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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 12, 2021 9:24:50 GMT -6
Wow!
It was 17 degrees this morning! My poor ol' animals sure were glad to see me carrying a bucket of hot water to melt the ice when the sun came up.
Stanley; my wife's little deer that comes by here every morning, really likes to snack on cranberries. So, I try to keep a bag of them out at the feed shed for her. This morning, they were frozen so hard that they stuck to my fingers when I reached in the bag to bring some out, but Stanley still ate them all the same. Afterward, I brought a few in the house to warm them up for her, Man, did that ever make her happy! She devoured the warm cranberries and followed me all the way back to the door for some more.
When the animals are happy, it makes me happy.
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Post by macmex on Jan 12, 2021 9:40:51 GMT -6
Yes, it was cold. Last night I set bread to rise, above our wood stove, which was burning, albeit, not very hotly. The wood must have been damp. Anyway, the bread wasn't risen enough to bake, come morning! Rabbit waterers were frozen solid this morning too!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 13, 2021 11:20:23 GMT -6
Yesterday, I had a few of the smaller water buckets that had to be changed out completely because they were frozen all the way to the bottom. This morning, they only had ice about an inch thick. What a difference a day can make! It was beautiful out there this morning. I really enjoyed it. The high today is forecast to be in the upper 50s.
I plan on spending a lot of time outdoors today to enjoy the sunny weather. Who knows? I might even smoke some pork roast for pulled pork sandwiches this evening.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 14, 2021 17:00:53 GMT -6
My Cotton Patch Geese are Crazy! It's 7-degrees outside. So cold that my gloved hands got stuck to the steel pipe gate as I was opening it to change out the water for my geese this morning. The wind was howling from the Northwest at about 20-mph, snow was coming in at a hard angle to my heavily scarfed neck. All the geese were huddled together, sitting in the snow with their feet tucked under their downy feathers, just content to watch me work.
I assumed they were sitting that way, trying to keep their feet warm. Boy, was I wrong about that! As soon as I filled the water trough with fresh water, they began scrambling around, honking loudly, vying for the best spot to see who could be the first one to jump in the water trough and try to swim around in it.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2021 8:36:11 GMT -6
When I pass away, I want to be reincarnated as one of your pet geese. ha
I'm so tired. The kids and I worked rotations last night slinging rabbit water bottles at 2 hour intervals. We watered them all every 2 hours, but the the kits again in 30 minutes so they get enough before the next hour and half. The adults don't share their water bottles. They can drink to their fill. The kits require more time to have their fill, usually about 45 minutes and the nipples are frozen within 30 minutes. At that 30 minute interval, sometimes the nipples are frozen solid and require warm water to thaw, othertimes I can shake the ice out. It's awful. I even put out little tubs of ice !!! They scramble at the edge of the cage at watering time.
If it's not too cold for me, sometimes I stand there and give the bottles a little squeeze so more water comes out faster for the kits. They stair step their noses, one on top of the other and the lower noses lick up the dribbles that get missed by the one at the nipple.
I begged for a repieve this morning. And as I type the sun is coming out with full shine. Thank God! The sun coming up in all its glory after several days of bleak harshness is likened to a weary soul cracking the Bible and revealing His Word in all its Glory. Rejuvenating, sustaining, fulfilling and uplifting.
I imagine your geese feel that way when you show up and also my rabbits when I arrive with warm water. I guess that's not a linear comparison, but good enough.
We are already out of wood. But I'm grateful. A friend of ours had all his pipes burst last night. Those wind gusts at your 7 degrees are in the negative 20s. We are at negative six degrees right now.
I must hurry and shore everything up and give everyone solid drinks of water all day until the next storm arrives tonight.
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Post by theozarkan on Feb 15, 2021 12:07:29 GMT -6
I've got a goose sitting but I'm not really expecting a hatch. She's in a shed but it's not much warmer in there. I'll kind of be glad when she's done with them one way or the other. The male hangs around outside the shed and bites me on the back of my leg when I get close to the shed.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 15, 2021 19:59:44 GMT -6
That leg biting thing sure makes them easy to catch. When mine do that, I grab them by the head and hang on tight! That kind of makes them keep their distance, at least while they think I'm still watching.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Mar 31, 2021 20:36:47 GMT -6
The Cotton Patch Geese have really been enjoying my Winter cover crop! This is Red Clover, Hairy Vetch, and Winter Rye. I've used this to feed a lot of animals this winter. It sure has been handy to have fresh greens to feed them, just a 5-gallon bucket away.Those are some fat geese! They already have two nests built with eleven eggs laid. They'll need that fat tonight to keep their eggs warm. The forecast says to expect a freeze tonight. My three hives of honeybees have really been enjoying those wild plums on the horizon. The hives are about a hundred feet behind me. I'm standing right in their beeline to the blossoms. That sure is a peaceful sound to hear all of them buzzing back and forth overhead, busily making honey.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 14, 2021 17:25:43 GMT -6
Contrasts This winter was one dreary, cold, nasty, son of a gun! My elderberry patch was bleak and the bushes were small. The geese got by on several 50 pound sacks of cracked corn and a daily trip to the garden to munch a few frozen clover leaves.
Now, that Spring has arrived, corn is not as popular an item as it used to be. Cotton Patch Geese, and just geese in general, way, way, prefer green grass!
Since the weather has changed, my Elderberry bushes have grown exponentially, so has my crop of geese. Our geese have been very busy this year and have gifted us with eleven new arrivals this Spring!
Wow! Have they been putting away the weeds!February 15th, 2021. Fifteen below zero! Nothing but snowballs, as far as the eye can see. Things aren't much better way out here behind the chicken house.The elderberry patch looks pretty bleak too.But now, Winter is over and Spring has sprung! Babies everywhere!Mom and Pop, patrolling the berry patch with Jr.Jr. taking a break to catch a bug, as mama looks on.Playing hide and seek among the berry bushes.Wow! Look how these elderberry bushes have grown since Winter! God, is amazing!This one has grown taller than I am in one season!Look at all this new growth!This one has put on seventeen new suckers from a single root! We'll have more geese and more berries than we know what to do with in couple more months!God, is good! I am still just in awe! I think I will be for the rest of my life.
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Post by chrysanthemum on May 15, 2021 6:30:51 GMT -6
Amen!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 23, 2021 20:55:15 GMT -6
The geese and I had a good day in the garden today. I pulled red 4 wagon loads of weeds. Who knows how many they ate? Toward the end of the day, they were getting smarter or lazier and started nabbing weeds out of my bucket instead of pulling their own. Hopefully, if there's anything left of me in the morning, I'll turn them loose and go pull some more. They are pretty good company while you're out there working all day.
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