Farm New 10-09-05
Sunday morning, after chores, 44°
Humdinger Storm
Late Saturday night or early Sunday what must have been close to a five inch thick chunk of water fell on us. I woke up when the thunder and lighting started but fell asleep again before the downpour. The rain gage measures to 5” and extends about five eighths inch above that; it was almost full. Reports from various neighbors ranged from 1.5” south of here to 10.5” just north of here. Oskaloosa received 8.5”.
The pond filled and overflowed on the east side, through a wide, flat, grassy trough around the east end of the dam. It continued to rise until it overflowed the top of the dam, eroding away the south, downhill, side of the dam. Three spots are badly cut back, almost halfway through the dam. In the meantime the normal overflow around the east end of the dam was cutting a gully back from the creek bed, which widened and deepened into a huge gash in the hillside. The area below the dam was an almost impenetrable stand of willow and sycamore saplings, now it is an impenetrable jumble of uprooted trees, mud, rocks, and mosquitoes.
It's pleasant to be able to look at a mess like that and know that the best thing to do for now is to ignore it. A few rains will help wash the exposed trees so that they can be cut up and removed. After it dries a bit more we can use the tractor to pull out the partially buried trees, and then we can call in the dozer. This time I'm going to try and do a better job of protecting against severe storms. It looks like we're going to have more of them for a while.
One plant I haven't used is Arundax, or Giant Cane, or Giant Reed Grass, or Fishing Pole Plant, or just plain Cane. A nice strong patch is growing west of the chicken house and it should be divided and spread around the place. Most of the rivers south and east from here used to be bordered by cane brakes, stands of cane stretching back from the water for up to two miles. About the only way to get through them was to walk backwards, shoving your back through the tangle of canes. That attracted a lot of attention, which helped scare away the snakes, but could attract grizzly bears, who considered cane brakes to be their lawns. A small cane brake below the dam might be nice and probably wouldn't attract any bears.
Science and Intelligence Attacks Ignorance and Superstition
Dr. M., the noted Veterinarian and Cardiac Surgeon, has sent a note correcting me on a few items and exposing my ignorance and laziness. She is a nice, proper, intelligent young woman who is licensed to wear shoulder length plastic gloves. Amazing, isn't it? Anyway, she writes this:
First, I didn't have a reliable diagnosis. I had healthy, plump bunnies dropping dead overnight, up to four a night. Three does died, too. There were no unusual external signs. Droppings looked normal. Two does failed twice to become pregnant. I went to Keeping Rabbits, by Brian Leverett, published in Britain in 1967, and, after looking at the chapter on diseases, decided it was Listeria, which he describes as a micro-organism. Keeping Rabbits is my favorite rabbit book not because its accuracy but rather because it is so definitely written by a Brit. Well, after three hours of Brit. Lit. some people go on to read Canterbury Tales and others Keeping Rabbits.
Second, I didn't think about the feed being a potential source of trouble. The rabbit feed is Nutrena from the Perry Mill kept in the bag inside a plastic barrel. They were eating close to 100 lb each month, so it didn't sit around very long. I assumed that it was being transmitted rabbit to rabbit without considering other possibilities. Now that I stop to think, it could even have been some mosquito transmitted thing.
Whether the mice carried the disease or not, I don't want them in the rabbit feeders. I didn't think of mouse-proofing when I built the rabbitry, so I need to do some retrofitting. There is a stack of sheets of printer's aluminum in the barn, just the thing to tack up here and there to interrupt the rodent traffic.
I looked up the Merck Veterinary Manual online and found the 8th Edition is available online at http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp. If you are having trouble sleeping, put this one on the bedside table.
Cold Weather Sends 'Fro Home
Thursday night the temperature was predicted to drop to below 40°. I had reason to go to the chicken house after dark Thursday and there, snuggled up between two fat old hens, was 'Fro, our man of the streets. For those readers who don't know him, 'Fro is an aging Polish Crested rooster, dark in color, with a large bald spot on the back of his head. He is about as ugly a specimen of Polish Crested chicken as any available. I look at 'Fro and think, “How can anything that ugly be a Polish Crested?”.
All summer 'Fro has been roosting in the barn. When the weather is warm he likes to cut loose and spend nights in the barn with the young bantams. He has a thing for a couple of the bantam Golden Sebright hens. They are far too sophisticated (or wild) to have anything to do with a creature like 'Fro (his only work skills are shoplifting and stealing cars). Aging Polish Crested roosters are real tragic characters, burdened with the weight of the world's characterizations.
As soon as the weather turns cold 'Fro returns to the fat old hens. They're warm at night and much easier to get along with than the bantams. The water is heated and layer feed is always available. 'Fro likes to winter in comfort.
First Frost
Friday night we had our first frost, a light one with temperatures dropping below 40°. Frost can occur when the temperature drops below 42°, and that is not a typo, yes, it's forty two. It has to do with something called 'night sky temperature', and the sky has to be clear for it to frost. It was the first long underwear morning of the season. Trusty's enthusiasm for life becomes even greater when the weather cools. He seems to operate with a two position switch: asleep and excited.
It's time to dig the Canna bulbs. This spring I planted a bunch of them on some newly cleared area on the west side of woods. Light but still did well and bloomed nicely. The blood red flowers against the dark woods background was very nice. The hummingbirds appreciated them greatly, as always.
Paula dug the last of the sweet potatoes. The first bunch she dug didn't produce well, but these did better; still, it wasn't a great year for sweet potatoes. All the vegetables are out of the garden and the only things left are flowers and hot peppers. There are lots of nice butterflies feeding, too. The hot peppers will become poultry feed supplement. I'll dry them, crumble them up, and add some to the poultry feed every so often. This is ignorance and superstition trying again, but lots of people swear by putting hot peppers in the poultry feed.
E-mail Subscribers: To subscribe, unsubscribe, contribute stories, complain or send a gift subscription, send an email to FarmNews@GeezerNet.com . The editor reserves the right to steal ideas submitted, rewrite submissions, and sign false names to them whenever it strikes his fancy to do so.
Humdinger Storm
Late Saturday night or early Sunday what must have been close to a five inch thick chunk of water fell on us. I woke up when the thunder and lighting started but fell asleep again before the downpour. The rain gage measures to 5” and extends about five eighths inch above that; it was almost full. Reports from various neighbors ranged from 1.5” south of here to 10.5” just north of here. Oskaloosa received 8.5”.
The pond filled and overflowed on the east side, through a wide, flat, grassy trough around the east end of the dam. It continued to rise until it overflowed the top of the dam, eroding away the south, downhill, side of the dam. Three spots are badly cut back, almost halfway through the dam. In the meantime the normal overflow around the east end of the dam was cutting a gully back from the creek bed, which widened and deepened into a huge gash in the hillside. The area below the dam was an almost impenetrable stand of willow and sycamore saplings, now it is an impenetrable jumble of uprooted trees, mud, rocks, and mosquitoes.
It's pleasant to be able to look at a mess like that and know that the best thing to do for now is to ignore it. A few rains will help wash the exposed trees so that they can be cut up and removed. After it dries a bit more we can use the tractor to pull out the partially buried trees, and then we can call in the dozer. This time I'm going to try and do a better job of protecting against severe storms. It looks like we're going to have more of them for a while.
One plant I haven't used is Arundax, or Giant Cane, or Giant Reed Grass, or Fishing Pole Plant, or just plain Cane. A nice strong patch is growing west of the chicken house and it should be divided and spread around the place. Most of the rivers south and east from here used to be bordered by cane brakes, stands of cane stretching back from the water for up to two miles. About the only way to get through them was to walk backwards, shoving your back through the tangle of canes. That attracted a lot of attention, which helped scare away the snakes, but could attract grizzly bears, who considered cane brakes to be their lawns. A small cane brake below the dam might be nice and probably wouldn't attract any bears.
Science and Intelligence Attacks Ignorance and Superstition
Dr. M., the noted Veterinarian and Cardiac Surgeon, has sent a note correcting me on a few items and exposing my ignorance and laziness. She is a nice, proper, intelligent young woman who is licensed to wear shoulder length plastic gloves. Amazing, isn't it? Anyway, she writes this:
OK, I'm confused, L. monocytongenes is endemic to badly silaged/old corn. When I looked it up in my band spanking new 10th Edition Merck veterinary manual, Listeriosis in all monogastrics can be traced to this. Does it appear to have been vectored by mice at your farm? Mice carry all sorts of fabulous diseases, but, Listeria isn't one of them. What are you feeding the bunnies?
First, I didn't have a reliable diagnosis. I had healthy, plump bunnies dropping dead overnight, up to four a night. Three does died, too. There were no unusual external signs. Droppings looked normal. Two does failed twice to become pregnant. I went to Keeping Rabbits, by Brian Leverett, published in Britain in 1967, and, after looking at the chapter on diseases, decided it was Listeria, which he describes as a micro-organism. Keeping Rabbits is my favorite rabbit book not because its accuracy but rather because it is so definitely written by a Brit. Well, after three hours of Brit. Lit. some people go on to read Canterbury Tales and others Keeping Rabbits.
Second, I didn't think about the feed being a potential source of trouble. The rabbit feed is Nutrena from the Perry Mill kept in the bag inside a plastic barrel. They were eating close to 100 lb each month, so it didn't sit around very long. I assumed that it was being transmitted rabbit to rabbit without considering other possibilities. Now that I stop to think, it could even have been some mosquito transmitted thing.
Whether the mice carried the disease or not, I don't want them in the rabbit feeders. I didn't think of mouse-proofing when I built the rabbitry, so I need to do some retrofitting. There is a stack of sheets of printer's aluminum in the barn, just the thing to tack up here and there to interrupt the rodent traffic.
I looked up the Merck Veterinary Manual online and found the 8th Edition is available online at http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp. If you are having trouble sleeping, put this one on the bedside table.
Cold Weather Sends 'Fro Home
Thursday night the temperature was predicted to drop to below 40°. I had reason to go to the chicken house after dark Thursday and there, snuggled up between two fat old hens, was 'Fro, our man of the streets. For those readers who don't know him, 'Fro is an aging Polish Crested rooster, dark in color, with a large bald spot on the back of his head. He is about as ugly a specimen of Polish Crested chicken as any available. I look at 'Fro and think, “How can anything that ugly be a Polish Crested?”.
All summer 'Fro has been roosting in the barn. When the weather is warm he likes to cut loose and spend nights in the barn with the young bantams. He has a thing for a couple of the bantam Golden Sebright hens. They are far too sophisticated (or wild) to have anything to do with a creature like 'Fro (his only work skills are shoplifting and stealing cars). Aging Polish Crested roosters are real tragic characters, burdened with the weight of the world's characterizations.
As soon as the weather turns cold 'Fro returns to the fat old hens. They're warm at night and much easier to get along with than the bantams. The water is heated and layer feed is always available. 'Fro likes to winter in comfort.
First Frost
Friday night we had our first frost, a light one with temperatures dropping below 40°. Frost can occur when the temperature drops below 42°, and that is not a typo, yes, it's forty two. It has to do with something called 'night sky temperature', and the sky has to be clear for it to frost. It was the first long underwear morning of the season. Trusty's enthusiasm for life becomes even greater when the weather cools. He seems to operate with a two position switch: asleep and excited.
It's time to dig the Canna bulbs. This spring I planted a bunch of them on some newly cleared area on the west side of woods. Light but still did well and bloomed nicely. The blood red flowers against the dark woods background was very nice. The hummingbirds appreciated them greatly, as always.
Paula dug the last of the sweet potatoes. The first bunch she dug didn't produce well, but these did better; still, it wasn't a great year for sweet potatoes. All the vegetables are out of the garden and the only things left are flowers and hot peppers. There are lots of nice butterflies feeding, too. The hot peppers will become poultry feed supplement. I'll dry them, crumble them up, and add some to the poultry feed every so often. This is ignorance and superstition trying again, but lots of people swear by putting hot peppers in the poultry feed.
E-mail Subscribers: To subscribe, unsubscribe, contribute stories, complain or send a gift subscription, send an email to FarmNews@GeezerNet.com . The editor reserves the right to steal ideas submitted, rewrite submissions, and sign false names to them whenever it strikes his fancy to do so.
posted by The Geezer at 8:19 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home