Preparations For Winter

I still had one photo, taken several weeks ago, which was not yet posted. This year I planted two Tea Roses and one hardy Magnolia. The Magnolia was supposed to be able to withstand our harsh winters but it was new and I wanted to give it some protection. Tea Roses were unlikely to survive at all without protection so I devised a way to help all three of them get through the winter. I put tomato cages over each one and then filled them with used bedding hay. Over that I put old feed bags and tied the bottoms shut with bungee cords. I tried to wait long enough for the plants to go completely dormant and so the hay would freeze quickly, but I also had to choose a time when I could still push the tomato cages into the ground. It seems to have worked nicely, but I guess I'll know this spring:

Happy Pets At Home

There has been lots of pet activity around the house - if you count snoozing as an activity:

I have few photos of Rocky because his black and white coat confuses the camera. This is the best picture of him I've gotten in a long time:

Seamus sat regally next to one my bargain basement roses:

Daisy has had her vaccinations and has been staying in a bedroom, getting used to her new home. I'm hoping that she and the other animals will get used to each other through the door. After she's spayed, I'll try putting up three baby gates. I don't want things to begin with a fight:

Clover never uses the dog house, left here by former tenants, but she looks cute standing next to it:

Seamus, Daphne and Bugsy all napped together:

Seamus in the back yard:

More power napping - Jack, Clover and Fergus:

All five dogs, all wanting to come inside where they will then want to go back outside:

This is how cleaning a dirty frying pan begins, with five dogs plus little Bugsy, all trying to get whatever food scraps they can. None of my animals are food aggressive:

Clover, Daphne and Bramble:

Clover and Bugsy:

Around The Farm

The baby chicks are not such babies anymore:

They now live full time with the big hens. I heard my first rooster's crow the other morning so there will be more and more of that as time goes on:

And they have the freedom of the outdoors all day, every day. Blondie, the stupid one, is beginning to figure things out. She (or he) is the light golden colored bird at the far right of this picture:

 The Rose Mallows in front of the house came into full bloom, the pink first and then the red:

And they amazed people as they drove by:

I look up to the sky when I first arise and let the dogs out. It's often a beautiful, mysterious sight:

I wait until dawn before going out to do the morning chores. The sky is often beautiful then also:

My two bargain basement roses are both blooming. I kept the labels which told me the variety names but they are both pink and I can't be sure which is which:

One is lighter than the other and has fewer petals. but when I look at the labels, they are not helpful. It doesn't matter, of course. They are just pink roses:

The elderberries began ripening but were eaten rapidly by the birds. I tasted them and found them lacking in flavor, so I didn't want to compete with the birds. I do, however, want to eat my own bush cherries next year. I only got one this year. It was the last cherry on the bush and it wasn't ripe, but I knew it was my only chance to taste them as the birds had eaten every other cherry:

Morning sky in the northeast:

Morning sky in the southeast. This is part of the reason it is such a pleasure to do the morning chores:

Pets At Home

All the house pets are living a life of ease. In this case Daphne, Seamus and Fergus lounged on the dog beds in the farm house kitchen, their favorite place:

And the dogs have been able to spend much time outdoors in their fenced yard:

Clover, Fergus and Daphne like to curl up together on the fleecy dog beds, but first they have to rumple them into a heap:

Life is good with the air perfumed by roses:

And Jack is somewhat better about not peeing in the house. Apparently his former owner never taught him not to do so:

Seamus and Bramble hang out together sometimes:

And Dixie the guinea pig gets attention often during the day:

Little Bugsy has taken over the house. He's about the cutest, most friendly kitten I've ever known - but then I'm prejudiced:

Seamus, Clover, Daphne and Fergus on the kitchen dog beds and floor pillows:

Bramble and Bugsy have become friends and are frequently seen sleeping together:

All five dogs - Fergus, Jack and Seamus in the foreground and Clover and Daphne on the ramp in the background. In the top left of the photo you can see some of the winter hay supply and one of the hens, foraging beneath the apple trees:

Clover and Daphne present a pretty picture with which to end this post:

Around The Farm

With the foxes apparently gone, I took a chance and let the chickens out again:

They were excited to get outdoors to spend their day:

Some hens immediately ran into the barn and some ran to the orchard:

One of my $5.00 roses began to bloom:

The fantail pigeons came out, as if to say "Welcome back" to the hens:

And the Rugosa Roses formed a myriad of new buds in preparation for a new flowering extravaganza:

The baby chicks at 21 days had grown so big that they were becoming difficult to house, to handle and to clean:

At 25 days I gave up and let them out of their brooder to live with the pigeons. So far, all is well:

The big hens made a new burrow into the hay inside the barn and laid their eggs in it:

I found a baby sparrow in the stock tank. I previously have found a hen and another sparrow, drowned in the stock tank but this one wasn't dead yet:

I lifted it out and set it in the sun to warm up. An hour later it was gone, so I am hopeful it got its chance to live a normal sparrow's life:

I snapped this photo one morning of the eastern sky, just as the sun was about to slip above the tree line. Rural life can be cruel sometimes, but it can also be peaceful and beautiful:

Around The Farm

I thought the fox problem was solved until one day I lost yet another hen, leaving me with only eight. I began keeping them locked up both day and night. Three days later, I found a chicken wing (again!) on the concrete floor of my barn. This could only mean that the fox had come back inside the barn and finished off the chicken it had killed earlier. I knew I had a problem then, but a day or two later I actually saw the fox in the barn. Neighbors are also having problems, so I'm hoping that someone will find a solution:

I was just about to mow along the edge of the gravel road when I saw these tiny flowers. I stopped and photographed them so I could look them up when I got back inside the house. It turned out to be Centaury, a naturally miniature plant and not just a product of being mowed over:

The weasels have mostly taken care of any small rodents on my property but I did find this friendly chipmunk eating crab apples on the apartment stairs. I hope he or she can avoid the weasels:

Another miniature plant turned out to be Dwarf Cinquefoil:

The fantail pigeons got their windows opened all through our hot spell even though I worried about the foxes. The baby chicks in the brooder are in with the pigeons and I didn't want them to get overheated, so I kept the window opened whenever I could during the day:

White Clover bloomed first, but the Red Clover, which began a few weeks later, was bigger and more colorful:

And Queen Anne's Lace began appearing all along the roadsides:

The baby chicks at 15 days old. They've easily doubled in size and and still growing rapidly:

The local teen came back to finish painting the barn trim:

The fantail pigeons continued to make nests and lay eggs but there has not yet been even a single baby:

But they seem happy as childless couples. Maybe it's a blessing for them and it's certainly less work for them:

One of my clearance sale roses began blooming. It's doing well although the other one is still struggling. The big question is - will they live over the winter? I'll just have to wait and see: