Stuff

Rising waters

We just finished a day of warm and rainy weather which has left the yard almost snow free and very soggy.   The swamp is still gathering water so that my "pond" is now larger than ever.  I don't believe it has come up so far into the lawn before.  Maybe I will get wood ducks in it this spring.  Probably not mergansers as it isn't deep enough.  But I fear that the absent owner of the house on the other side will come along and notice his watery yard and have the town unclog the culvert.  Meanwhile I shall enjoy it every minute.

Miss Goldie

Cleo and The Rooster

Coy Miss Roxie

My chickens are all sporting fresh spring feathers.  Even little Miss Goldie is all back to her beautiful self.  I think they are all laying but someone is laying a great big egg that never quite makes it---sometimes I find it broken into on the nest, and a few times under the roost with what I call a "soft" shell, which makes it unusable.   They are so happy the snow is gone.  I watch them run all over, as if to stretch their legs after a long time cooped up.  Now I know where that term comes from!






Our old lady cat, Sukey Mei Ling,  will be 21 years old at the end of the month.  She is very frail, yet still manages to get around to the litter box, food bowl and my lap.  One of the hardest things for me is listening to her as she is a yowler.  Sometimes I wonder if she uses it like echo location as her eyes are not so good.  On those days when she keeps up a steady "Meewahha" I think uncharitable thoughts, but when I pick her up and she starts purring, I take them all back.  She has had a great life.  When she was a young cat she spent a lot of time climbing trees.  After she raided a bird's nest and ate the eggs, we called her the "weasel".   Twice she got caught in the neighbors havahart trap that he had set for woodchucks in his garden.  She bears a scar of a white line on her foot to this day, from one of those trappings.  One time she got into the neighbor's camper which was being aired out and was shut in it for three days before they found her.  She has lived with three different cats, guinea pigs, two different dogs and now chickens, however she so seldom goes outside that they hardly count.  Sukey has watched all the children grow to adulthood and depart on their life adventures.  Somehow I don't think it is something she gives much thought to!

Sukey, headed towards 21

On the fiber front I finished my scarf, but forgot to take photos of it which annoys me to no end.  However, it has reached its destination and that is a good thing.  I sold my most favorite shawl on Etsy, one that I almost took off the site to keep for myself.   This is a good thing, though, and now I am busy plotting another woven one out of greens.  However, after calculating warp and weft, I find that I need to spin another 200 yards, if I don't want to stress out about not having enough yarn to finish. Which, quite frankly, takes a lot of the joy out of a project.   I had planned it as all greens so now the decision I have to make is if I want to introduce another color into the mix or dye another shade of green.  First, I need to spin!  I also am cleaning one of Glo's fleeces.  It is a gorgeous black from her boy Black Velvet, so I can only work on it in the day.   So many things to keep me busy!  I love it.

Chickens and More

Goldie and Cleo inspect dust bathing pan

What is it with chickens?  They act so weird sometimes.  OK, maybe more than sometimes.  Actually, they probably know why they are doing whatever it is, they just chose not to tell me.  Last night I was saying goodnight to them as I closed up the coop and noticed on the roost that the little Golden Comet I call Goldie (real original, don't ya think!) was being picked on (literally) by the hens on either side of her.  On closer examination I found that they had pecked to bleeding which is always a Bad Thing.  This is because chickens are wild about things red, so that when they see blood they will peck away at it and chickens have been known to die, being pecked to death.  Grabbing Goldie, I got my bottle of Blu-Kote and sprayed her wound with it.  Then I put the Hen Saver coat on her, the one with shoulder protectors, and thought we were all set.

Goldie backing up into corner

Ha!  What do I know.  First of all, Goldie was So Not Happy with this coat--backing up and trying to get out from it--that finally I just picked her up and put her on the roost, where she sulked, and the other hens pecked at the coat!  This morning, the two gals who have been laying steady, laid their eggs on the floor instead of in the nest box.  Why??  Goldie still is not happy---backing up and trying to get out of the coat.  I know from the makers of this apron that this is a normal reaction, so I wasn't surprised. But this hen has had a coat on all summer when she had a bare back, however this one has the shoulder pads with a very loose, Very Loose, elastic around the neck.  I have cut the elastic off, to see if that will help her get used to the thing.  It is so wild that the other hens are pecking her, even now.  What gives?  Why all of a sudden?  Even loser hen Baby is pecking her! I don't know why they started--maybe they are doing it now because her coat is so not what the others are wearing.  Definitely have to keep an eye on things out there.

Alpaca

Meanwhile had fun up at Glo's yesterday.  This coming Saturday I am doing a fiber demo at the Orwell Public Library. I am really looking forward to it.  I rashly promised to let people try a drop spindle if they want to, so needed to borrow a couple spindles from Gloria.  Perfect opportunity to do a little dyeing with her.  I brought up some fleece to dye in canning jars plus a few skeins I had laying around.   I was pretty happy with all the results.  The small skeins I did in the yellow/orange tones are of mohair that I took from the sweater I unraveled last year, plus I had a small one of alpaca.  These will be used in weaving.

Alpaca dyed for blending

Mohair

Now on to more projects.  First on the list is a replacement scarf for someone who lost the one they bought from me.  They liked it so much they want another.  Not normally one to replicate, I will in this case as they really are sad they lost it.  So much so that they want to buy another!  That is OK with me. And I still toil on the cable sweater for myself.  It will get done!  Pretty soon it will be seed starting time again with all that goes with it.  Hard to believe.  The days are getting longer, the cold is less harsh---we move on towards Spring with a smile and a song!