Winter Storm Coming

Sounds like a major winter storm is just hours away. Hope it’s not as bad as the last one; no electricity from Christmas afternoon till New Year’s Eve. I am as ready as I can be. I re-roofed the chicken pen yesterday and now it doesn’t have as much weight so any additional weight from ice shouldn’t cause a collapse. I put in a center support beam just in case. Today I draped a sheet over the nest boxes; it is attached with clothespins to the fence and the wire I am using to keep Katie out. I hope it works. I put pillow case over the lilac bushes since they are covered with buds and I don’t want to lose them. I have heard you should use cloth so it can breathe. I took an old shower curtain and wrapped it around the washing machine and tied it in place with as old piece of coaxial cable. Pulled more dirt up around the base of the rose bushes. Had all the trash hauled off today. Got a call from a neighbor yesterday checking to make sure we had plenty of gas. No matter how down I may get, I never feel alone. I am blessed to be surrounded by people who genuinely care. Back to the gas, the tank that I have been using was getting low so I went ahead and switched over to the other tank which is full. I had visions of being out in sleet and freezing rain switching tanks. Husband thought I was being silly but he isn’t the one out there in the freezing cold. Why not save myself trouble when I can? We do get electricity sooner than some because there are two stores near by and they have to get back on line as quickly as possible. During the last storm there were crews from all over the country parked in the big lot next door. There aren’t near as many limbs this time. Our beautiful cedar with a huge spread fell apart during the big storm. It not looks like a big stalk of broccoli after being trimmed. I wonder if the chickens will freeze to the limbs tonight? Guess not or all birds would get stuck. I got all the feeders ready, some pine cones covered with peanut butter and seeds. The wren and mocking bird love the pine cones. Sure hope we have electricity in the morning, but I’m not very optimistic. At least we have been through this before and this time should be easier. We have a radio that picks up TV signals so we can still listen to things and it really works well when hooked up to the big antenna. We never lost water last time so I’m not worried about water but have plenty just in case. I have been living in survival mode ever since the last storm and am always ready for whatever the day brings. Part of that comes from having WAY to much time on my hands. Actually that’s not true either, I am busy all the time. For someone with nothing special happening I am busy all day; mostly chasing the dog that’s chasing the chickens. It will be funny to see the puppy on ice. Boy, I hope we get snow and not ice. I want to make a snowman and then spray him with colored water so he is tie-dyed. I have to unplug the heater to use the computer and it’s time to go back to heat, so wish us luck, the storm is coming. Or so THEY say.

Chasing Chickens

Katie sure likes chasing chickens, she doesn’t want to hurt them, she just enjoys seeing them fly. Drives me nuts. Two hens are sitting and it is still rather cold, possible snow tonight. The chickens do have better accommodations now, the lady across the street offered me her Grandmothers old nest boxes. So far so good but it took a few days to get the chickens to stop going to the old cage. Every time a hen would enter the cage I would catch her and take her to the boxes.