Forecast: Sunny and scorched

I did it again and I apologize for going AWOL for a while. I've been dealing with some health issues...mine and some of the critters, but things are settling down now just in time for the drowsy hot dog days of summer.  Or maybe those days are already upon us considering all the sleeping dogs scattered about the floor around me!

So far this summer has been a very hot and dry one. The  Sycamores (above) have been losing leaves and the elms have pretty much kicked the bucket. We lost another favorite elm (right) in our yard this year...a real beauty...and I will probably cry when it is cut down for firewood. We just had a week of rain, which may have saved some of the vegetation, but this tree is past saving, as are a couple more elms down at the pond. At least they will not go to waste since we only harvest dead or downed trees for firewood in the winter. This enables us to keep the thermostat very low (a chilly 64 degrees) so we don't have to burn as much propane gas. 

Last year we made it through the winter on just over half a tank of propane! Of course, it helped that we had a mild winter and I am thinking we may be in for another...the climate is definitely changing and I am convinced that global warming is upon us. I'm pretty sure this won't be the last elm we lose and am kind of relieved it is the last one that was in the yard.

Today the USDA designated our county a national disaster due to the drought we are having. I know a lot of folks around us have lost their corn fields, but last week's rain saved our peanuts. I was worried because the peanut plants weren't growing, but they look good now and are blooming. I've pretty much given up on my garden this year. Last time I tried to plant something in the garden the ground was so hard and dry I could barely scratch out a shallow hole. We're getting potatoes, Roma tomatoes, onions (left in the garden from last year) and peppers. In fact, I should be canning tomatoes right now! 

One thing that has done well this year are my two apple trees. They are just now old enough to really set fruit and they are loaded. One tree is even leaning over from the weight of all the apples. Last week's storms helped cull some of the apples and I picked them up...no sense letting them go to waste! I've made green apple jelly with them...a new jelly for me. Hopefully we'll enjoy it as much as we do the dewberry jelly (which is already down to only two jars that I have hidden away for wintertime). Dry weather means the kudzu won't bloom this year, so no kudzu jelly and there may not be any elderberries, so no elderberry jelly either...apple is going to be it!

Fortunately, all the critters are managing in the hot weather so far. The goats, chickens and ducks all have plenty of shade and are given fresh cool water throughout the day. Elvis (the rabbit) is enjoying life in his new pen and snuggles up to the bottles of ice we place in his pen when the temperatures soar. The horses can find shelter in the barn or under the trees at their pond and the dogs and cats...well, let's just admit that the dogs and cats are SPOILED ROTTEN and get to lay about the house in the air conditioning all day long!

As do I!

Bye bye duckies...

It's been a rough time this Spring for my ducks. We lost Ducky to old age, the drakes drowned their brother Rowan (pictured in the pool above) and last week during my brief time home between trips we lost little Ping (the other duck in the photo). Don found Ping half eaten up in the big Sweet Gum tree in the chicken/duck pen. She was only two years old and we suspect a coon got her.

When the drakes drowned Rowan Don insisted we get rid of them, so I listed Puddles and Mr. Bean (AKA Mr. Mean) on Craigslist. A couple days ago I got a response and will be taking them to their new owner tomorrow. In exchange I will be bringing home a five month old rooster that looks a lot like our dearly departed Strayhorn. The owner assures me that, so far, the rooster is quite docile. Her five-year-old daughter plays with their chickens and the rooster eats out of her hand. Since she is in Olive Branch, MS I've decided to name him Oliver. I guess his last name will be Branch!

I do hope Aunt Bernice and Aunt Bertha, the hens, will warm up to Oliver quickly. For a few weeks he will be penned next to them so everyone can get acquainted. Then we'll see how they do together. I will most definitely miss the ducks and hope to get more in the future...just no drakes though! We really enjoy duck eggs...actually prefer them to chicken eggs, so I'm sure there will be more ducks in our future here on Hickahala Ranch.

Until then I have something else to keep me busy...three pygmy goats! I'm picking them up tomorrow afternoon so you know what tomorrow's blog will be about...Obi, Juan and Kenobi!

Hunkering down...

Maggie "hunkering down" last February

I've seen the satellite images of the storm that's supposed to hit us tonight and was very much convinced that we needed to prepare. So, we've spent most of the afternoon making sure all the critters have a roof over their heads and shelter from the cold rain we've had all day...which is supposed to turn into sleet and snow during the night.

We started first at the barn. Got a temporary fix on a stall door and repaired one of the handles on the big barn door so we could latch it and keep the horses from getting in the hall of the barn. There's five stables now open for four horses and I'm betting three of them won't be used! Rose and Angel will bunk together and I wouldn't be surprised if Jasper and Shiloh also share a stall.

Don is headed over right now to check on Rose. She's our oldest horse at 26 years and we're concerned about her getting a chill (if she hasn't already). This could prove to be a very difficult winter for Rose.

After the horses were happily munching hay in the barn lot we headed back to the house and prepared a warm place on the front porch for the three dogs (Angus, Teagan and Caoilainn) that sleep in the front yard at night. We fixed an enclosure on a protected corner of the wrap around porch and filled it with hay. Aislainn and Tadhg immediately jumped in the hay and made themselves cozy little nests and curled up. I was happy to see them do it as it reassured me that Angus, Teagan and Caoilainn would be okay tonight.

Next it was time to tend to the chickens, ducks and Elvis. This mainly consisted of making sure their houses were draft proof and giving them dry hay. The hens, Aunt Bernice and Aunt Bertha, were very happily exploring the hay in their house when I came inside.

Now we've got a fire going in the fireplace and I'm going to make some venison spaghetti to warm our bellies!

Chickens and their culinary choices...

My chickens do not like Mexican food. I find this odd, as I thought chickens would eat anything! They do, however, enjoy Chinese food! This evening they got some leftovers from the Chinese restaurant and gobbled it up before the ducks could butt in.

I think I know why Aunt Bernice and Aunt Bertha (pictured above) won't eat Mexican food...they don't like refried beans. My dogs don't like refried beans either. I have no idea why as no one is, um, spilling the beans!

Every evening I like to take the chickens and ducks a treat...salad greens, kitchen scraps, leftovers, small fish from the pond, etc. They've always been very happy with their treats until the day I tried to give them Mexican food. It sat there for a couple of days and I finally raked it up and tossed the stuff.

Since we rarely go out to eat any more I seldom have leftovers from the Mexican restaurant. If I do, I make sure Don gets them all in his lunch. He's my other "garbage disposal". Between Don, the chickens, ducks, dogs, cats and Elvis no food goes to waste here.

I just never expected chickens to be picky eaters!

Do you recycle?

Last night Maggie (pictured above and currently barking her head off behind me) brought something into the house. Don yelled for me to check it out, but I was a little freaked because it looked like a mouse tail hanging out of one side! Maggie has been known to bring in "gifts" the cats left us at the back door. She's also been known to carry fish to the house from the pond and has been caught carrying turtles around (always unharmed and released in a safe place).

Fortunately, she did not have a mouse. Maggie had the biggest cicada I have ever seen in my life. It was one big bug! Unfortunately, it was almost dead so I told Don to toss it into the chicken pen so someone could have it for breakfast.

You see, we're big into recycling here. Aluminum is taken to the recycling center, leftovers are fed to the critters (dogs, chickens and ducks) and other items are put in the garden compost. It's a wonderful circle, especially when the animals are involved.

The chickens and ducks eat scraps and  vegetable peels which they turn into eggs for us to eat and fertilizer for the garden, which grows food for us to eat, which in turn provides scraps and vegetable peels for the chickens, etc. The horses eat grass, which saves us gas and time to mow it. That grass is turned into fertilizer for the garden, which provides food for us and the chickens, and so forth.

Last night I cleaned out the vegetable bin in my fridge and left the bucket of old stuff on the floor. I was planning to take it out to the compost pile today, but Maggie and Caoimhe had other plans. Caoimhe has obviously convinced Maggie that over sized cucumbers are REALLY good, although I think Maggie just chewed hers up. I reached this conclusion when I saw the huge mess on the living room floor. Caoimhe, on the other hand, loves to eat cucumbers. Yes, she is a strange dog.

Now, if I could just figure out a way to recycle all the dog hair I sweep up...

Running late...

It was so hot today that I waited until the sun was behind the trees before going out to feed the chickens, ducks and Elvis. Elvis didn't mind, but the ducks and chickens gave me an earful for running late. Fortunately, as soon as they had fresh cool water and food they all forgot about me.

Actually, it wasn't all that hot today. I think our high was 92 degrees, but the heat index was 102. Heat indexes really irritate my son. He says that if it FEELS like 102, then it IS 102, which makes a lot of sense to me! According to Wikipedia, "The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity in an attempt to determine the human-perceived equivalent temperature..." so I think my son is on to something!

Personally, I know it's hot when sweat trickles down my back within 60 seconds of stepping outside. It's also pretty evident that it's hot when the chickens are walking around with their wings held out from their bodies and their beaks are agape. They weren't doing either of those when I went out this evening, so maybe they aren't to ticked off that I was running late!

Hanging on...

I just came in from giving the outside critters some fresh cool water. Told each of them to just hang on like the grasshopper and find themselves some shade in the grass or under a tree. They all seemed grateful for the cool drink and a misting down.

You see, it's hot out there. To look at the weekly temps for next week one would think this is a fairly mild summer since we're only predicted for highs in the low 90s. It's the heat index and humidity that's making us so miserable. No breeze doesn't help either! As I type it is 93 degrees, but the heat index is at 108 degrees. We have a predicted 50 percent chance of rain tomorrow and I sure hope it happens. There's been no rain in over a month now, other than a few fat drops several days ago.

The dogs refuse to go outside. They're all sprawled around the house napping. The chickens look absolutely miserable with their mouths agape and their wings held out. They were grateful for the fresh water, so were the backyard dogs.

The rabbit is snoozing next to his bottle of ice and the ducks are now happily splashing in their fresh water. They love to be sprayed with the water hose and it is hilarious to watch them trying to catch the spray in their mouths as they lean into it.

I was only out there for 20 minutes, but I swear I could feel my skin burning. I do believe it's time for me to have a bowl of ice cream and chill for a bit. Yep, that sounds like a good way to hang on in this heat!

Cantaloupe anyone?

We're drowning in cantaloupes! This year I planted a row of breakfast cantaloupes (small size when ripe) and they are producing more than we can eat. Well, I guess we could have cantaloupe for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but feel sure that approach would burn us out on cantaloupe eating very quickly.

So, I am asking for cantaloupe recipes! Anyone make cantaloupe pickles? Is there such a thing as cantaloupe casserole? BLECH...just the thought of that turns my stomach! I'm sure I've seen recipes for cantaloupe soup and cantaloupe ice cream. Hmmm...wonder if I could get Don to eat those?

If I can't find any good ways to use these up I will have to feed them to the ducks and chickens. Ducky, my old Pekin, loves cantaloupe. I think she could eat her weight in cantaloupe and she's chubby duck. The chickens like cantaloupe too so it wouldn't go to waste. We also have a dog, Drake, who loves cantaloupe!

If you have a great recipe using cantaloupe, or a favorite way to eat cantaloupe, please feel free to leave a comment and share with me. I'm desperate here! They're taking over the kitchen! HELP....