A Good Photo Day

I went to bed last night, thinking that nothing much had happened yesterday.

On waking this morning (to a temperature indoors in the mid-50s, but that's another story), I remembered how many odd things happened yesterday.

First of all, when I woke up yesterday, I still worried about the small calf, especially whether she had been warm enough. When I checked the thermometer, I found that the temperature was in the upper 40s, not the upper 30s, as it had been both nights Belle was in the house. What a gift from God!

***

More prosaically, the battle of the kitchen chickens continues. Our chickens are smart, and those that can, enter the barn at every opportune moment and eat the cat food, the dog food, bits of spilled feed, and general kitchen scraps (I caught one eating out of a skillet on the stove the other day!).

This is frustrating, but one of our chickens went broody again, so we've more-or-less let them be. Every once in a while, in a burst of energy, Chloe the dog or Tiger the cat will chase them away, and Joe always says, "No, chickens!" very firmly, but what really could we do, other than close the doors? And that won't happen soon, because enough of our slope has eroded down, Phil would have to shovel for some time to free up the doors.

The last few days, though, I've noticed an unpleasant smell. The broody chicken apparently had not paid a trip to the rooster lately, and all her eggs were unfertilized. And, therefore, rotten.

I was making lunch when she got up to seek a snack. Chloe came over and proceeded to attempt to eat the eggs. Which exploded in green nastiness, and made the barn kitchen extremely stinky. Bah! No more broody hens in my kitchen this year!

***

Beatrice has been a bit neglected lately, due to Belle's dramatic illness and recovery. She has grown at a tremendous pace, and is strong and sturdy. No more mistaking her for a goat anymore. She's a small cow now.

When she walks, her back foot touches the exact spot where her front foot had just been, which is exactly what we want to see. Great!

***

Isaiah and I went to milk Bethany in the evening. She was ruminating, and I felt bad disturbing her rest, but I did want to make sure Belle wasn't getting too much. After we finally prodded Bethany enough, she stood up and walked to her milking place. (She is so good! Although she was milked by machine, she is so patient, she will stand to be milked with only a rope on her collar tied around a fence, even without a treat to eat.)

I milked out all four teats and got about two Tablespoons. Apparently, Belle was hungry.

***

This morning, I woke up unusually cold. I sleep under a down sleeping bag, and was between two sons, so to still be cold did not bode well. Sure enough, the thermometer said 55 degrees. The heat attempted to kick on, and just wouldn't quite start.

Phil and I talked about what I should do if the heat went out. He said I should get a space heater at the hardware store. They had options ranging from about $60 to about $260, and I was overwhelmed by the choices and left without any.

If we survived one cold morning, we can survive another one or two. Maybe the heat is fixable, too.

Last year we didn't have a morning this cold until around October 15th, so we're about ten days earlier this year.

***

This was a good photo day. Here are a few.

When Joe sees the camera, he instantly turns on the extra bright smile.

Our animals waste a ridiculous amount of hay. We're not sure what to do about it. The standard bale feeders won't work with the glorious horns that our cows have. We had been snipping the bale twine immediately, and the big cows would come over and, with their horns, demolish the bale instantly.

We've tried a few bales now without cutting the baling twine. This keeps the bale intact much longer, which gives us maybe an extra day per bale. It also, though, is a bit of a hazard: in the five days we've tried this, I've had two sheep get themselves stuck in a loop around a leg. I am sure that, given enough time, we might have an accidental garotte. So I'm not very comfortable with that money saving method.

The search for a better hay feeding system remains. We'll see what comes next.

Oh: in the photo above, you can see two hay bales. The ground there was bare on Saturday morning.

Our buck Bright Star could almost be a hipster singer, don't you think, with that impressive set of bangs and little GOATee?

The colors are just starting to change here in Virginia. Apparently, because of the warm weather so late in the season, this won't be a great year for a spectacular show, but I like it just the same.

Tiny Tux, the unusual freebie bird from the hatchery, is simply tiny next to the quick-growing broilers. He was the same size chick, and now he's probably one-third the size of the largest broilers, and maybe half the size of the smallest. What a peanut!

My second batch of soap, cotton candy scent, drying. (The earlier batch, vanilla with yarrow, is in the back, but difficult to see.)