Bonfires in the rain

We had three of these babies going yesterday when the thunderstorm hit. Clearing brush is a never-ending job, but the results are satisfyingly visible to all (or at least until it grows back in a year or two).

First lamb born at Whipple Wanch!

Lamb arrived while we were in the house eating breakfast this morning (Thursday). We delayed home school to come outside and burn three brush piles before a thunderstorm hit us. We noticed only two of our ewes nearby. The 3rd ewe, Spot (she of miraculous survival from frozen pond last month), had gone off alone behind the bee hives. She showed up an hour later with this little cutie. We were hoping for twins and females, but its a start.

This little guy will be "fixed" in a few weeks, then fattened-up on fresh grass for 10 months before going into the freezer. Why? First off we already have a great ram for our flock, and secondly this little one has black coloring on tips of both ears - that's a flaw for St Croix sheep which can not be passed along. I won't be able to sell any of Spot's off-spring to other breeders. Thirdly, and most importantly, we are raising sheep to feed ourselves. They taste yummy.

Got any name suggestions for this new guy?

What's on the menu?

If you are human, then its pizza and salad from Pizza Hut - one hand tossed pepperoni with pineapple and one thin crust pepperoni with black olives. Yes, of course we got chocolate dunkers for dessert, but no sense including photographic evidence with which the dessert gestapo can beat me over the head... 

Everyone else gets hay...at least until the grass grows back lush and green.

The Fixer (I don't mean the novel by Bernard Malamud)

Somebody left a 100 foot water hose out during the last freeze, and sure enough, it burst when we charged it with water. I  cut out the 3 inches of bad rubber and bought a new male and female end. K8 begged to fix it. Aah...the school of life! Now we have not only two hoses that equal about 100 feet, but a little boy with a little more confidence and experience to handle the next crisis.

"Little Boy Blue, Come blow your horn, The sheep's in the meadow..."

Yes, I know, he's wearing red - with a hood no less - and not blue! But there are sheep in the pasture, not wolves. However, the real question here is, how could a guy like me who hates France allow his son to play the French horn? Just another mystery for you to ponder this week...

K7 started the horn last week while K8 began the violin. K6 remains on the piano. The amazing thing is that our little church congregation in the rural Ozarks has a symphony orchestra. The lesson here? That no matter how rough your day, week, month, semester or year is, life is still full of pleasant and sweet surprises, so hang on a little longer - something good is coming your way.

I do not expect to be selling music CDs or iTunes any time in 2011, but who knows about 2012...

Finally have a phone line to the house

After six months of trying, we finally have a phone land line to the house. Century Link, as a corporation, is the worse phone company I have ever dealt with in my 40-year adult life which included moving around the nation frequently during a military career - worked with lots of different phone companies. They have sent us lots of bills demanding money long before ever getting us a dial tone. If you want our new phone number, sign up as a follower to this blog and then send me an email telling me how much the blog entertains you!

The phone line is buried across part of the pasture and the backyard. Good timing since I have two truckloads of dirt coming next week so we can put in a nice yard of green grass out back. I took photos of the whole path so I'll know where the line is before putting up more fencing in the pasture this year.

Belle's mystery ailment

Last Monday, Valentines's Day, I was working in the garden while the dogs were running the fence line. Belle suddenly stopped and began screaming. My first thought was she had stepped in a leg-hold trap since my friend has several traps and snares in the woods across my little river in the hopes of catching coyotes and bobcats, but then I thought, no, I don't have any in my yard or pasture. By the time I reached her, she had stopped yelping and was dragging her right rear leg. I took  her inside for doctoring and headed back to the fence line to search the ground. I found a few pieces of wire, so I thought she must have been spiked by one, even though there was no blood anywhere. We took her to the vet at 4:00 P.M. and spent over an hour waiting for two vets and a 3rd year vet student to figure out why Belle had totally lost the use of her leg. They gave me a page out of a vet encyclopedia with some rare and weird ailment with a three inch name called fiber-something-something-something. They gave her a steroid infusion and a bottle of steroid pills. Said she may or may not regain use of her leg. Offered to get her a consult to the University vet school with MRI, etc., but with a starting cost of $3,000, I declined. Belle is not in pain and can hobble up and down the porch stairs, so life goes on...just a little slower.

Snow Melt

Yesterday (Sunday), the temperature got up to 65 F, and last night was our first without freezing temps in a long time. All of a sudden, the snow is gone, leaving lots of soft, muddy ground everywhere you step. The bees are out and about, but no flies or ticks, so I'm happy.

We built 3 large compost bins out of old wooden pallets, located in front of our large garden area. Not pretty, but functional. We'll build 4 large raised garden boxes this week to take advantage of shoveling soft mud into the boxes. The last frost is in April, but no reason not to start planting lettuce, peas, and other cool weather veggies now.

One problem with the front of our house facing north and in the shade - we have a several inch thick ice glacier for a few extra days...can't even bust it with a shovel. We had a lot of snow melting off the roof yesterday after church, and with no gutters installed, it was like walking through a miniature rain fall to get to the door.

Our tiny sheep dog Rose

Just beyond the animals in the pasture is a sea of mud.

Our little dogs were really muddy and got a bath yesterday, otherwise they would not be allowed back in the house, let alone climb on me.

A Whipple Wanch record cold temp: -16 this morning!

Wednesday evening, as the sun set over our little valley, the temperature began to drop rapidly.

The animals started to gather and chow down on their supper in order to fortify themselves for the brutally freezing night to come.

 

Inside, we humans stoked the fire and got the house temp up into the 80's. I keep our geo-thermal thermostat set on 68 F all winter, so this wood burning stove really puts out the heat. By midnight Wednesday there was more than a 80 degree difference between the indoor vs outdoor temperatures. It was minus 16 degrees F outside when we woke up Thursday morning. Today's "animal" guy - K8 - got lucky. I sent all 4 K boys out to feed and water the animals. The good news is we have warm weather coming this weekend which will stick around for a while. 

If you put bird seed out in the winter, birds will come

My view out the north window of my office. I had a non-stop line of birds all day - cardinals, chickadees, titmouse, wrens, juncos, and 1 female gold finch. Hard to get much work done with this gorgeous distraction. Glad I did not set-up a 2nd feeder outside my east window.

A cheap bird feeder and a cheap camera were great investments, but someday, I'm going to get the really nice  high speed camera!

Lucky, our barn kitten, comes out occasionally to try her luck at hunting either under my window or under the cedar tree.

Lots of fat birds on the Whipple Wanch!

Another day of snow!

It began snowing again on early Wednesday morning, and poor K7 had "animals" as his assigned duties - responsible for A.M. and P.M. feeding and watering all 4 cats, 4 dogs, 17 chickens, 5 cows, 3 goats, and 6 sheep. Here he's taking 1/2 a bale of hay under the big cedar tree for the 3 ewes in yard.

Dandy and Tex are just happy that a human is outside with them for a while. 

Because it is snowing and has been so cold, K7 is giving all the cattle some grain along with their hay.

K6, K7, and K8 convinced their Mom to drive to Walmart at 8:30 in the morning to buy plastic sleds...

...there she goes. Unfortunately, she returned empty-handed - Walmart, 2 different hardware stores, and the grocery store were sold out of sleds! She did end school early and let them go play after lunch.

Saturday was sunny bright and all white

Started the day getting the snow and thick ice cleared around the church entrance and parking lot.

The boys and friends spent over 4 hours in a snowball fight.

More snowfall on Friday

K7 and I ran a few errands in the big city after my dentist visit (before the numbing shots wore off). Yes, K7 is wearing shorts under his polar expedition coat.

Folks were sledding in the big bowl outside the library. By the way, this is an excellent library, and not just because they have  a gift shop and Starbucks-type cafe. 

After living out in the sparsely populated rural Ozarks, I no longer relish driving in the city. The slow traffic on slick roads was even less pleasant.

How do you spell relief? R-O-O-T C-A-N-A-L

After several days of discomfort moving into constant pain, it was wonderful to put an end to it. Another case of the military coming to the rescue - my local dentist served in the Navy, and my specialist in the big city (above) served in the Air Force. Both are great guys.

Life and Death in an Ice Storm

In preparation before arrival of the ice storm, all four K boys were splitting and stacking firewood. We wanted to be ready to heat house and cook in case we lost electricity. Fortunately, we had power throughout the storm.

The dogs prepared by resting up and conserving their strength. 

I asked K2 to construct a shelter against the fence closest to house and barn for our cows and sheep who live in the pasture. It was big enough for all eight animals. We stacked hay under the tarp on our side of the fence, so all we had to do was go out once or twice a day and drop it over the fence.

Also made sure the bird feeder was full of seeds for my feathered buddies.

We placed hay under the big cedar tree for the four new sheep in front yard. All went well until...

...early Wednesday morning, I received a phone call and walked into my office for privacy. Looking out the window, I was horrified to see the ram and one ewe in the middle of the pond - barely moving. I hollered for the boys to get up and dressed for a rescue operation. K2 was the first out. He lassoed the ewe and pulled her ashore, then he jumped into the frozen water to grab the ram who had gotten stuck under the ice. The rest of the boys were wrapping the ewe in towels and I arrived with a wheel barrel to transport her to the barn where we wrapped her in a blanket and buried her under straw. After a short period, S ordered her patient moved to the basement for real warmth.

Poor ram didn't make it to shore alive. I stored him in snow-filled truck bed until K2 could get dried and warmly dressed again before butchering him. 

Our pregnant ewe, Spot, was barely hanging in there and things did not look good, She was grinding her teeth and laying on her side shaking uncontrollably, but S went to work rubbing her dry and using the electric hair blow-dryer. She kept squirting water in her mouth, then a molasses-water drink. After a few hours of this, S had the boys stay with Spot while S took me to the dentist. I came down with a toothache Monday afternoon just before the storm hit. Great timing. Had to wait until Wednesday afternoon for both the roads and the dentist office to re-open. The bad news is I get to have a root canal as soon as the roads open to the big city within the next two days. The good news is...

Spot was alive and standing up when we got home Wednesday afternoon, and was soon re-united with the other two pregnant ewes in the yard. Nothing short of a miracle. God does answer our prayers.

This ram was headed to the freezer anyway, but I was hoping to feed him lots of hay and grass over several months and get him fat. As it is, he didn't yield very much meat. K8 posthumously named him Leonardo Dicaprio (actor whose character drown in freezing water in the movie Titanic). K2 and S were up late cutting and wrapping instead of getting to bed early. They both leave at 0500 Thursday for a long drive to attend a conference in Atlanta. 

The ice storm didn't seem to bother any of the four dogs. They were out and about day and night. Dandy is laying in the snow chewing on a bone.