, but at least now he has a fighting chance. He is in the garage in Chicken Hospital, under the heat lamp with his food and medicated water. He is standing tall and looking pretty proud of himself.

I think we will take this opportunity to move the 3 "baby" roosters back to the real coop. That way there won't be any competition for Roo until he's back to his fighting weight—he was awfully thin when I picked him up to carry him back to the hospital!

Now the little boys will only have to defend themselves against the big girls!

Be nice, big girls!

Heading to NJ for the weekend

Going "back home" to visit with Little Sister and Jersey Girl. I took 92 photos this afternoon, hoping to get a few good ones. I did, but have no time to process them. So I leave you with a single photo of one of my 3 handsome baby roosters. Take note of all the apples on the ground. The ones that got away... The smell is absolutely delicious!