Little problems

I saw a chipmunk on my front porch this morning. It was not a happy
discovery. Now I have chipmunks as well as squirrels and rats to make a
mess of everything. Luckily chipmunks aren't very active in the winter-
being "almost hibernators". And winter is almost here- even though you
would never know it from the beautiful weather we have been having.

The stupid squirrels are in the attic again. And from there they like to
come down inside the back porch to get into the sunflower seed for the birds
and to destroy my plants out there. They chewed off the tops of a geranium
of all things and dug up my tuberous begonia to hide nuts.

I wish I could leave the door open all the time so the dogs could get in
there and possibly kill them. But we have a lot of stuff stored out there
and the dogs could be just as much trouble with that as the squirrels.
Barack would probably carry all the tools outside and Ginger would be
climbing all over my plants to look out the window. It's a toss up.

I put rat poison in the barn again and now I get to deal with dead and dying
rats. But at least we may save on the feed bill. We are also having
trouble with sparrows coming in to eat the chicken feed. That just started
this summer. We never had this much trouble with the birds before. I think
it's because there are no cats left except the one wild one and Vicky the
visitor cat. The birds come through the chicken door and through the barn
door because we leave it open for the turkeys. When I walk in the barn they
fly all over, batting themselves into the plastic covered windows. If I had
a badminton racquet I could really hit the birdies.

Lily my horse became the victim of my kindness. I had to lock her in the
east pasture after she foundered a bit on the grass in the west pasture. I
firmly believe, as does the vet, that the walnuts are the culprit over
there. She doesn't eat them but I think they lay on the grass and leach
their toxin on it or she eats leaves from the trees when they fall.

Anyway she was recovering nicely from that but the grass was mostly gone
from the east side. So I bought hay - 1st cutting alfalfa mix first, but
then I bought a bale of 4th cutting and after a day or two she foundered on
that. (Foundering makes the horses hooves swell with blood and it's very
painful for them to walk. It can become so bad they have to be put down.
It's caused by too much sugar and carbs in the diet).

I bought some 2nd cutting mix but the vet said that was still way too rich
and said I had to find 1st cutting grass hay, which isn't as easy as it
sounds. I was lucky and got some from a big dairy farm on the East side of
Marlette- right on our road.

Lily is now doing much better and walking well. No grain and only a little
bit of carrot or apple for her now. Vet says she needs to lose 50 pounds-
but that sounds a little extreme for her size. She is on bute, a pain
killer, that I don't like and hopefully can soon be weaned off of it. She
was locked up in the small pasture right behind the barn, which is
essentially without any grass but last night she pushed open the gate to the
east pasture just before I went out to feed her. Luckily that grass is dry
and she wasn't out there long. And it proves she feels better.

The vet said she needs a companion and I do agree. I am going to find
another mini, pony or goat for her. She is bored and has nothing to do but
eat. Steve wants a goat I think. I do like goats but they are hard to keep
inside a fence and get in a lot of trouble. And I wonder if the cross
species company is really that satisfying for them.

The turkeys are laying eggs- very odd for the fall. Maybe it means we will
have no winter- spring is already here. Wouldn't that be great?

November 1, 2010

It's a pretty day, cold but pretty. Today was the first morning this fall
that the hose at the barn was frozen. It must have gone well below freezing
last night because there was ice on the bucket that I ran the night before
in anticipation of the hose freezing. It said 32 degrees at the thermometer
just outside the barn. I forgot my gloves, hard to get used to that again,
and my hands were freezing. But inside the barn the water hadn't froze -
the barn does stay a few degrees warmer than outside even though the windows
are still open.

The leaves are falling off the catalpa and mulberry trees like rain; they
hold their leaves and drop them all at once after a hard freeze. I can see
the neighbor's houses again now that most of the leaves have fallen off the
trees. After the color has dropped it always seems a little drab and
"exposed" around here.

The geese have been extremely noisy in the morning. They are taking the
corn off the fields around here and lots of it is spilled on the roads and
edges of the fields. Big flocks of geese are actually flying north-
following the harvest as it moves south to north. I have seen ducks, cranes
and swans flying south but not geese.

One beautiful migrant I was lucky to see was a bald eagle. He was feeding
on some road kill one frosty morning. It took me a minute to realize why
the "buzzard" I was seeing had a white head and tail. I was also fortunate
enough to see a Great Horned owl at daylight one morning. He was sitting in
a field trying to eat something he had caught while early rising crows were
dive bombing him.

I started feeding Lily, my horse, hay again. There is still plenty of nice
green grass in the west pasture but she foundered on it (went lame) either
because the grass was too rich or because she was getting too many windfall
apples or autumn olive berries. We had to pen her in the smaller east
pasture. There was still some grass there but it was older, tougher stuff.
Of course she has eaten most of that and now we added hay.

It's a shame to have all this pasture and not be able to let her roam and
eat it. I was naïve to think that I could give a couple of little horses
the nearly wild experience and just observe and play with them. Maybe it
would work if I had more horses to eat the pasture but they are so expensive
to feed through the winter.

Lily has lost some weight - which is really good for her- since being on the
east side. It is really hard for me to ration what she eats but the
expression "eat like a horse" is quite apt. Horses will eat continuously
until they make themselves sick. And Lily probably eats more because she
has no companion this year to run and play with. One day I will find the
right new friend for her.

Squirrels are back in the attic again. I am going to have to throw some
poison around up there. I also saw a squirrel drop a nut down our sewer
vent pipe on the roof. I wonder how many more are in there. And I know of
no way to get them out. I do not think squirrels are cute. These little
red monsters around here are mean and destructive.

Ah fall, I wish it could stay at least until spring. Does that make sense?
I am starting to sense winter coming. I dread winter. So not fun doing
chores and driving in it. I hate wearing coats and particularly boots. I
hope it's at least like last winter - not too cold or snowy.

Fall in the country

We are having beautiful fall weather here in Michigan. The colors are better than I expected and the cool but sunny weather is great. Cool is relative I guess because while its much cooler than summer was its still a bit above average.

Friday I had just came out of the barn after the morning chores when I saw three deer ambling down the middle of the road. There was a pick up behind them and it was almost as if he was herding them. They didn’t seem scared and they kept up a fast walk right down the center of the road. They were headed to the corn field southeast of us.

Saturday I was trapped inside on a beautiful day, hosting a fruit tree pruning seminar until about 3 pm. Then when I got home I went outside to sit by the pond in the sun to unwind. I was sitting on my redneck bench, an old van seat, watching all the dozens of kinds of birds eating the autumn olive berries in front of me. Suddenly my eyes caught movement across the pond and I watched a young buck strolling along, rubbing his head on everything and also eating a few autumn olive berries. He was there for several minutes before he was out of my view.

Later when I went to check the back pasture fence I scared up 2 big does. They had been resting under the arched branches of another autumn olive right up against the fence. That autumn olive is invasive but it sure seems to please a lot of animals. Lily my horse almost made herself sick eating the berries before I caught her doing it and penned her away from it.

We have had autumn olive on the property since we moved here, we’ve fought it like crazy, but I have never seen it being enjoyed by so many critters as this year. I remember some birds eating the berries, but usually a bit later. I never remember seeing horses and deer eat them. Maybe the drought kept more native plants like dogwood and Virginia creeper from setting a lot of fruit. That’s what would attract more birds, but hardly horses and deer. Maybe they are sweeter this year.

Autumn Olive berries can be made into jelly quite easily. I have done it. It’s a beautiful red color but has little taste. They are high in lycopene and vitamin C. I should pick some branches and let the chickens eat them.

The mast crop is big around here. We had tons of acorns come down and now the black walnuts make it dangerous to stand in the front yard. One hit the top of my plastic bird feeder and went right through. They make it difficult to walk without turning an ankle. I will have to sit in the yard and throw them into the street. Cars crushing them let birds eat the meats.

I suppose I should save them and husk them and shell out the meats like my grandfather did. But that is very messy and time consuming work. I used to have an older guy who would ask to pick them up every year but he hasn’t been around the last few years. Black walnuts may be fine as a woodland tree but why people planted them in yards is beyond me.

A big nut and berry crop- does that mean a long cold winter? It’s not predicted but we shall see.

Good Bye Chuck

I am mourning the loss of Chuck today. I have only known him this summer
but he has been interesting. Last night was the first time I had been able
to get a picture of him and to wake up and find him dead- well I'll be
watching for he cat I took pictures of last night too.

Chuck was the woodchuck that came to our yard this spring. In all the time
we lived here we have never had a chuck up close to the house- there were
some in the pasture by the woods. Last year one was on the other side of
the pond and I guess he or she moved or multiplied. I saw him first sunning
on a pile of wood behind the barn. Then I saw him stretched out on the
lower limbs of a tree near the barn. I occasionally saw him in the evening
out eating.

At first I worried about Lily our horse stepping in a hole he made but his
burrows were carefully concealed right along the fence and his holes were
under the wood pile and right in a corner of the fence where it would be
unlikely Lily would stumble in it. Lily didn't like him though. His one
entrance hole was close to the gate she comes through from the pasture to
the barn and if he was out her ears would go up and back and she would snort
and prance around.

By midsummer I noticed a hole had been made right under the propane tank and
another in my butterfly garden in a huge clump of bee balm about 30 feet
away. Both were pretty well concealed and didn't do much damage. I don't
know to this day if it was the chuck from behind the barn or a new one. I
worried about my garden which was only about 50 feet away.

My experience with chucks was from the community garden where they did
horrendous damage and from the stories of clients and friends. My parents
in the city battled chucks that undermined their shed and garage. But I
decided that if he behaved himself I wouldn't bother our chuck. And behave
himself he did. No damage to the garden that I could find, and other than
the bee balm patch- which seemed unfazed, he didn't dig up my gardens. My
own turkeys were far more damaging to the garden.

I would see him out grazing in the lawn in the early mornings or late
evenings. Many times he would be quite close to the turkeys or Frizzle the
rooster, without causing them any concern. My husband in his noisy wheel
chair never saw him. That is until yesterday. I was washing dishes in the
evening and saw Chuck feeding on acorns smashed in the driveway. I called
my husband over to watch out the window. "He is real" he said. "And huge."

When I went out to do chores I put my camera in my pocket. He ran when I
came out the door as usual but I could see he was quite fond of those
acorns. I sat down in a chair, got the camera focused in the right area and
waited quietly. Soon he came sneaking back out of a clump of weeds by the
mailbox and I was able to get several pictures of him, although not from as
close as I would have liked.

Alas those acorns would prove to be his undoing. Even though he ran every
time a car passed the end of the drive where the acorns were, he must have
not ran fast enough at one point. This morning when I went out to feed he
was lying there dead in the middle of the road at the end of the driveway.
I suspect he crossed the road for some reason- looking for acorns? - and
tried to get back across to his hiding spots when he heard a car coming.

As I moved his huge, heavy but sleek and shiny body out of the road with a
shovel, I noticed some other animals had found the acorns attractive. The
road and drive were covered with deer tracks. I sure hope none of them get
hit at the end of the driveway.

Chili weather

Lambsquarters are big lanky weeds that come up everywhere. I have some in
the dog run just outside my office window. They are about 6 foot high.
They have small green flowers that don't look like much but must turn into
some tasty seeds because the ones outside my window are filled with tiny
birds. Goldfinches, sparrows, and other small birds seem to be eating the
seeds. My canary is right by the window and he keeps singing his head
off. He's probably trying to warn them away.

I am eating some trail mix with sunflower seeds in it. My little canary
loves me to save him a few. He eats mostly fruit flavored complete and
balanced pellets for birds. That's got to be pretty boring but I can see it
makes less mess- no seed hulls. The sunflower seeds are hulled too. I
think the canary recognizes the package the trail mix comes in and knows he
is going to get a treat. He was eating the pellets when I got him so I have
kept him on them.

My chickens have started to ay again. I broke down and bought a box of eggs
and sure enough the next day there were two eggs in the nest. At least 2
white and two brown egg laying hens are back to laying after the big dog
scare. One of them has to be a new layer- one of the hens who hadn't
started laying yet. The one young rooster who survived has not crowed since
"D" day - I wonder if he will start again soon.

The weather has been cloudy and cool but basically dry. We had some good
rain last week but it wasn't enough to make up the deficit. Our pond is the
lowest I have ever seen. The herons are down there every night looking for
fish in the shallow water but there isn't much I can do about it. I am
actually hoping for rain from one of the hurricanes to make it up here. I
will actually have to drag the hose around this evening even though it's
about 60 degrees.

The tomatoes are ripening more slowly but my new crop of lettuce is growing
like crazy. I can't ever seem to get the two of them ready for eating at
the same time. I was making tomato sauce and freezing it just last week -
then the tomatoes stop ripening because of the cold and cloudy weather. I
dug all the potatoes though and we have been doing some good eating.

I think I will use some of my delicious tomato sauce tonight and make a big
pot of chili. Sure seems like chili weather to me.

update on the hens

Well 8 hens and a rooster survived the first great dog attack. We have not had any eggs since that date and it’s been 2 weeks now. Three of the hens were laying before the attack and should have recovered from the shock - everyone looks fine- but no eggs. Hopefully the 6 hens who weren’t laying will begin soon - at least.

Then there was the second attack. My husband let Ginger - one of the terrible terriers get by him as he went out the door. She was a participant in the last attack and must have been remembering the fun. She hasn’t done that in a long while. Anyway I was at work and the turkeys and their frizzle escort rooster just happened to be walking by the back door as she darted out. The fun began.

As my husband hurried to get his wheelchair down the ramp he hit one of my plant stands filled with a large geranium at the bottom of the ramp. It caught in his wheels. As this was going on Ginger nailed Frizzle in the driveway. My husband thought he was dead. Then she took off after one of the turkeys, chasing her down the dirt road. The other turkey flew up to the roof of the house.

When Steve got the bent wire stand out of the wheel chair he decided he better get to the barn before Ginger came back and got into the coop again. He waited for about 15 minutes before she showed up hot and tired and he was able to corner her in the barn. The hens had no trauma this time. After Steve got Ginger locked inside the house he went out to see if he could find the remains of the one hen turkey and Frizzle.

Much to his surprise Frizzle was gone. He followed the trail of turkey feathers down the road but didn’t find a body. With his chair he couldn’t go into the high weeds and he could only hope the turkey had escaped into them. He couldn’t find Frizzle either. He then called me at work to get me all upset.

When I came home for work I looked for Frizzle then followed the trail of turkey feathers down the road. They crossed the road and I could see piles of them in the neighbors horse pasture. She had to pass several nice trees that she could have flown up into, but once under the fence, which was 3 straps of electric webbing, she had only a well grazed pasture in front of her. I didn’t think it was worthwhile to roll under the fence to look for her. There were big clumps of feathers everywhere and the dog had been gone for a good while. I couldn’t see a body but I assumed it was there somewhere.

At sundown the other hen turkey came down off the roof and took her regular perch on the fence rail by the barn. And lo and behold Frizzle appeared out of the butterfly garden, looking none the worse for wear. He must have played dead. But no dark turkey hen.

The next day I listened for turkey calls as the girls are usually very vocal when separated. But there were none. It was very quiet and Frizzle decided not to leave the barn where he roosts each night. But when I went out to our horse Lilies stall in the evening there stood the dark turkey hen. She had survived. She walked a little stiffly but surprisingly it seemed like most of her feathers were there- despite the large amounts by the road. Even her tail was intact.

She went over to the outside gate of the chicken run and made it obvious she wanted to be let inside. Normally she would have flown right over so she was hurt in some way. The hens have not been let out into the run yet this year, because I always wait until they are laying well in nest boxes before giving them outside space. I gave her some food and water in the run and the lighter colored hen jumped up on the rail to talk to her.

She has stayed in the run the last few days; I guess it makes her feel safe. The lighter hen visits from time to time and stays close by. Neither the turkeys or Frizzle have strayed far from the barn area. It’s a miracle she survived. I think the big brown mare that resides in the pasture the dog chased her into may have chased the dog away. I have seen the horses over there chase dogs a few times. I hope she gave Ginger a good scare.

Everything was quiet until Saturday when Lily, ( our horse), decided to bust the latch off her stall door and get into the front part of the barn. She was eating dry cat food when I found her. She has never done that before- what is going on here? But fortunately she didn’t founder from her food indiscretion and seems fine.

Well life is fun here.

dog days of summer

Yesterday was not a good day. To start off it was 90 degrees with a
relative humidity of 70%. I had to get up early to drive to the fairgrounds
and help break down the Master Gardener exhibit, load my car with some very
heavy stuff and drive home and unload. Then after doing a bit of housework
I went into my office to write and my husband went to take his afternoon
nap.

Now had we been a little smarter what happened next wouldn't have happened.
In the last few days I kept remarking to my husband on how dirty some of the
dogs were, I asked them if they were digging holes to keep cool, I even
remarked to my husband that they were probably up to something. Jack
Russell's are usually up to something. But it was hot and we were busy
during fair week and neither of us pursued the matter. Besides, we hadn't
had any breakouts for over a year, since we installed hot wire on the top
and bottom of the backyard fence.

Well three of my darling little Jacks had discovered that they could dig
near the bottom of the fence in the corner by where the dog door from the
house exits. There was a short stretch where we left out hotwire so our
older dogs coming and going from the house wouldn't get shocked. Our
garbage bin was on the other side of the fence there and we had laid down
some aluminum panels on the dog's side of the fence. Seemed pretty secure
and so it was for about 15 months. Then some how the panel got shifted and
the dogs began their tunnel to freedom.

We figure it took them about three days. That's when I noticed how dirty
they seemed to be. They had to dig a tunnel under the fence then under the
trash bin on the other side. They are nothing but ambitious even in the
sweltering heat. Although I walked by that stretch regularly on my way to
the barn all the clandestine activity was hidden behind the trash bin. Then
as my husband and the big dogs lay down for their nap and I disappeared into
my office the great escape began.

I heard some excited barking but that's not unusual here. Suddenly it
dawned on me the barking seemed a little more excited than usual and farther
away. I hurried outside and realized the barking was coming from the barn
and my heart sank.

Inside the barn and inside the chicken coop- standing on top of the nest
boxes- was Susan, Ginger and Tina. They were barking at a hen who had
managed to fly up to the ledge by the loft rafters. The pen where my
banties had been was torn apart and the dead birds strewn across it. On the
coop floor below them were the bodies of my dead and dying hens. Feathers
and blood were everywhere.

I didn't have much trouble catching the culprits. They were pretty hot and
exhausted. I could only carry two of them but Tina was content to follow us
back to the house. There, after I threw them into the spare room I screamed
and yelled at them for a few seconds, and at my husband to get out of bed.

I brought a big muck bucket with me to the barn and began picking up dead
bodies. Besides the hen that flew up into the rafters another had flown up
onto the highest perch and was safe. Had more of the birds went up high
they would have been safe. Instead they piled under the nest boxes, which
begin about a foot from the floor. There they were pretty easy pickings,
but the sheer number of them managed to protect a few of them, who were
still alive when I began pulling out bodies. I placed the injured birds in
nest boxes to calm down and offered them water about 30 minutes later.

When my husband came out he found one hen outside in the yard which seemed
unharmed. I still can't find one of the tiny banty hens - she may be
hiding somewhere. Our resident roaming turkeys and frizzle rooster were
also unharmed. All in all 10 birds were killed, 9 birds are left, and some
of them have some nasty wounds and may die. One bird is missing.

Our egg production was just getting good. I had actually sold off some hens
because I figured we didn't need them. I just sat down and cried. Such a
waste. I don't know how the dogs got inside the coop- we figure they
squeezed through the door at the bottom.

The dogs were punished by being left locked in the spare room with only
water until we went to bed. They hate being away from the pack. I went to
bed scheming about ways to really punish them, like hiring strangers dressed
in giant chicken suits to chase them around or strapping them to a board on
their sides with vet wrap and putting them in a chicken coop full of hungry
chickens.

Don't worry- none of that happened. We spent the morning filling in a
tunnel, strengthening the coop door and burying chickens. And Tina,
Ginger and Susan are being watched more closely than ever.